5 S

5 S is one of the most powerful tools that Lean has to offer. It is based on the idea of “a place for everything and everything goes in its place”.

5 S defines the process for establishing a clean, clear, safe and organized workplace. It ensures that the workplace contains only what is needed, where its needed and when its needed, thus eliminating waste in the process.

5 S represents 5 Japanese words that describe the steps of a systematic process of workplace organization. In such a workplace, every item used in a business process is clearly labelled, cleaned and put in a defined space for easy access.

Below are each of the 5 S, with its English meanings;

Seiri (Sort) : Sort all the items into 3 buckets. Items that you use regularly, items that you use sometimes and items that you never use. Get rid of the last bucket,

Seiton (Set in Order) : Arrange items from the first two buckets defined above in such a way that anyone can find them, use them and put them back without any help. Achieve this by use of signboards, labelling, colour coding, floor / wall painting etc

Seiso (Shine) : This simply means clean. Clean the workspace as well as the tools to make it look neat and clean.

Seiketsu (Standardize) : Make it a habit to maintain what you did in the first 3 steps. You define the process of picking up the required tools from their designated place, and putting it back in the same place after its use. And don’t forget to clean the tool before putting it back. Most importantly, follow these processes.

Shitsuke (Sustain) : This is arguably the most import S in 5 S. Sustain the above processes. Make it a habit, built it into your culture so the improvements last.

Interestingly, the original tool followed by Toyota had only the first 4 of 5 S, the last S is a later addition. You can effectively use 5 S in a manufacturing setup / shop floor as well as in the service industry alike. You can also use it with the same effectiveness to manage your home kitchen or your computes desktop / storage.

By the way, do check out the Certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt Handbook – it is one of the most essential guide for anyone trying to get certified as LSS Black belt or in general wants to understand LSS and improve processes. – check it out here.

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Sachin Naik

Passionate about improving processes and systems | Lean Six Sigma practitioner, trainer and coach for 14+ years consulting giant corporations and fortune 500 companies on Operational Excellence | Start-up enthusiast | Change Management and Design Thinking student | Love to ride and drive