Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

Workplace Organization and the Five S’s

The process was fed by work in process (WIP) from a subassembly area located across the aisle. The subassembly operators had produced so much excess inventory that they had built a “wall of inventory” around their work area. As we continued to tour the main work area, the subassembly process operators came across the aisle and asked what we were doing.

I stepped aside and allowed the operators on the main line to explain what they had learned. I was surprised to hear them repeat what I had told them during the previous afternoon. It wasn’t just that

they had listened to what I taught them, but that they were actually excited about what they were going to do to eliminate waste in their process.

The subassembly operators started talking about what they could do to bring their process into the main line. This move would allow them to build just what was needed to keep the main line running.

The savings for this move and the reduction of WIP inventory would more than pay for the class we were holding that week, including all the resources required (and my fees).

It was hard to rein in the team members to the point where we could get back into the classroom. They were so revved up that they wanted to get started right away. I asked them to bear with me and

we went back to the class to begin our plan for the next two days.

I started the planning session by explaining W. Edwards Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. I pointed out the logic of the sequence: plan for improving a process, do what you’ve planned, check the results, and act on the results to improve the process.

I made sure the group understood the importance of Planning. After some discussion, they agreed that we must plan for success or we would not get the job completed. Our first step was to list everything

that had to be done in the time allotted (two and a half days).

The first task in the Five S process was Sifting. We needed to check everything in the work area and remove everything that was not required to do the job. Next we would look at the flow of work and organize the tools and component items in such a way as to ensure safety and reduce walk and wait time in the process. The team had some excellent ideas. Once again I found myself trying to calm them down long enough to finish the planning.

Next we prepared for the Sorting of items. Each operator would be responsible for defining the location for his or her tools and equipment. All team members would provide their input, but for the final decision we would look to the process operator.

Last, the team would be Sweeping and Washing every surface in the work area and labeling all the items for semi-permanent storage. The goal of the Five S process would be to identify what was required in the work process and what, if anything, was missing—at a glance!

The final two S’s would come with time—and effort: Standardize and Self-Discipline.

After class, my pal Michelle stayed to tell me that she hadn’t seen the employees of SG this excited in over 10 years. They had apparently just given up. As the pressures of the business increased and the

company grew, Sid had apparently stopped listening to all but a few of his supervisors. Subsequently the employees stopped talking to him. Before long there was a wall between the workers and the managers that neither took the time to tear down.

I caught myself smiling that evening as I drove out of the plant. I was exhausted from working to keep the group calm long enough to get everything in line for the next day, but I was excited too. It’s not often that a consultant gets to break away from the managers of a company to work directly with the people who add value to the product. The experts of the process have always been and will always be the operators and no one can solve a problem faster than the people who do the work.

There are no shortcuts to “world class.” Bringing the tools of Lean Enterprise into an organization requires commitment and culture change. There is no more powerful tool in an organization than

the excitement of its employees. The Five S process requires that you think in a new way about what you do at work everyday.

We started the next day even earlier, at 6 a.m. The team was dressed for work in jeans and T-shirts and they gave me a pretty hard time when I arrived wearing much the same casual outfit.

The day was long. We moved out two large dumpsters full of trash, broken tools and containers, obsolete material, and basic junk from the work area. Then we cleaned everything with degreaser. The team still wasn’t satisfied. They wanted a fresh coat of paint on everything. Just about the time we were starting to put the stuff into the assigned locations, the subassembly team came over.

They wanted to talk to us again about moving their process closer to the main line. They had apparently continued their discussion after we talked the last time and had come up with some pretty good ideas. We took some measurements for their fixtures and outlined placement for the WIP on the main line. After we analyzed the proposal, everything looked like it would fit (with some minor maintenance and reworking of electricity and HVAC). We called the facility manager and asked for some help. He found a maintenance person and got the job done.

What a change the simple subassembly move turned out to be! The main line could run for over a week without the subassembly processes running. The main line would exhaust the overproduced

work-in-process inventory to reduce the storage space required. This would free up the subassembly operators to help out on the main line while the operators learned the new flow, which should speed up the process by more than 25%.

We attached the hand tools used by the operators to their workbench with retractable key chains to keep the tools at work height and readily available at all times. The operators said that this low-cost fix would probably save them about 20% of their time because they wouldn’t have to look for their tools throughout the shift.

By this point, so much had changed that the team decided to present the outcome of the workshop to the managers and asked me to invite them to the presentation. We had the foresight to take some

before-and-after pictures so the impact was pretty impressive.

Key Points

->Use Lean Enterprise tools to identify and eliminate all seven types of waste in all aspects of the organization—overproduction, correction, inventory, processing, motion, conveyance, and waiting.

->Five S is the foundation through which an efficient organization is built.

• Sifting

• Sorting

• Sweeping and Washing

• Standardizing

• Self-Discipline