5S System is a methodology that originated in Japan. It was adopted by the automobile company Toyota when it was in crisis during world war II.

5S is a structured approach that consists of 5 steps. These 5 steps are:

Step 1: Sort

In this step, the target area is chosen and all the equipment, material, etc. are taken out. It is then segregated into two categories:

1. Necessary
2. UNnecessary

Step 2: Set in Order (Simplify)

After you have successfully completed step 1, organize and arrange what you need. Find a place for everything, and put everything in its place.

Step 3: Shine

A clean and clutter-free area enables instant usability of the required material, document, or information. It consists of 3 sub-steps

1. Cleaning the work area. When you clean the work area you naturally inspect it too.
2. When you inspect few problems might get detected which could not come to your notice otherwise
3. And lastly, when you detect a problem you cannot stop yourself from correcting or solving that problem.

Hence, 5S brings the problem to your notice, and people are encouraged to solve those problems that get unattended for months or years in some cases.

Step 4: Standardize

If the previous 3S makes your environment better, Lay down Procédures for the first 3S.

Step 5: Sustain

It is easy to start something new but difficult to maintain. In order to maintain 5S in long run and reap its benefits, After documenting and standardizing now is the time to bring it to everyone’s habit and make it part of regular jobs.

Conduct self-audit to ensure adherence to earlier 4S’s.

“5S is very simple to understand, but very difficult to Implement. It requires involvement and commitment from everyone – from Top management to ground level staff or workers.”

8 Benefits of Implementing 5S System in Your Company

Following are the 8 benefits of implementing 5S in your company.

1. Clean Work Environment: 5S helps you create a clean and organized work environment. Employees love to work in a clean and organized workplace.
2. Identify and Eliminate Wastes: Implementation of 5S creates a work environment where it becomes difficult to hide problems that waste resources of the company (manhours, machines, raw material, time, etc.). Employees can systematically start reducing waste and improve Productivity.
3. Create More Space: Removal of unwanted items from the workplace and organizing the necessary ones releases space. Around 10% to 20% of floor space can be saved by implementing 5S.
4. Improved Safety: 5S helps in creating a safe workplace by reducing accidents caused by Slippery floors, and eliminating oil leaks. Improved safety (lower numbers of injuries) resulting from 5S, you get a workforce that is happier (less turn-over), more motivated, and helps in getting more done with less effort. They become interested in further improving their workplace and your products.
5. Improves Company Reputation: 5S System enables you to establish standardized processes which produce consistent results for your customers. Consistent results lead to customer retention and loyalty thereby reducing the cost of marketing in acquiring new customers.
6. Better Confidence in Customer Visits: Most companies try to superficially make their work environment look clean in order to create a positive impression on their customers when they visit. This creates last-minute rush and frustration in the leadership team as well as middle-level and lower-level employees. 5S naturally creates an environment where your customers love to visit without leading to frustration for your and your team.
7. Improves Quality: By making the workplace visible and clean, the overall quality improves as defects cannot be hidden. Defects start reducing which helps in improving the company’s bottom line. by reducing the cost of rework.
8. Reduced Costs: By eliminating waste, improving quality, freeing up space, and retaining customers all lead to a reduction in the cost of operations which makes your company more competitive in the market.

Challenge for you and your team

How do you assess that you have a perfect 5S system in your company?

Ask the following question to yourself and your team.

Am I able to find something that I need within 30 seconds?

Yes, if you are able to find what you need in 30 seconds you have the perfect 5S system implemented.

Start calculating the cost of time being wasted in searching tools, material, documents, information, etc. by your staff and team members.

This seems minor cost but if you aggregate the sum of all the team members’ time being wasted you will be astonished. And not only this your customers are also getting annoyed dealing with your team members.

Few Ideas from the Perfect 5S Organisation

Want help in understanding and implementing 5S and how it can boost your profits?

Call us now at 9811214648.

• Whether it is worth working on this project or not?
• Whether it will pay off the efforts and money that I put in?
• Whether I will get the desired results if I start working on it?
• Whether investing in this software will be beneficial to me and to my company?

Are the above questions bothering you too much to take the next step and make a decision? If yes, you have come to the right place.

Many times it happens with top leaders, business owners, and managers that out of various options which one is worth working on so that they get maximum ROI.

When you have multiple ideas for improvement from your team or you have to decide whether you should go with the software which requires heavy investment it becomes difficult to know in advance whether it will give you the maximum ROI or not.

How to take the right decision from various options!

There are two ways you must consider before making any decision or before making any investment in a project. Let us understand is with the help of the following Matrix.

1. Cost vs Impact Priority

The first comparison you must do is between the cost of implementation of a project and its impact on your organization.

The above image shows you 4 quadrants comparing cost vs impact.

