It is Independence Day!Many organizations fail to successfully accomplish their expectations and goals for their 5S program. Typical causes of 5S failure include:
5s Is Seen As A Stand Alone Effort
Typically managers see the 5S effort as something that is done periodically such as just prior to the annual visit by upper management. It is not viewed as an on-going effort and as a result it quickly becomes viewed as just another “flavor of the month effort,” By treating your 5S program as a stand alone process creates a lot of confusion about the purpose of this effort and typically results in the improper use of valuable resources.
Management Doesn’t Set A Strong 5s Example
Nothing kills a 5S program quicker than having employees walk by a managers' desks or work areas that are messy and cluttered after they have attended a 5S training session or 5S progress meeting.
Management Doesn’t Enforce 5S Practices On A Daily Basis
When every member of the management team does not support 5S practices consistently and regularly it sends the wrong message. If a supervisor walks by someone who is violating a 5S (or other type of high performance) expectation and does not say anything, they are telling that employee that their behavior is OK.
5S Expectations Are Not Incorporated Into Every Employee's Job Description
Keeping your work areas to remain clean and organized will not happen by itself Most failures to maintain a clean and organized workplace stem from people thinking and saying “it is not my job!” This generally occurs when management has not incorporated their 5S expectations and goals into each employee’s job description
No Vision Of What Each Target Area Should Look Like In Terms Of 5S
One of the greatest “killers” of any program is the lack of a shared vision. When management fails to communicate its vision, it is impossible to get employees to enroll into it and they will not be committed to making it happen. A vision is not something created by a couple of people in a room, it is what the leader envisions the program to be and then shared with every stakeholder. When lack of a shared vision is the culprit, it is typically because management did not commission the 5S project properly. They did not explain the goals and their expectations in a clear and concise manner, if at all.
Procedures Incomplete Or Inadequate
Most failures of 5S programs can be traced back to inadequate or ineffective 5S procedures. 5S teams for some reason seem to take short cuts when it comes to writing procedures for the workplace. For example, they often fail to include steps for tasks such as putting things back where they belong; people assume that people will naturally do this. Each and every part of your 5S program needs to be defined by procedures to ensure that they are performed the same way every time, by every applicable worker.
No Regular Follow Up By Management
When management does not follow through by looking for consistency of 5S practices and consistency in the use of visual techniques, safe work practices, and employee awareness of high performance concepts, they send the wrong message. Too often, managers try to manage from their offices or meetings and they don’t have a “presence of the floor”. This usually leads to the impression that they are uninvolved or don’t care. When managers do not observe and discuss their findings with workers or make corrections, the 5S program falls short of goals and expectations
Lack Of Employee Recognition
Nothing kills enthusiasm or morale quicker than management’s failure to recognize the efforts of the workers in meeting goals and expectations. The lack of a formal recognition program leads to poor 5S performance and increases the likely hood that your program will not be sustainable.
Progress Not Tracked And Visually Displayed
People get discouraged if they can net see progress towards their goals. The effects of the program should be quickly obvious, however it is soon forgotten unless a record is made such as using before and after photographs. Without progress tracking it will not be obvious to outsiders and other stakeholders that any progress has been made at all. Workers in the target area quickly become discouraged and stop applying the 5S practices causing a regression back to where you were when you started your 5S initiative.
Getting Past 5S Failures
Advanced 5S Implementation is intended to help you avoid the 5S failures that others have suffered. It shows you can benefit from using several of lean management approaches and techniques. Your 5S Implementation team must consistently apply these approaches and techniques and identify and correct problems. You can not rely solely on supervisors to do this. They can deal with the application of procedure and people issues, they do not have the time to address structural issues that make the system work. The 5S Implementation team needs to address the needs of the 5S program and make adjustments in the true spirit of continuous improvement.
In short, the Advanced 5S Implementation book will help your team build high performance practices, expectations, and measurements into the overall work system.
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