What are five s?

Before learning about it let us look into an example of an improperly managed storeroom. Suppose you are given the task to set it right, what are the steps you have to take? After studying the condition first, you may have to sort them out as necessary items. Will you then start straight away keeping the necessary items in the stores? Certainly not!

First you will get the place thoroughly cleaned, do the necessary repairs, and then keep the needed items in a proper way, keeping safety in view. You will also ensure easy removal and put back things in the right place. But does it remain like this? After sometime we may again see disorder created also accumulation of unwanted things. This means, we should check periodically to ensure this does not happen and also create a written system or a standard practice for proper housekeeping. Next step will be to make sure that it becomes a habit with the people. Then only we can say that we have a culture of keeping things in a proper way ensuring easy functioning, cleanliness and safety.

Now let us look into the steps you have taken to make the storeroom remain in a proper way. You will observe that five steps have been taken – organization, neatness, cleaning, standardization and discipline. This is what Japanese followed and integrated them as workplace management.

Importance of five s

Five s is the silent informer of a company’s attitude to quality. Easiest way to determine a company’s attitude towards improvement activities is simply to walk around the factory and observe the house keeping practices on the shop floor. Housekeeping often tells us more about the company than any financial statement. One can judge the level of improvement activities from the way tools are stored, swath and chips from machines handled, work tale organized, inspection points indicated, factory floor swept, machines cleaned, toilet condition etc. of course, housekeeping practices reflect the management’s general attitude towards work. We should understand the linkage between the level of five s and the amount of defective products produced, the number of machine breakdown, inventory level and so on. Five S should therefore, be among the first steps management should take for improving the company’s quality status.