Quadrant 1: Low-Cost High Impact

Quadrant 1 signifies that the cost involved in the option that you are considering is low and its impact is high. This means it will give you better ROI as compared to the investment. If your option is falling under this quadrant you should give 1st priority to it. Ignore the rest of the options for now.

Quadrant 2: Low-Cost Low Impact

Projects falling under this quadrant should be given 2nd priority where the cost is low but the impact is also low.

Quadrant 3: High-Cost High Impact

Such projects are generally considered by management and decision has to be taken at a strategic level.

Quadrant 4: High-Cost Low Impact

It is obvious from this quadrant that the high cost of low-impact projects should be ignored. There is no reason to take up these projects and they do not give you sufficient ROI. These projects may lead to losses for your organization.

2. Ease of Implementation vs Impact Priority

The second comparison you must do is between the ease of implementation of a project and its impact on your organization. This means how easy it is to implement the project. Do you really have consensus and buy-in from the people at ground level who are actually going to implement and adapt to the new methods or system?

The above image shows you 4 quadrants comparing ease of implementation vs impact.

Quadrant 1: Easy Implementation – High Impact

Quadrant 1 signifies that it is easy to implement the new methods you are considering and its impact is high. This means it will give you better ROI as compared to the efforts required in implementing the new methods or system. If your option is falling under this quadrant you should give 1st priority to it. Ignore the rest of the options for now.

Quadrant 2: Easy Implementation – Low Impact

Projects falling under this quadrant should be given 2nd priority where the implementation is easy but the impact is also low.

Quadrant 3: Hard Implementation – High Impact

Projects falling under this quadrant require concerned people to be involved. You must share the purpose with all the concerned people/stakeholders for such projects and gain consensus from them before really starting with the execution. Failing will lead your project to suffer and it will get either delay missing the deadlines or may never complete putting you in a losing situation. such projects are generally considered by management and decision has to be taken at a strategic level.

Quadrant 4: Hard Implementation – Low Impact

It is obvious from this quadrant that the implementation requires too much effort and it has a low impact at the same time. It is not wise to take up such projects. There is no reason to take up these projects and they do not give you sufficient ROI. Working on such project will lead your team members to get frustrated and dissatisfied. These projects may lead to losses for your organization.

Tip to Pick Project from various options

Look at the tree in the above picture. It clearly shows that you much grab the low-hanging fruits first. This means that the projects that you are picking either should have no or low cost, implementation is easy, and a fairly higher impact. These are quick wins. Generally, this is called Just do it ideas.

Are you considering a few ideas to be implemented but confused about which one should you pick?

Do you need help in making the right decision that will give you maximum ROI?

Call us now at 9811214648

5S System is the methodology that originated in Japan. It was adopted by the automobile company Toyota when it was in crisis during world war II.

The Problem

If you are facing the following problems in your company and want to solve them read this article:-

• Low productivity of your employees
• Wastage of manhours, material, and other resources
• Low workers morale
• Lack of space to expand or to meet demand
• Low-Profit Margins
• Low worker safety
• High defects and rejections
• High production costs
• Unable to meet changing demand of customers
• Dissatisfied customers and suppliers

The Solution

5S System to grow your company

5S System is going to solve all the above-mentioned problems in your company.

5S is the 5 Steps process that makes your workplace a more organized, cost-effective, efficient, and happy environment. 5S is a process to achieve and sustain a clear, clean, safe, organized, and standardized workplace.

Here is the explanation of all the 5 steps in detail. You can try to implement these steps on your own.

Step 1: Sort

In this step, the target area is chosen and all the equipment, material, etc. are taken out. It is then segregated into two categories:

1. Necessary
2. UNnecessary

Once you separate everything into above mentioned two categories then remove the unnecessary items from the workplace. Unnecessary items are kept away with a red color tag called a red tag. A separate area is designated to keep the unnecessary items. If you think these unnecessary items may be useful in the future keep them away for further review. If required you can offer these items to other departments in case they might be useful to them.

Some questions to ask during this phase include:

• What is the purpose of this item?
• When was this item last used?
• How frequently is it used?
• Who uses it?
• Does it really need to be here?

These questions help determine the value of each item. A workspace might be better off without unnecessary items or items used infrequently. These things can get in the way or take up space.

Keep in mind the best people to assess the items in space are the people who work in that space. They are the ones who can answer the above questions.

When a group has determined that some items aren’t necessary, consider the following options:

• Give the items to a different department
• Recycle / throw away / sell the items
• Put items into storage

Step 2: Set in Order (Simplify)

Ask the following two questions during this step.

1. What do I need?
2. Where should it be?

And then organize and arrange what you need. Find a place for everything, and put everything in its place.

Determine locations for all items

• Frequency = easiest to get
• Locate near activity

Calculate quantities of each item

• Place items in the storage location
• Avoid table / countertops
• Consider ergonomic impacts

Label storage locations

Once the extra clutter is gone, it’s easier to see what’s what. Now workgroups can come up with their own strategies for sorting through the remaining items.

