5 ‘S’ Is a Strategy, Which Aims to Remove

Often in well-established operations the
organisation of wanted and needed tools and
equipment is born out of historic accident rather
than any logical and rational approach to
organisation. We tolerate states of affairs because
they have always been that way and we expect
things to remain as they always have.
5 ‘S’ is a rational approach to workplace
organisation which aims to maximise efficiency by
placing what is wanted and needed close to hand,
while eliminating the unnecessary. Essentially 5 ‘S’
focuses on the basics of our operations and seeks
to encourage work teams to be critical of the
‘workplace organisation’ which prevails.
Experience of implementing 5 ‘S’ in Pilkington
Float Glass Manufacturing in the UK is generally
positive, this return to basics approach captures
a real essence of common-sense which is taken
up by many in the workplace improvement teams.
This is not to say implementation is easy, rather it
needs to be planned, supported and monitored at
all stages from inception to realisation.
In the world of manufacturing improvement 5
‘S’ can be seen in a number of ways one
as a precursor to the implementation of TPM
(Total Productive Maintenance) or as a stand
alone improvement methodology. The approach
adopted by Pilkington is the former 5 ‘S’
being implemented as a forerunner to full TPM
implementation.
All should guard against underestimating the
improvement contribution available through the
implementation of 5 ‘S’. Anyone who is involved
in its implementation will be impressed by the
amount of unnecessary work which is ‘taken
out’ as a consequence of 5 ‘S’. Simply having everything to hand can be manifestly better than
the disorder which often precedes the changes
invoked by the 5 ‘S’ approach to workplace
organisation and cleanliness.

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