How to explain 5s: The 5s Game: Excellent way to expain the benefits of 5s

Hi,


in this video you will see in a very simple way, how to explain to anybody who is skeptical about implementing 5s, all the benefits of it. Also it provides a clear example of how quality and efficiency can be improved

Quote about Change

"When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves"

- Viktor E. Frankl

How to influence people - The Influence principles

One of the key skills required during the implementation of lean is the ability to influence others to pursue a common goal. Influence gets hand in hand with leadership and when combined properly they are powerful tools that could change the way things are done.

Here are the principles of influence:

1- Liking: We are more likely to respond favorably to those who sincerely respond positively to us
2- Reciprocity: follow the the golden rule of collaboration and support :" Do unto others as you hope they would do unto you when you need it.
3- Social Proof: We are drawn to be like those who are like us or whom we want to be like.
4- Consistency: We tend to follow our commitments with action and more commitment particularly those that we made publicly
5- Authority: We tend to rely on information from those we recognize as having expert knowledge or greater experience.
6- Scarcity: We tend to want more of something we believe has limited availability

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:

What do you do to come up with suggestions?

At times companies trying to implement suggestions programs struggle with the most important part of such programs.....generating suggestions!

What can we do in order to come up with suggestions? if we are the ones going to provide suggestions, here there are some ideas.
Take note of whenever there is something that does not quite feel right
Collect information from the work of other companies, or other departments. It may be available from presentations, books, TV. etc
Study" idea products" by visiting stores such as a do-it-yourself shop.
Study many examples of improvement
First experiment by cutting, pasting, bending, etc. using such alternative materials as paper
Always ask yourself if it is satisfactory the way it is now
Always be attentive to what is happening at the shop floor
Review improvement ideas of small group improvement activities

What can we do in order to encourage people to contribute suggestions?

Provide support as much as possible to meet the goal of ten suggestions per person every month
As we improve the work by involving our people, link ideas generated by suggestions
Provide hints to people so that they can develop the habits, willingness, patience, and confidence within themselves
Avoid criticizing ideas generated
Always observe people's work and contribute advice
Always generate questions, and ask people to think about them.
Always demonstrate practicing improvement by management as well
in order to develop people's interest in making improvement, help execute ideas to show how things can be improved
Encourage people to face reality as opposed to staying at the conceptual level

5S office quote

“People would rather talk to you about their sex lives than their paper problems.”

How to handle you mail?

Are you always looking at the mail staking up on your desk? if you answer positively to this questions, please follow these simple steps:

1. Open and sort the mail with a trashcan at hand.
2. Junk mail goes right into the can.
3. Divide the remaining incoming mail into two stacks: one with correspondence and bills, and the other with magazines, catalogs, newsletters and other items to read later.
4. Set up a quick, easy system for sending mail. Have envelopes, addresses, boxes and tape at hand, so you don’t accumulate items to be mailed.

How can you fight clutter accumulation?

1- Whenever you finish working on something, put it away.

2- Never leave the office without cleaning your desk and leaving things organized for the next day. Combat paper proliferation by dealing with each piece while it is fresh in your mind.

3- If time constraints make this impossible, carry the paper around with you until you can give it your attention. Look at it, define the problem, devise a solution and then take action. But do not let things sit and build up as a testament to your indecisiveness.

4-“In” and “Out” trays can be helpful if you use them. If you do not make use of them, they
will become just another place to accumulate paper. Let the trays help your work flow.
Empty them on schedule, daily or weekly – or get rid of them.

5S Definition

5S is one of the lean tools that help us identify problems, create a culture of discipline and make opportunities for improvement visible.

Many people get caught up in the discussion of 5s vs 4s vs 7s. Let's do not waste the time on such discussion the importance of 5S is visible in it purpose.

The purpose of 5S (as well of any other lean tool) is :

Make problems and opportunities for improvement visible.

Why do we want to have a place organized?

to be able to eliminate downtime when we need to look for things, avoid safety issues, identify bottle necks, etc.