Questions to ask now during this step:

• Which people (or workstations) use which items?
• When are items used?
• Which items are used most frequently?
• Should items be grouped by type?
• Where would it be most logical to place items?
• Would some placements be more ergonomic for workers than others?
• Would some placements cut down on unnecessary motion?
• Are more storage containers necessary to keep things organized?

During this phase, everyone should determine what arrangements are most logical

Set in Order is the process of putting everything in a place that is easy to get to and easy to put away.

Everything should be clearly marked so that anyone could easily find its proper home.

Set in Order step utilizes several different strategies to accomplish its goals, including:

• Label & Sign Strategy
• Paint & Tape Strategy
• Tool Outline Strategy

Step 3: Shine

A clean and clutter-free area enables instant usability of the required material, document, or information. It consists of 3 sub steps

1. Cleaning the work area. When you clean the work area you naturally inspect it too.
2. When you inspect few problems might get detected which could not come to your notice otherwise
3. And lastly, when you detect a problem you cannot stop yourself from correcting or solving that problem.

Hence, 5S brings the problem to your notice, and people are encouraged to solve those problems that get unattended for months or years in some cases.

Following the undermentioned tips during the Shine step:

1. Clean

• Sweep, mop, dust, clear garbage
• Fix facilities

2. Plan

• Create Shine schedules
• Assign Shine responsibilities

3. Sustain

• Inspect/enforce Shine accountabilities
• Error-proof cleaning and maintenance

Everyone thinks they know what housekeeping is, but it’s one of the easiest things to overlook, especially when work gets busy.

The Shine stage of 5S focuses on cleaning up the work area, which means sweeping, mopping, dusting, wiping down surfaces, putting tools and materials away, etc.

In addition to basic cleaning, Shine also involves performing regular maintenance on equipment and machinery.

Planning for maintenance ahead of time means businesses can catch problems and prevent breakdowns. That means less wasted time and no loss of profits related to work stoppages.

Shining the workplace might not sound exciting, but it’s important. And it shouldn’t just be up to the janitorial staff.

In 5S, everyone takes responsibility for cleaning up their workspace, ideally on a daily basis. Doing so makes people take ownership of the space, which in the long run means people will be more invested in their work and in the company.

Step 4: Standardize

If the previous 3S makes your environment better than before, Lay down Procédures for first 3S.

Create visual controls and policies to ensure consistent, standard behavior for item usage and storage.

Make Sort, Set in Order, and Shine, part of daily work:-

• Policies and training
• Visual control
• Checklists
• Layouts

Standardization should encourage:

• Simplicity
• Repeatability
• Lack of variation
• Accountability

Standardize creates a system of tasks and procedures (SOPs) that will ensure that the principles of 5S are performed on a daily basis.

Determine standard procedures and make them visible.

Designate standard colors, shapes, and symbols to be associated with standard procedures.

Documentation

• Allow your employees to participate in the development and documentation of such standards.
• They are a valuable but often overlooked source of information regarding their work.

Different color standards are followed in 5S for various types of areas.

Step 5: Sustain

It is easy to start something new but difficult to maintain. In order to maintain 5S in long run and reap its benefits, After documenting and standardizing now is time to bring it to everyone habit and make it part of regular jobs.

Conduct self-audit to ensure adherence to earlier 4S’s.

Train your staff members so that they can spread the concept with others in the company. Encourage them to train others as well.

For Sustaining – ingrain 5S into the culture through training and ongoing discipline.

5S is the foundation for stability, standardization, and continuous improvement in your organization.

Challenge for you and your team

How do you assess that you have a perfect 5S system in your company?

Ask the following question to yourself and your team.

Am I able to find something that I need within 30 seconds?

Yes, if you are able to find what you need in 30 seconds you have the perfect 5S system implemented.

Start calculating the cost of time being wasted in searching tools, material, documents, information, etc. by your staff and team members.

This seems minor cost but if you aggregate the sum of all the team members’ time being wasted you will be astonished. And not only this your customers are also getting annoyed dealing with your team members.

Few Ideas from the Perfect 5S Organisation

Want help in understanding and implementing 5S and how it can boost your profits?

Call us now at 9811214648.

Welcome back to Lean for U’s articles section!

Today, we thought of sharing with you the recent training session done on Data Analysis in corporate in Delhi NCR.

Following are few photos of the training going on in a manufacturing company. Training sponsored by the company Director & CEO of Assomac Machines Limited.

Thanks to all the participants for encouraging us.

Take some time to look at the photos of the training event.

