【5S Case Study】5S Application at Home and 5S Tool Template Introduction
You may have thought that a 5S project is too large for you to relate to. I actually practiced 5S in organizing my kitchen at home and succeeded, so this video reports you that.
(Duration: 5:16)
DOWNLOAD ← Click this to download the “5S Project Support Tool” template file.
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Today I’ll introduce a 5S case study and a powerful 5S tool template.
Hi, this is Mike Negami, Lean Sigma Black Belt.
I wrote about 5S basics in the previous post. If you haven’t read it yet, please click the link below and read it.
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You may have thought that a 5S project is too large for you to relate to. I actually practiced 5S in organizing my kitchen at home and succeeded, so I would like to report about it today.
This was our kitchen before executing 5S. Actually, we had a big cleaning of this kitchen 2 months ago, but it’s already become untidy.
This is the “After”. Now our kitchen is very tidy and much more functional.
What’s the difference between regular cleaning and a 5S project
Let me reflect on our last cleaning along the 5S concept. Last time, we did well on the ‘Sort’ step, which separates kept items and thrown-away items, and on the ‘Scrub’ step, which cleans surfaces. In the ‘Set in order’ step, we did set up each item’s place, but we didn’t display the names of the items.
Also, we didn’t do anything about either the ‘Standardize’ step, which applies the PDCA Cycle or the ‘Sustain’ step, which raises the awareness of family members. If you neglect those steps, you’ll return to square one like this time.
At that time, we didn’t think about 5S at all. This time, we followed each of 5S’s steps thoroughly.
How to use the 5S Project Support Tool Template
In addition, I created a very powerful tool template to support our small 5S project, so I’ll also introduce it today. You can download the tool template from the link below. Please use it and give me your feedback.
DOWNLOAD ← Click this to download the “5S Project Support Tool” template file.
In the “Sort” step, decide the criteria of keep and throw-away before your red tagging. We decided for food, if the expiration date expires, we’ll throw it away. Also, if we haven’t used something in the next 6 months, we’ll throw it away too.
This is the tool template. Click this button, then, it’ll ask your expiration date. For us, I typed a date 6 months from now. Then, after entering the number of columns and rows of your label paper and lengths of margins, you can print red tag labels. We sorted out all items in the kitchen with these labels.
The next step is “Set in order”, which we couldn’t do well last time. Decide the best storage place for each item group and display the group names. You can make those name labels with this tool too. Type the group names here and click this button to print them.
I stick the labels on like this. This was more effective than I thought. Now when we put away something new, we notice the labels, so we’ve been able to maintain this organization.
“Standardize” and “Sustain” Steps that lead your 5S Project’s Success
The 3rd step is ‘Scrub’. We cleaned the counters and the shelves.
At the 4th step, ‘Standardize’, create a mechanism to maintain the first 3S’s. You should write down the system on paper. We’ve decided this way: “The night before going to the grocery store, we take food inventory and at the same time, we check 3S’s are maintained and tidy up if needed.”
The last step, “Sustain”, is for nurturing everyone to follow the rules we’ve decided on. This time, I couldn’t think of anything major for this, so I’ll think of improvement plans by looking at the future situation.
Although it has been only two weeks since the 5S implementation, I’m confident to maintain this level of organization. Feel free to download the 5S tool template and I encourage you to apply 5S to your home or your office.
