5-S practice: a new tool for industrial management.
It has been recognised that Japanese firms are clean and orderly. The same is true for high quality Western firms. Over the last two decades, the Japanese have formalised the technique and named it as 5-S practice. They believe that it is the base-line for industrial management. As the name is new to most Western societies, the objective of this paper is to explain the intricacy of the 5-S so that it can he understood easily and adopted readily by those who may find the tool useful. In Hang Kong, the government industry department has promoted the 5.S practice since 1994. Many seminars and workshops have been conducted and they were all very well received by the business community. As a result of the success, the department invited the author to commission a 5-S practice workbook with ten successful case studies from the manufacturing, services and public sectors. The experience Mil also be shared in this article.Introduction
The 5-S practice is a technique used to establish and maintain quality environment in an organisation. The name stands for five Japanese words: Seiri, Seiton, Selso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke (Osada, 1991). The English equivalents, their meanings and typical examples are shown in Table I.
The technique has been practised in Japan for a long time. Most Japanese 5-S practitioners consider the 5-S useful not just for improving their physical environment but for improving their industrial management process as well. Apparently the 5-S can help in all walks of life. Many of the everyday problems could be solved through adoption of this practice.
Is 5-S practice applicable to the western world?
Research by Ho (1995) has shown that the western world seldom recognises the significance of the 5-S practice although there are indications that some companies have included some aspects of the 5-S in their routines without being aware of its existence as a formalised technique. There are many examples of successful implementation of some principles of the 5-S, especially in the service sector organisations, such as fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, libraries, and leisure centres. The difference between the Japanese and western approach lies mostly in the degree of employee involvement. By formalising the technique, the Japanese established the framework which enabled them to successfully convey the message across the organisation, achieve total participation and systematically implement the practice. The 5-S has become the way of doing business, not only to impress the customers but to establish effective quality processes as prerequisites for good products and services.
The 5-S practice in detail
In order to be able to comment whether 5-S practice is useful, sample constituents of the 5-S practice and the benefits of its implementation are highlighted below. While contemplating each of the 5-S aspects a reference can be made to the 5-S audit worksheet developed by Ho [1995].
Organisation (Seiri)
Apart from throwing away rubbish, other aspects of organisation are shown in the 5-S audit worksheet checkpoints 1.1 to 1.10 (Appendix 1). It is worthwhile to emphasise the importance of a principle of organisation called "one-is-best". Examples of application include: one set of tools/stationery, one page form/memo, one day processing (Figure 1), one stop service for customer and one location file (including local area network server for file sharing). In particular for "one day processing", there is an ancient Chinese saying: "Let today's work belong to today". There is a lot of virtue in this saying and it requires a combined effort of organisation and self-discipline.
[Figure 1 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Neatness (Seiton)
Neatness is a study of efficiency. It is a question of how quickly you can get the things you need and how quickly you can put them away. Just making an arbitrary decision on where things go is not going to make you any faster. Instead, you have to analyse why getting things out and putting them away takes so long. You have to study this for both the people using the things frequently and those who seldom use them. You have to devise a system that everyone can understand.
Cleaning (seiso)
"Everyone is a janitor" -- cleaning should be done by everyone in the organisation, from the managing director to the cleaner. This is why in Japan, they do not need street cleaners in residential areas. Every family is responsible for cleaning the pavement in front of their houses. Therefore, what they need are rubbish collectors. The Japanese believe that while they are doing cleaning, they are cleaning their minds, too. If you have done your annual cleaning at home before the New Year, you would probably have this feeling of freshness.
In an office or a factory, you might start by graphing out the individual areas of responsibility In doing this, it is important that all assignments be absolutely clear and that there is no undefined, unallocated, or grey areas. Unless each and every person takes these admonitions to heart and accepts personal responsibility, you are not going to get anywhere.
Standardisation (Seiketsu)
Standardisation means continually and repeatedly maintaining your organisation, neatness and cleaning. As such, it embraces both personal cleanliness and the cleanliness of the environment. The emphasis here is on visual management and 5-S standardisation. Innovation and total visual management are used to attain and maintain standardised conditions so that you can always act quickly
Discipline (Shitsuke)
Discipline means instilling the ability of doing things the way they are supposed to be done. The emphasis here is on creating a workplace with good habits. By teaching everyone what needs to be done and having everyone practising it bad habits are broken and good ones are formed. This process helps people form habits of making and following the rules.
