Monday, May 14, 2007

Is "5S" a strategy for Operational Excellence?

Not really. Five S (5S) is a five pronged effort to create a workplace suitable for lean production. The five Ss caome from the original Japanese names, but the common desriptions are:

Sort: seperate needed items from uneeded items and remove anything that is not needed.

Simplify: neatly arrange items for use.

Scrub: Clean up the work area.

Standardize: Says that you will sort, simplify, and scrub everyday!

Sustain: The fifth S says to always follow the first four Ss.

Wer can help with your lean implementation, but as always we like to cherry pick improvement tools from a variety of methodologies to help you improve your operations in a way that makes sense to you - not a one-size-fits-all.

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