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Papers from the 3rd World Conference on Productions and Operations Management (POM) Tokyo 2008
Edited by Ben Clegg
1. Introduction
[38] Osada (1991) refers to 5S as the five keys to a total quality environment. 5S is a system to reduce waste and optimise productivity and quality through maintaining an orderly workplace and using visual cues to achieve more consistent operational results. The practice of 5S aims to embed the values of organisation, neatness, cleaning, standardisation and discipline into the workplace basically in its existing configuration, and it is typically the first lean method implemented by firms.
The 5S pillars are sort (seiri ), set in order (seiton ), shine (seiso ), standardize (seiketsu ), and sustain (shitsuke ). In the daily work of a company, routines that maintain organisation and orderliness are essential to a smooth and efficient flow of activities. Sort, the first S, focuses on eliminating unnecessary items from the workplace that are not needed for current production operations. Set in order focuses on creating efficient and effective storage methods to arrange items, so that they are easy to use, and to label them, so they are easy to find and put away. Shine, the next step, is to thoroughly clean the work area. Daily follow-up cleaning is necessary to sustain this improvement. Once the first three 5S have been implemented, the next pillar is to standardise the best practices in the work area. Sustain, making a habit of properly maintaining correct procedures, is often the most difficult S to implement and achieve. Changing entrenched behaviours can be difficult, and the tendency is often to return to the status quo and the comfort zone of the "old way" of doing things. Sustain focuses on defining a new status quo and standard of workplace organisation.
[29] Kobayashi et al. (2008) make a distinction between 5S as a philosophy or way and 5S as a technique or tool by comparing the frameworks provided by [38] Osada (1991) and [23] Hirano (1995) respectively. They conclude that 5S tends to be recognised as a philosophy in Japan, whereas it is likely to be considered as a technique or tool in the UK and USA. [38] Osada (1991) views 5S as...