The word shitsuke originally comes from the tacking (guiding stitches) that are done before a garment is properly sewn. If accepted that way, discipline is an underlying tool in making life go smoother. It is recognised by the Japanese as the minimum the society needs in order to function properly,
Discipline is a process of repetition and practice. Think of discipline as an integral part of industrial safety. How many people have had accidents because they forgot to wear their safety helmet, their safety shoes, or their goggles? Far too many, How many have had accidents because they stuck their hands into the machinery without shutting it off first? Again, too many. It is important that everyone has the habit of obeying simple safety rules. An example of bad discipline is illustrated in Figure 2.
[Figure 2 ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
McGregor (1960) identified two human attitudes towards work. In his Theory X, he observed that humans dislike work and would like to get away from work if possible. On the contrary, in his Theory Y, he observed that humans actually like working and they work as hard as they can to achieve results. This is the case when people are motivated to do their work. Ouchi (1981) observed many successful Japanese and US firms and found out that people actually consider the organisation as part of their family The staff in these companies devote so much energy and time to their work that one might think as if it is their own business. This type of devotion to work represents the scope of Ouchi's Theory Z. His research shows that it applies not only to the Japanese but also to US workers.
In order to make a successful and painless transition from Theory X to Theory Y and then to Theory Z, organisations should install some degree of discipline in the form of procedures and work instructions. Consequently, self-discipline should be encouraged. Finally, the employees will develop their own self-discipline framework.
The 5-S implementation plan
The 5-S implementation requires commitment from both the top management and everyone in the organisation. It is also important to have a 5-S champion to lead the whole organisation towards the 5-S implementation step-by-step. The steps of 5-S implementation can best be summarised in the self-explanatory activity-time chart shown in Appendix 2.
Author's encounter with the 5.S practice
The author was recognised as the one transplanting this useful quality technique to the western world. There are many examples of successful implementation of some principles of the 5-S, especially in the service sector organisations, such as fast-food restaurants, supermarkets, hotels, libraries, and leisure centres. In most Asian countries, including Hong Kong, 5-S has been promoted by their productivity organisations under the umbrella of the Asian Productivity Organisation in the early 1980s but they all died down very quickly, With the benefits of hindsight, the author thinks the main reason for failure was the lack of systematic approach to its implementation.
The author's first encounter with the 5-S was when he was doing a research project for the Asian Productivity Organisation in Japan in 1987. Most of the 24 firms visited had implemented some sort of 5-S activity In 1993 he was invited by the Asian Development Bank as the quality expert to the Malaysian Government. At the Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM), he was asked to develop a five-year national quality plan for the country After spending a month's time to analyse the industrial development of Malaysia, he came to the conclusion that the first step to their quality programmes should be the 5-S. Then the director general asked the author to be their 5-S champion. Being an ISO 9000 lead auditor, he firmly believes that the best way to acquire a quality technique is to do auditing according to the technique. So, it came to his mind that he should develop a 5-S audit checklist, which he now finds as the most powerful tool for learning the 5-S. Moreover, since Osada's book was too long (250 pages) and sometimes difficult to comprehend, the author decided to summarise the main ideas, and cover the essential elements together with the proprietary 5-S audit checklist, implementation plan and a 5-S poster, using 30 pages of A4.
On the 5-S day, the director general of SIRIM took the lead by wearing his track-suit in order to do cleaning in his office after the author's brieef introduction. He gave a 40-minute 5-S seminar to some 80 senior staff, including the 20-minute 5-S audit video which he took beforehand. At the same time, all remaining 900 staff were given a one-page guideline to "throw away the rubbish and do cleaning all together", At 1 p.m., when the 5-S day was over, three lorry-loads of rubbish were thrown out of the 30 blocks of buildings. More interesting was that a week after the 5-S day more rubbish came out of the buildings including steel file cabinets which were not suitable for the "transparency" requirement of the 5-S. With that experience, the author started training their consultants and delivering open workshops throughout the country
The Mobile Oil Company survey tells us that more than 200,000 accredited ISO 9000-family certificates have been issued in September 1997. This means that certified quality management is no more a matter solely for production companies, but is nowadays practised in almost any industry around the world. For those firms preparing for ISO 9000, they should do 5-S first. The reason is that if the obsolete documents and procedures are discarded, there is no need to document them! From the author's experience as ISO 9000 lead auditor, companies that registered for ISO 9000 have already done a significant part of the 5-S, i.e. 5-S applied to document control. Moreover, they can apply the 5-S to improve their work environment and make it more conducive to work. Likewise, the 5-S can also be a good basis for implementing the environmental management standard ISO 14000.
