5s is not Cleaning

5s is not cleaning, period.

Consider the following scenario.
You are trying to implement lean and you are giving your first steps by trying to introduce a 5s program or perhaps you have been already implementing 5s for a while and the people in your company keep relating 5s with cleaning.
When you asked them to tell you what is 5s, their answer is :5s is "that cleaning program"....now what, what do you do, how do you explain that 5s is not cleaning??

Here are some tips to do this:
1- start by explaning what the 5s are: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Stadardize, Sustain. By doing this you should make the point that only during the "Shining" is where some cleaning is involved. The other 4 "s" do not have anything to do with "Cleaning"
2- make very clear that the purpose of 5s as (as well as other lean tools) is to "make problems visible".
3- Performe the 5s simulation called: " The Numbers game". This simulation walks the participant through the 5s process by purposely not using the S of Shining (the one that involves some cleaning). A complete description of the simulation can be found by clicking here: