The purpose of this process is to improve productivity, improve quality and improve safety. It is used to improve performance of a process. It is not used as a reason to clean up. It is used to improve a process once process design has been completed. Everyone should understand what they are trying to accomplish and why.
5S is an effective process in eliminating muda or waste. Think about the waste in your organization. How much time is wasted searching for something? How much time is wasted searching for something that works, buried in a mess of things that don’t? Why are things that don’t work kept with things that do? Why aren’t the sent out for the email? If they are broken and can’t be fixed, why don’t we get rid of them? How much time is wasted running around gathering needed supplies that are kept in no particular order? How much effort and more importantly, time can be saved by applying 5S? How will that positively effect our patients? How much more time can be spend with our patients?
All these questions can be answered by using 5S. It is a simple five-step process:
- Sort: Go through, set aside what you want to keep, get rid of the rest. If you are not sure, put those items in a 30-day pile. If, after 30 days you didn’t need it, throw it away.
- Stabilize: Organize what’s left in a logical sequence that supports the work being done and eliminates muda such as unnecessary movement, scrambling for supplies, etc. Developing a process map will show deficiencies in your process. You should also do this in conjunction with your spaghetti diagram to optimize your layout.
- Shine: Clean up the area. Inspect faulty or broken equipment and tools and either fix or dispose of them.
- Standardize: Standardize your layout and process. Label shelves so everyone knows where everything is kept. Document.
- Sustain: Make it the way you do business.