In English language 5S is usually described as:

• sort
• set in order
• shine
• standardize
• sustain

5S was originally developed in Japan, so the "S"s used in English are just an adaptation of the underlying principle behind it.

In Japanese the 5S are:

• seiri (sort and eliminate)
• seiton (order)
• seiso (clean)
• seiketsu (maintain)
• shitsuke (discipline)

as you can see the underlying principles are the same and that is what really matters.

Seiri = Sort. This is a no brainer and does not need further explanation

Seiton (order) = Set in Order, here the parallel is also evident

Seiso (clean) = Shine, well what do we do when we shine? well we clean.

Seiketsu (maintain) = Standardize, A very efficient way to 'maintain' 5S is by standardizing and sticking to that standard.

Shitsuke (discipline) = Sustain.......the only way to be able to sustain something is through discipline, the discipline to adhere to the standards day after day.

Benefits of 5S , Why should I care about 5S in the office

Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain, these are the famous 5S that people talk about. 5S has been a tool that have been normally used in the manufacturing environment and for this same reason when companies try to implement 5S in the office, they face a lot of resistance from the office workers. I normally hear people saying : "this is for the shop floor at the office we do thinks different" .

What people normally miss is the purpose of doing 5S.

What is the purpose of 5S?
The purpose of 5s is to make problems and opportunities for improvement visible, such as: excessive time looking for files, tools, papers, safety issues, excessive office supplies,etc.

These are other benefits of using a 5s program in your office, shop or home:
- You can't work to the best of your abilities when your office is a disorganized mess.
- Your workspace is a visual representation of what kind of person you are; that's
how your clients and supervisors see it.
- Out-of-control office clutter costs money in time, effort, late fees and lost business.
- 5S helps you get rid of things that take up space, even stuff you think you might need "someday."
- Sort through and reduce piles of paper by using a four-box sorting system.
- 5S helps you avoid daunting heaps of paper, put things right back after you use them.
- The discipline of 5S allows you to organize materials for the next day before leaving your office. So the next day you are set to go.
• 5S enable yourself to find what you want when you want it.

5s is the starting point for a Lean journey. The real power tool to drive change with your team, once you have implemented 5s is: Shop floor management or Office floor management.

Here an example of office shop floor management:

What is Kanban?

Kanban is a Japanese word for “signboard,” and it has become synonymous with demand
scheduling. Originally, the system was used to cut costs and manage the utilization of machines.

Today Toyota uses kanban to identify bottlenecks and to achieve continuous improvement. Kanbans, developed by Taiichi Onho in the late 1940s and early 1950s, are a key implementation tool for “just in time” (JIT) manufacturing systems.

With kanban, products only are produced either to replace goods being consumed by customers or to respond to signals your customers are sending. Key attributes of kanban scheduling include
reduced inventory, less overproduction, and greater responsiveness to changes in demand.

Kanban can be thought of as demand scheduling — meaning that the manufacturing plant
only produces goods based on their actual usage, rather than based on a forecast of what
will be consumed in the marketplace. You can use resources more efficiently if you replace
your traditional weekly or daily production meeting with kanban.

The 7 Wastes and the 8 Wastes

7, 8, 9 ,,,, how many are they really?

Well, in reality there are much more than 7 or 8. We normally use 7 or 8 because they cover all the major things and teaching 7 or 8 is easier that 9, 10 or more.

Here are some good ways to remember the 7 or 8 wastes. If you have more, please submit your comment

Tim Wood
T= Transportation
I = Inventory
M= Motion
W= Waiting
O= Overproduction
O= Over processing
D= Defects

Here is the other one

Worm pit
W= Waiting
O= Overproduction
R= Rework
M= Motion
P= Processing excessively
I= Inventory
T= Transportation

Another one

Down Time
D= Defects
O= Overproduction
W= Waiting
N= Non Utilized people (The 8th waste)
T= Transportation
I= Inventory
M= Motion
E= Excessive processing

Time Management Series Post (3) The True North, your goals

Having a clear set of goals allows you to decide what is really important for you on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.

