5S: The labelling enthusiasts, a touch of Marie Kondo tidying magic or…?
Ani Movsisyan
Connecting people and dots, building cultures and communities, generating ideas, improving processes and driving change
I came up with this headline some years back when I was preparing internal training in Novo Nordisk around the topic of 5S. To me it was representative of the noise that exists around 5S.
For many 5S has become synonymous with going overboard with labelling everything and everywhere to ensure that items stay confined to those labels. Many also associate 5S with a big clean-up or housekeeping project. This is where I came to think of the Japanese queen of tidying up - Marie Kondo.
5S though is so much more. In a nutshell, 5S is part of the Visual Management system to ensure that there is a place for everything and everything is in its place. 5S is fundamentally about problem-solving, with a focus on standardisation and sustaining of standards as the core components instead of the housekeeping parts of the tool that are so often emphasised.
Kasper B?dker Mejlvang, SVP of our Japan operations in Novo Nordisk reflects on the topic:
I had a coach once who had been a manager at one of the Toyota facilities for more than 20 years. He opened my eyes to the true meaning of 5S. We went on facility tours, and he started to teach me how difficult it was to do improvements in our facility when it was not clear exactly to what standard things needed to adhere to. He would ask when we went by a tank, was it under pressure or not? How would I know if it was under pressure? Was the pressure correct? How would I know if the process was running with a specific pH or temperature? And if I didn't know what was correct then how would I know when to take action? It became a very academic lecture in the beginning, but it was really good. He started to teach me on the second law of thermodynamics, which applied to organisations as well. According to this theory, over time systems degrade if you do not invest a bit of energy in improving them. It's either degrading or improving step by step, and in western cultures we sometimes allow systems to degrade slowly, over time, then at some point the gap between where you want to be in terms of performance and where you are gets so big that it finally becomes evident to everybody. And only then you start big, expensive improvement project which also drags down performance during the implementation phase.
This really started to open my eyes on the foundations of 5S and what it is really about. Having a standard in place that allows you to do continuous improvement every day instead of having to do huge projects once in a while. Having strong 5S in place is also respectful to people because it makes expectations clear and therefore easier for them to perform and it allows them to take charge of improving the standards over time which is also developing and motivating for them, instead of being part of a system that is slowly degrading.
Where does the name 5S come from?
Each of the 5 S's belong to a word starting with s
1S -> Sort
Figure out what is necessary and unnecessary. Remove or red tag the unnecessary
2S – Set in order
Organise the necessary items so that they can be used and returned to their designated locations easily
3S - Shine
Visually indicate all item locations and clean the area. Uncover causes of messy environment (to avoid constant cleaning)
4S - Standardise
Put in place standard procedures to keep the workplace clean and pleasant – make it visual
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5S - Sustain
Make it a habit (mindset) to take care and improve the working environment every day and help others to do so as well motivating to anybody.
This is the order 5S concept is known universally. Ideally though Standardise should be the first and foremost S to start with. Define a standard how you want things to look like before doing anything else.
Play your way into understanding 5S
Watch this 2 minute video to learn more about 5S. And afterwards play this small game to see 5S in action.
Small assignment for you
Look around you in your home - can be your closet, refrigerator, your dishwasher, etc. How would your chosen space benefit from adding a little of bit of 5S magic to it?
More inspiration
If you are looking for more inspiration, here is a roundup of articles on 5S:
Best,