A Tracking Method for 5S Programs

Thanks David for your question and Jon for your very apropriate comments and guidance.
We have used 5S as our basic standard from the begining 26 years ago then we only had 3S. It was necessary over the years to revisit our 5S in order to keep it alive useful and fresh.
The purpose of our 5S scheme is three fold.
To set the basic standard as this then forms the base line for Kaizen.
To promote employee engagement and empower them to improve their own work environment.
Improve visualisation of the workplace because to be able to manage abnormal situations first you need to be able to see them clearly and quickly.
We do all the usual adudits and score areas against the standard. Each area score goes to make up the overall Company 5S monthly status.
This year as a refresher we introduced the Five-A-Day Challenge as a method of tracking or checking the 5S condition in each work area. Every day the Teamleader walks around during the daily management routine and observes any issues with the condition against the standard. Together with the team he then has to put right 5 out-of-standard items every day.
I thnk to answer is to track 5S yourself in the Gemba
Best Regards
Chris

I once had a manager ask me how to do 5S without auditing. I said "why". He responded i don't think I can get people to do that. I told him you can't, you must change the behavior. I would say basically that you do need criteria to judge your performance. The criteria should be specific to the business and your need to doing 5S. You then need a way to judge your adherence to this standard. When it comes to sustaining the gains I have found that a layered audit process is effective. This involves people within the process doing checks daily and weekly, middle management weekly to monthly, and senior management monthly to quarterly. The levels and frequency can chnage based on your system but the idea is everyone is checking the system. This helps drive a culture of committment and habit.

Hi Jon,
When working with clients on lean programs, some suggest 5s as an improvement project. Our view is that like any of the lean initiatives, 5s is one of many tools. The lean programme needs to start with clear objectives, a clear definition of value and good understanding of the business processes. In any improvement initiative, we are looking for some measure of success. If 5s clearly impacts our measure of success, then it may be an exercise worth doing early on.

However, if in defining our value stream we realise that our process is unbalanced, carries too much inventory or has poor flow, we may wish to focus on the process first and then apply 5s to the re-designed process.

Some teams decide on 5s as an improvement project. However, the business case and project goals can be very subjective. Ultimately, after the initial enthusiasm, the team can lose motivation as there is no clear measure of where they are going.

What is your experience with 5s? Would you recommend starting a lean programme with 5s? What has and hasn’t worked in your organisation? What are the key challenges and issues?

Great thoughtful article by Bryan at TWI blog

http://trainingwithinindustry.blogspot.com/2010/04/5s-thinking.html

Hi all.
We all agree that 5S is one of the key tools for lean implementation. At the beggining or mid way it is important.
I've also used Layered Audit process but at a certain time we found out that it was better to keep things appart. The team leader was already auditing the workplace according to other issues and 5S had to be an independent one. Work Place Organization Audit: audits each S at a time and scores them. The final score is monitored every month and the graphic at the workcell's "5S Point" the shows the performance. You need to brainstorm in order to get the "goal" and the "minimum" allowed in each audit. It depends on what items you're auditing; common sense is a must, as usual.

The key challenge, Steve, is of course making it work!
Motivation and understanding are needed within the organization. Culture change needs to be worked out...

I think we've made it! It's running ok and people are really into it!

Thanks,
Regards,
Pedro

Dear Jon,
The tracking method depends on which stage of implementation of 5S you are in and the milestones you have set for the impelementation. Surprisingly the reader comments above do not answer David's question of a tracking method. Frequent audits and reflection at the initial stage can be used to track the progress of 5S in the initial stage.
Jon, your insight on a tracking "tool" for 5S will be helpful for all of us.

Thanks!

David. This is 2010 and we have put a man on the Moon.
I think you are struggling with setting an unambiguous standard for the level of 5S that you want to accept. This level may rise as you get better at it. Put an "X" on the floor and take photo's of the before and after. I think you want to keep the area looking like the after.
Do 25 ? questions 5 on each of the 5S's on a spread sheet. Next to each question write the Expectation for the audit level. Refer to the photo's were they are relevent. Each question has one point that can be awarded if it is OK. You will score 0 to 25 points. ( Pick the number of questions to suit yourself ).
On the RH side of your check sheet put an area for the person doing the check to write the reasons for failure. Next to this put a space for the Countermeasure to that failure. Next to the countermeasure put Responsibility : Timing : Status. Concern understood , Countermeasure ID'd , Countermeasure actioned , Action confirmed.
Chart the results of the 25 questions as a %age 23 OK = 92%
Chart the number of failure raised a stacked Block Chart will suffice. Make sure that you reference each block to the specific question that it represents. Failed Q3, Q12, Q21. Shade the Block chart to reflect Confirmed Countermeasure. The unshades areas are therfore still NOK.
Get the supervisor of the area to initial the Audit sheet next to each reason for failure. Have the Managers Audit the general standards of the area. He/She must Counter-sign the Bar chart that is tracking the Failures.
Get the area forman to comment on the OPEN ISSUES. If the foreman & Manager don't bother then go to the Tea area and have a quiet cup of tea knowing that you can lead a horse to water but you can not make it drink.
I hope this helps. If the area improves take new photo's or if an area is always OK take a photo of another area that needs attention. Video's of the Standard can also be of help. Most can be played on a PC or lap top on the shop floor.
Not bad for a person with a 25 yard swimming certificate. Hey
Do not take it upon your self to fix everything or do everything. If you go the system must still work.
Some are born great, some aquire greatness & some have greatness thrust upon them. David. Make them do it.