Lean Manufacturing 5S
Waste is described as Muda in Japanese. To optimize efficiency of a production process, it is necessary to eliminate muda off the process completely. During the process of waste reduction, small incremental quality initiatives would be taken which of course would be maintained throughout the production cycle. Lean Manufacturing 5S is the effective application of 5S to a process so that it achieves its objective of being a lean process.
What does the business owner need to do to implement 5S on his processes?
Remember, 5S talks about applying waste reduction principles consistently. The 5S technique tool will be extremely ineffective if it is not applied all the time. The biggest benefit of 5S is that the technique implementation is so simple one does not have break into a sweat every time they need to be implemented.
- The business owner must create conditions to support 5S implementation. Please note that 5S technique talks about organized waste reduction at every stage of the production process. This could possibly include changes in the production schedule and production environment. Additionally, there is an issue of change management as well business owners must tackle.
- Implementation requires time and the effort of the employees of the production cycle. The production cycle employees must ensure that enough time is delegated to the implementation of these principles.
- Awareness has to be created - I have heard some 5S techniques fail because employees were not made aware of the technique and its benefits. In most cases, when people fail to see the benefits in an activity, they just would not do it. It is extremely important awareness if created amongst the employees of the company to ensure that the 5S Technique is implemented effectively across the organization.
- Structure for implementation would need to be provided - Remember, the 5S Technique is a step-step process for waste elimination. For a process which is structured, it is important for the implementation of the process to be structured as well.
- To encourage training and participation - 5S technique would not be known by many. So, it is important for training all the employees of the production cycle on 5S techniques and encouraging all the employees to participate in driving the initiative. Remember, 5S technique implementation is sure to get benefits to your manufacturing processes. You may wish to share some of these benefits with your employees as a part of Reward and Recognition.
Lean 5S technique is a very effective technique in reducing waste of a manufacturing process. Many manufacturing companies have realized this and are getting their employees trained to implement this process.