Simply put if you do not know what is important for you, the chances are, you are going to spend your day performing urgent tasks that do not help you achieve your top goals.

So, How can you truly plan and manage your time?

1. Review your long term goals and priorities in your life
2. Review your long term goals and priorities in your company, department or team.

Knowing this allows you to identify the specific tasks that you need to pursue. The goals help you determine which tasks you should not be pursuing.

Does this activity help me achieve any of my long term goals?

well, if the answer is negative, you know that the activity should not be on your schedule.

Next: Trying to do too many things at the same time

Time Management Series Post (2) Understanding where your time goes

Do you really know where your times goes?
Often people wish there were more hours in the day when the answer lies in spending the time they have more wisely.

If you are able to get a better picture about where you are spending your time, you will see if this time is being spent effectively or if it is being waste in activities that do not contribute to your goals.

A lot of people underestimate how long things really take, if you try to do an experiment to find this out, you will be amazed all the time you spent in trivial stuff and quick phone call, these 2 could add up to 2 hours of your day.

Understanding when your are at your peak can help you schedule your time more effectively, for example if you know that right after lunch you struggle staying awake or you find it difficult to concentrate, do not use this time to read emails or go through complicated documents, instead use this time to group meeting or something different that prompt you to stay awake.

In order to find out where you are spending your time, try logging all your activities for a week. Try to record where you are spending your time. You should identify how much time are you spending on:

• Scheduled appointments
• Telephone calls
• Fire fighting
• Unexpected meetings
• Being interrupted by others
• Report writing and analysis
• Administrative work

Once you have identified all these activities, try to identify patterns in your time usage. You might find very interesting things like : unexpected visitors always come after lunch, or Fridays you are always spending more time on the phone.

Ask the following questions during your analysis:

• Does your time usage match your key responsibilities?
• How’s the payoff? you do not want to spend most of your time on activities with minimal payoff.
• What can be delegated? Remember, your role as a manager is to direct your team

It is important that you have a clear understanding of what your goals are and what you want to accomplish. Having this clear will help you identify activities that you should avoid or in which you should spend less time.

Next: The true North - your Goals

Practical Problem Solving (9) Step 8 = Standardize Successful Processes

Structure successes so that anyone can implement without muri, mura or muda

Share new standards through Yokoten (Yokoten is the process of sharing the success with the entire company. Can the solution found be applied to other area of the company?)

Start the next round of Kaizen to continually strive for the ideal situation

Develop a clear standard for the successful process. This will be your new baseline from which you will have to close the gap to your ideal situation

Ensure countermeasure effectiveness and identify what the checking process will be to visualize a gap/progress. What is the plan to Standardize and Yokoten?

Practical Problem Solving (8) Step 7 = Check both Results and Processes

Evaluate results and processes, and share it with members involved





Assess the overall results, and the processes used to achieve the results (Did you use a good process?)





Three key viewpoints need to be considered when assessing the overall results:

your own, the customers, and the Company's

Asking the following questions will help you do hansei on the problem solving process and the assessment process

–Did I learn from the process?
–Did it lead to customer and stakeholder satisfaction?
–Did we produce results or develop processes that will help the company?

Understand the factors behind the success or failure to accumulate knowledge and know-how. Please value processes as much as results, only constant results can be considered results (repeatable)

–Do not assume the outcomes of a project. See them first hand for yourself before evaluating.
–It is not enough to know what happening. Insight and improvement come from knowing why.

Next: Standardize Successful Processes

Practical Problem Solving (7) Step 5 and 6 = Develop and Implement Countermeasures

This is the part where you are really to get to solve the problem, so without preconceived ideas develop as many potential countermeasures as possible. Utilize your network of team members for ideas to get diverse opinions from inside and outside the company. This is an opportunity to seek bold and creative ideas.



Narrow down the ideas that are the most practical and effective. A helpful tool called a criteria matrix may be useful to look at items such as effectiveness, cost, risk, feasibility, etc.

Select the countermeasure to implement based on the overall evaluation of the proposed countermeasures.

