Printing Australia

There are so many businesses, especially in the manufacturing world, that are just clusters of mass un-organization. What I mean is they have way too much stuff at each work station, more than what the job actually entails. Lean manufacturing 5S is one of the simplest things you can do right away to help with this.

It is called 5S because it is made of words that all start with an S. Let's look at each one of the individually and see what needs to be done.

Sort - This means exactly what it says. You take a certain area you will be working on, and you decide what equipment and tools you will need to do the job. All of the other stuff is extra, and will be disposed of.

Now that you know what you are going to keep, you need to give it a home. The 5S term for this is Set. You need to be able to Set the item in a designated place. Peg boards and tape can help distinguish where these areas are.

The next step is shine. What this entails is cleaning everything. Tools and the work stations are included in this step. Also, people should be assigned the responsibility of keeping the area and the tools clean.

When you see the term Standardize, it means to ensure the same process you laid out originally is done exactly the same with everyone. This could mean new procedures, or periodic reviews of the area. But it needs to be kept up.

To sustain this improvement, ensure you hold someone accountable for this and then move to the next area. You have built up some pretty good momentum, so don't lose it.

5S is a lean manufacturing tool. It can be uses anywhere in a plant or business to help organize and clean an area. Plus, now th employees will have the necessary tools for the job, and know what is expected of them. This is how lean manufacturing 5S can help.

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