For those firms promoting quality circles, they should look for improvement opportunities from the 5-S angle. From the author's observation and experience, many quality circles die away because they are running out of agenda. There is always a limit as to what to improve from one's own perspective. However, with the use of the 5-S audit worksheet, there are 50 potential areas for improvement, and they can be applied to various work areas by different people. The author has not yet come across a firm doing 5-S but running out of agenda. Thus, 5-S can be used to expand and extend the life-cycle of a quality circle which, in return, provides a very good team-working environment for the 5-S implementation.
The Hong Kong Government's effort in promoting the 5-S practice
The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government Industry Department, was charged with the responsibility of transplanting new and useful quality management ideas into Hong Kong. In May 1994, its quality assurance unit started organising the 5-S seminars and workshops, and the response was overwhelming. Every time, the seminar and workshops were fully booked and they had to be repeated several times. From the feedback questionnaires, most participants are finding the sessions interesting and the live-audit useful.
After three years, it came to a point that the department decided not to continue, in order not to be accused of becoming a training organisation. In December 1996, the department appointed Sam Ho to commission the 5-S Workbook (Ho, 1997), based on the teaching materials and ten local case studies. The feedback from the senior executives of the ten sampled companies are quoted as follows:
C&K Systems Ltd (security systems manufacturer)
At C&K, we are always concerned about the quality of our products and the quality of the working life of our employees. Over the last few years, we have found that the 5-S can and has delivered to us what we want. Not only our products are now considered by our customers as world-class, but also our employees enjoy working in the pleasant and cheerful environment. Moreover, we have a much less than average staff turn-over rate in our China plant.
Central Textiles Ltd
Many people would think that textile is textile, we can never be as clean as the electronic industries. However, through our determination and concerted effort, we have been trying to make the impossible possible. Today, cleaning and tidying up things are done round-the-clock at Central Textile. We have found 5-S useful for our continuous improvement and strive for excellence in quality."
CKFC Construction Ltd
The Hong Kong construction industry most operates under very low profit margins due to the competitive nature of the prevailing tendering systems. The hair-split difference between profit and loss are largely determined by how good our firm can organise, standardise and discipline our daily activities. We have found the 5-S useful in helping us to meet the quality and delivery requirements of our clients.
Computer Products Asia Ltd (manufacturer of computer power supplies)
With the objective of productivity improvement at the workshop, including quality, cost, delivery, safety and morale, Computer Products Asia-Pacific Ltd., also trading as Power Conversion Asia-Pacific (PCAP) has introduced the 5-S practice to the shop-floor. The 5-S has built up a foundation for the Just-In-Time manufacturing and TQM later on. We have implemented our 5-S programme thoroughly, vigorously, critically, continuously and successfully.
Communication Services Ltd (subsidiary of the Hong Kong Telecom Ltd)
With the deregulation of the personal communication systems in Hong Kong, we have to improve our service continuously in order to compete with the best players in the field. We have found that the 5-S has helped us a lot in providing a powerful tool to organise our service activities, and projecting an up-market image for our products and services to our customers.
Elec & Eltek Ltd. (printed circuit board manufacturer)
A direct benefit of implementing the 5-S programme :is that we have greatly improved the working environment for our staff. More importantly, practising 5-S enhances the communication among Elec & Eltek employees and our spirit of accountability.
Hong Kong Housing Authority -- Maintenance Division
5-S is a simple but effective tool to improve productivity through a better management of the working environment. In view of the vast volume of work as well as data handled by the Maintenance Division, there is a need to adopt a systematic approach to organise information and manage our operations in order to provide a better service to public housing residents. The use of 5-S techniques provides a solid foundation for the implementation of the quality management system in the Maintenance Division."
Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation -- East Rail Rolling Stock Department
The 5-S lays a foundation for our quality programmes and enables us to continuously improve our services to the customers. Staff can easily understand the simple and effective tools under the 5-S and apply them in their daily work with improved results. In addition, implementation of the 5-S provides a pleasant working environment conducive to staff morale and productivity
Sogo Ltd. (Japanese department store)
We aim at operating the best department store in Hong Kong and other territories. In order to achieve this, we are totally committed to provide quality product and services to our customers. Our experience in Japan has confirmed that the 5-S practice is a very useful tool for us to provide a pleasant and customer-centred shopping environment, making shopping at Sogo a completely new and exciting experience.
Sunnyside Ltd (toy manufacturer)
Neatness and tidiness have always been our principles for creating a comfortable and safe working environment for our staff. The 5-S has provided us with a framework for implementing our principles effectively and systematically
Unlike their previous "manuals", the workbook was the first one to provide working details of a quality improvement methodology The workbook has 50 colour photos of good examples of the 5-S implementation, one set each from the ten case companies. One photo is better than 1,000 words and they do speak for themselves. As "seeing is believing", they also contribute to a very powerful and convincing media to the readers on the effectiveness of the 5-S practice. It is the first English book outside Japan on the 5-S, putting aside the Chinese translation. The workbook was published in May 1997, and by September 1997, all 5,000 copies were requested within the shortest time that they have ever experienced, despite the rule of one copy per person. As Francis Ho, the Director-General of Industry, has said on the Foreword of the 5-S workbook, "I therefore recommend this useful workbook to those who wish to excel in pursuing quality improvement in their operations, including the implementation of ISO 9000 and TQM".
Conclusion
The 5-S practice is a well-recognised methodology used by the Japanese for improving the work environment. It consists of five steps: organisation, neatness, cleaning, standardisation and discipline and is found to be the key to quality and productivity, This paper details the proprietary 5-S audit methodology and reports on how it has been adopted and adapted to the Hong Kong business environment through the training programme and case studies conducted by the industry department. The 5-S practice is useful because it helps everyone in the organisation to live a better life. In fact, many successful organisations, East or West, have already included some aspects of the 5-S in their routines without being aware of its existence as a formalised technique. It is therefore hoped that this paper will serve as a seed and a working manual to promote this important bottom-line technique in industrial management world-wide.
References
Ho, S.K. (1995), TQM. An Integrated Approach -- Implementing TQ through Japanese 5-S and ISO 9000, 292 pages, Kogan Page, London.
Ho, S.K. (1997), 5-S: The Key to Improve your Quality and Productivity, Hong Kong Government Industry Department Workbook, Hong Kong.
MacGregor. D. (1960), The Human Side of Enterprise, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Osada, T. (1991), The 5-S: Five Keys to a Total Quality Environment, 1991 Asian Productivity Organization, Tokyo.
Ouchi, W.G. (1981), Theory Z: How American Business Can Meet the Japanese Challenge, Avon Books, New York, NY.
Appendix 1
Figure A1 5-S audit worksheet
Firm audited: --
Address: --
Phone No.: --
Date: --
1. ORGANISATION (Seiri): Stratification management and dealing with the causes
TYPICAL Action by
NO. ACTIVITIES LOCATION AUDIT FINDING (and date)
1.1 Throw away the things
which are not needed
1.2 Deal with the causes of
dirt, leaks and noise
1.3 Organise cleaning the
floors and
housecleaning
1.4 Treat defects, leakage
and breakage
1.5 Organise the storage of
parts and files
1.6 One-is-best #1:
one set of tools/stationery
1.7 One-is-best #2:
one page form/memo
1.8 One-is-best #3:
one day processing
1.9 One-is-best #4: one stop
service for customer
1.10 One-is-best#5: one
location file (e.g. LAN
server for file sharing)
No. of non-conformances / 10
2. NEATNESS (Seiton): Functional storage and eliminating the need to look for things
TYPICAL Action by
NO. ACTIVITIES LOCATION AUDIT FINDING (and Date)
2.1 Everything has a
clearly designated
name and place
2.2 30-second retrieval of
tools, documents and
parts
2.3 Filing standards and
control
2.4 Zoning and placement
marks
2.5 Eliminate covers and
locks
2.6 First in, first out
arrangement
2.7 Neat notice boards
(also remove obsolete
notices)
2.8 Easy-to-read notices
(including zoning)
2.9 Straight-line and
right-angle layout
2.10 Functional placement for
materials, parts, tools,
etc.