Data Analysis Training in Corporate Gives You the Following Benefits

• Convert useless data into useful information

• Use calculations with numbers. Save time with repetitive tasks

• Manipulate data, work with date, time, numbers, text, formulas

• Make better business decisions with Graphs & Charts

• Analyse data with Pivot Tables

• Simplify complex data. Colour code your data based on criteria

• 100% Productivity. Maximize Profitability

We would like to share with you our experience with one of our client’s situation without disclosing their identity.

We were having conversation with their management team to understand their pain areas during which they said they have multiple business and multiple units. Recently they closed down one of their business units and laid-off staff of around 60 employees from their company.

As our dialogue with them moved further they said it has become their usual approach to start and close business units. The biggest pain they told to us was that due to various problems, their company is not able to earn enough Profits. Despite their hard and consistent efforts they do not get consistent business results and output.

If you are a business owner or part of management team facing the same situation, we invite you to take a look at our short presentation on how you can ‘Turn Problems into Profits’.

Have a QuestioLike and Share If You want to help others know!

Subscribe to Our Free Blog If You have not already done so.

It’s a simple four step process

Step 1. Put your name and email id below and click Submit Now

Step 2. Type in the security code in the Feedburner box that opens up and submit

Step 3. Check your email from Feedburner Email Subscription

Step 4. Click on the Activation link in the email

Today, let’s reveal the cost of re-work in your organization with the help of following scenario.

On an average you work 8 hours per day and 25 days per month.

Out of 8 hours you spend 1 hour on reworking something. It amounts to 25 hours per month and 300 hours per year.

Imagine there are 500 employees, in your company, wasting 1 hour every day on reworking. It comes to 1,50,000 hours per year.

Taking average salary of each employee to Rs. 50,000 per month the total loss made by the organization on rework per year is Rs. 3,75,00,000.

Is your organization ready to bear similar losses this year? Do you want to find the root cause of these losses and fix them? Do you want to Solve the Rework Problem in Your Organization and Improve Profitability?

We are here to help you.

ave a QuestioLike and Share If You want to help others know!

Subscribe to Our Free Blog If You have not already done so.

It’s a simple four step process

Step 1. Put your name and email id below and click Submit Now

Step 2. Type in the security code in the Feedburner box that opens up and submit

Step 3. Check your email from Feedburner Email Subscription

Step 4. Click on the Activation link in the email

Pass this Knowledge

If your leaders and colleagues are also interested in this subject, do them a favor and forward them this Web page. They may thank you for your concern and initiative.

Hello Friend,

Lean for U is Business Process Consulting firm which helps organisations increase their profitability while keeping customers, employees and management happy at the same time.

The Problem

Organizations where employees and management both are struggling to grow.

Employees want higher income, respect and involvement in decision making but most of the time they feel discontented and rejected.

Managers and Top Executives are vigorously trying to work and prepare strategies to increase profitability of the company but fail to convince their seniors about their ideas and find it difficult to get the work done by their subordinates. They are in constant pressure to reduce operational costs and increase revenue.

How do we solve the Problem

Do you agree more money and time freedom are the primary goals of every person who work for the company? If yes,

Who gives you or your organization that money?

Yes, the only people who give you money are your customers.

We help organizations shift the focus of each and every individual towards customer needs and expectations while making the internal processes more efficient and cost effective. The more your customers are happy with your products and services, the more money they are willing to give you. And this in turn makes your organization more profitable.

Remember “Your customers are not willing to pay you for non-value added activities.”

Are there any non-value activities going on around in your organization? Think of all the activities from your customer’s perspective.

Please call us now with the questions you may have or schedule a free consultation with us.

Phone: (+91)-9811214648

Email: info@leanforu.com

Please refer to the services we provide to solve your organization’s problems.

Income Opportunities with us

If you are looking to earn extra income we have following two options for you.

Work with us

Whether part time or full time as part of our team. Currently we need people for:

• Documentation – preparing flowcharts, Value Stream Maps, Policies & Procedures, etc.
• Designing cum Website maintenance – people required to maintain the website with necessary changes and design material for website and other promotional activities.
• Customer service – Handling customer queries, writing and sending emails, conversation over the phone, etc.
• Sales and marketing – Finding new clients, understanding their needs, etc.

Refer your contacts to us

People in your family, friends, colleagues and even your seniors who you think are looking for solution to the problems mentioned above. If the contract get materialized and paid by the client in full we will share 25% of the contract fees with you.

Raise your voice

If you want to discuss your organization problems with us and want our help in convincing the decision makers. Call us right now or schedule a free consultation with us.

Phone: (+91)-9811214648

Email: info@leanforu.com

Subscribe to free knowledge and tools click here

Like and Share If You want to help others know!

Subscribe to Our Free Blog If You have not already done so.

It’s a simple four step process

Step 1. Put your name and email id below and click Submit Now

Step 2. Type in the security code in the Feedburner box that opens up and submit

Step 3. Check your email from Feedburner Email Subscription

Step 4. Click on the Activation link in the email