Build consensus with others (Nemawashi) to achieve an increased level of speed and smoothness. Explain purpose, Target and overall problem solving process of Countermeasure.

Implement the Countermeasures

Create a clear and detailed action plan. When creating the action-plan, be sure to clearly identify the four W’s and two H’s of the countermeasures.

Who, What, Where, When, How & How much?

A helpful Tool called a Ghant chart should be used here to monitor overall effectiveness of your planned activities using the PDCA.

Helpful Hints: Identify an effective countermeasure that directly addresses the root cause. .

Ask yourself :

will this countermeasure truly fix this root cause?

Ask yourself

could this countermeasure create a new problem ?

Don't rely on past experiences. Involve all stakeholders

Make sure to follow up on the countermeasures to see them through. In order to accomplish this, check progress regularly and thoroughly communicate by reporting, informing and consulting with all your stakeholders.

Do not forget to also share negative news quickly since the news may influence what they are doing and they may need extra time to resolve issues.

Avoid potential risks and prepare contingency plans for unforeseen changes.

Never give up. If you cannot achieve the expected results, try other measures. No matter what difficulties we may encounter, through ‘trial and error’ we must always make the best attempt and strive to take the next step forward.

Next Step: Monitor both results and processes

Practical Problem Solving (6) Step 4 = Root Cause Analysis

First of all you have to confirm the situation of the problem occurring. Ask the following questions:



Do problems occur continuously or sporadically?

Do problems occur cyclically?



Without prejudice or preconception, consider as many potential cause factors as possible. A helpful tool for this may be the use of the brainstorming fishbone to help put your causes into categories.

Example: you can use the 4M: Man, Machine, Method, Material.....you can even add a fifth one Environment.



Confirm with facts through Genchi Gembutsu




You have a cause when you can show there is a link between the existence of your problem and the existence of another occurrence or condition.


The best way to demonstrate a Cause / Effect relationship is to remove or block the cause. If the problem goes away you have found a Cause of the Problem. This is how you check if you have found the root cause of the problem


Pursue and specify the root cause by repeatedly asking “Why?” and building a chain of Cause/Effect Relationships to the root cause

Stop when you believe you have reached the root cause and check to see if it this cause is effectively counter measured will it address all the causes up the chain?

When you are in the middle of this investigation listening to others, please beware of clarifying whether you are hearing an "opinion" or actual "facts". Example: It is cloudy outside, so it will rain today. The fact here is that it is cloudy outside, the opinion is that "it will rain today"

Next: Developing Countermeasures

What is a Process?

A series of actions (or activities) that transforms inputs (or resources) into a desired product, service, or outcome.

There are different types of work processes within the workplace.

•There is the process flow a “part/vehicle” follows throughout a sequence of defined work areas within production.

•There is a “standardized process” a team member follows that creates value-added work within a particular work station in order to ensure repeatability.

•In administration there are “standard operating procedures” that are followed in order to create a consistent output.

Practical Problem Solving (5) Step 3 = Target Setting

This step seems to be easy, but you should not fall on the trap. This step is very important, because you do not want to set up unrealistic goals, or set the expectations too high. Remember that Problem Solving is helping us improve continuously and at a steady pace.

Start with the prioritized problem at the point of occurrence.

Make the commitment about solving the problem

Set a measurable, quantitative, concrete and challenging target.

Be specific with the target, clearly identify how much and by when

Remember that with this process you are taking care of specific issues one step at a time, this will contribute to reduce your GAP to your ideal situation.

The following are some common mistake in Target Setting:

• Confusing "What to do" with the target
• Confusing the "Method" with the target
• Confusing the "Ideal Situation" with the target

These are some examples of good target setting:

Why do we set the target in step 3 and not in step 1 or 2?

Setting the target at step 3 can establish how much of the problem (GAP) we can address in step 1 by solving the problem to tackle. If we solve only one portion of the overall problem by solving the problem to tackle it the require us to decide how many other problems we have to tackle to reach the ideal situation.

It also narrows the focus for Root Cause Analysis therefore recognizing the impact of the countermeasures.

Next: Root Cause Analysis