No. of non-conformances / 10
3. CLEANING (Seiso): Cleaning as inspection and degree of cleanliness
TYPICAL Action by
NO. ACTIVITIES LOCATION AUDIT FINDING (and Date)
3.1 Individual cleaning
responsibility
assigned
3.2 Make cleaning and
inspection easier
3.3 Regular sparkling
cleaning campaigns
3.4 Cleaning inspections
and correct minor
problems
3.5 Clean even the places
most people do not
notice
No. of non-conformances / 5
4. STANDARDISATION (Seiketsu): Visual management and 5-S standardisation
TYPICAL Action by
NO. ACTIVITIES LOCATION AUDIT FINDING (and Date)
4.1 Transparency (e,g.
glass covers for
see-through)
4.2 Inspection OK marks or
labels
4.3 Danger zones marked on
meters and switches
4.4 "Danger" warning signs
and marks
4.5 Fire extinguisher and
"Exit" signs
4.6 Directional markings
on pipes, gangways, etc.
4.7 Open-and-shut
directional labels
on switches, etc.
4.8 Colour-coded pipes
4.9 Foolproofing (Poka-yoke)
practices
4.10 Responsibility labels
4.11 Electrical/telephone
wire management
4.12 Colour coding - paper,
files, containers, etc.
4.13 Prevent noise and
vibration
4.14 Department/office labels
and name plates
4.15 Park-like environment
(garden office/factory)
No. of non-conformances / 15
Auditor: --
Audit No.: --
NOTE: Some of the "Typical Activities" are not applicable to the office environment and therefore need not be audited for offices.
5. DISCIPLINE (Shitsuke): Habit formation and a disciplined workplace
TYPICAL Action by
NO. ACTIVITIES LOCATION AUDIT FINDING (and Date)
5.1 All-together cleaning
5.2 Do daily physical
exercise all together
5.3 Practise pick-up
components and rubbish
5.4 Wear your safety
helmet/gloves/shoes/
etc.
5.5 Public-space 5-S
management
5.6 Practise dealing with
emergencies
5.7 Execute individual
responsibility
5.8 Good telephone and
communication
practices
5.9 Design and follow the
5.S manual
5.10 Seeing-is-believing:
check for 5-S
environment
No. of non-conformances / 10
Overall evaluation: --/ 50
Total No. of Non-conformances Rating
0- 5 Excellent
6-10 Very Good
11-15 Good
6-20 Average
21-25 Pass
>25 Fail
Appendix 2
Figure A2 The 5-S Implementation Plan
Company: --
Issue No.: --
Dept./Section: --
Issued By: --
Issue Date: --
<====MONTH====>
Step 5-S ACTIVITY
1 Get top-management commitment, establish
status quo and implementation plan
2 5-S Workshop for
5-S facilitators
3 1st 5-S day -- Organisation
(e.g., throw away things you do not need)(*)
4 Daily 5-S activities by everyone
5 2nd 5-S day -- Neatness
(e.g. name everything and assign locations)(*)
6 3rd 5-S day -- Cleaning
(e.g. all-together housecleaning)(*)
7 4th 5-S day -- Standardisation (visual
management and transparency for things)(*)
8 5th 5-S Day -- discipline
(e.g. seeing-is-believing)(*)
9 Grand prize presentation for best 5-S
department/section
10 Review and plan for next 5.S campaign
Step Person(s)
Responsible 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th
1 CEO and 5-S .
Champion (5-SC)
2 5-SC .
3 5-SC, Facilitators .
and CEO
4 Facilitators . . . . .
5 5-SC, .
Facilitators and CEO
6 5-SC, Facilitators .
and CEO
7 5-SC, Facilitators .
and CEO
8 5-SC, Facilitators .
and CEO
9 CEO and 5-SC .
10 5.SC and .
Facilitators
(*) Individual prizes (gold, silver and bronze) should be given to the top three 5-S winners for the day. They should be presented by the CEO.
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| Author: | Ho, Samuel K.M. |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Industrial Management & Data Systems |
| Date: | Jan 1, 1998 |
| Words: | 4048 |
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