What are the 5S of Lean Methodology?

The American Society for Quality defines 5S as “a methodology that helps in creating a clean, safe and well-organized quality workplace that enhances productivity and reduces waste.” The acronym for 5S is Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. These 5S can help improve project management if properly utilized.

Coming out of the Covid saga and faced head-on with socio-economic and political challenges that wage wars against global stability, it is pertinent for organizations to reprioritize their strategic plans to survive these global turbulences. In the area of project and strategic management, the 5S can be used to put most organizations back on track, especially if they are still battling with issues of back orders, supply chain, inventory, limAsq.orgited resources; just to mention but a few. 

How to utilize the 5S to solve project issues: 

Sort – Organize the overall organizational strategic imperatives in order of priority, ranking from the highest to the lowest, to identify which objectives 

require immediate corrective actions.

Set In order – Put each project or strategy in their respective buckets based on the pressing needs (priority list) of the organization for visibility (you can use any quality tool that works best for your needs to do this). This will allow the organization to see and decide on the projects they want to “stop”, “continue”, “start”, or “pause”.

Shine – This step is like cleaning and decluttering the house. Clean out projects placed in the “stop” bucket, move down the “pause” projects to the bottom of the priority list you have created. So, you are left with projects tagged with “start” and “continue” at the top of the list. These are the two project categories you want to focus your efforts on first, given the limited resources.

Standardize – Here, you can create or follow the available industry standards and regulations that guide your organization on improving its systems, products, and processes.

Sustain – Having accomplished your project goals, you don’t want to sit back and watch things fall apart again. You want to maintain the new system that you have put in place, to ensure that the first four pillars of 5S are followed over time.

On a last note, the 5S lean production tool can be applied to correct any area of interest infested with issues (cluttering). Here at Qualifixes, we help organizations and individuals take on their projects, giving them the opportunity to better reach their goals in a timely manner. Reach out to us today at qualifixes.com for any assistance with your project needs.

Source: Asq.org – Clean House with Lean 5S