INDUSTRIAL HOUSEKEEPING AND 5S

5S is a lean method for eliminating wastes in manufacturing and it is starting step to improve
performance and efficiency of production system. Reducing wastes in production and
improving productivity are essential goal for many facilities and 5S lean methodology can be
considered first step that is utilized to achieve these goals.

There are many things that need to elimination by using 5S technique. For example, plant can
include defective parts, unnecessary tools, dirt in workstations can be washed out with 5S also
orderliness is another problem for stations since bad orderliness leads to non value added
activities such as unnecessary movements and time spending to find right parts, tools for
workstations.

5S method includes components that are Seiri(organization), Seiton(orderliness),

Seiso(cleanliness), Seiketsu(standardized) and Shitsuke(discipline)

Seiri (organization)

Determining what is needed and what is unneeded for production is main objective of
Seiri.Gupta and Jain (2015) expressed that main goal of this step is eliminating useless parts.
Visual methods are most common type for distinguishing items. Dudek-Burlikowska (2000)
stated that there are several questions for red-tag which means that items are not needed for
workplace so it must be removed from place. Required quantity of items, frequency of needed
and investigating usefulness of items are main criterias for sorting. This step discards
unneeded items from facility since unnecessary parts take up space and can lead to mistakes.

Seiton (orderliness)

Basicially, Seiton identifies place of each item that provides better finding conditions for
workers. Workers can find required part easily because everything is organized therefore they
reduce unnecessary movements, rate of taking wrong items and time spending for searching.
Gupta and Jain (2015) expressed that labeling activities, using colors for items, painting
strategy, putting similar type of parts in a same place, and setting names and numbers for each
parts can be applied in this step. K.Kobayashi et al. (2008) asserted that orderliness increases
efficiency and effectiveness, reduces amount of work of worker and decreases mistakes of
humans (p. 247).

Seiso(cleanliness)

Third step includes cleaning activities of organization. That activities can be sweeping the
floor, cleaning the tools and equipments and removing sources of dirt. Although this step can
be considered as easiest one and ineffectual, many operations are affected by cleanness of
work environment. For example, Dudek-Burlikowska stated that employee performance can
depend on work area and clean, healthy environment increases motivation of employee that
also increases productivity.
Seiketsu(standardized)

Main objective of this step is that the three activities explained above will become a routine
and continue. That can be accomplished by work instructions and employees that are aware of
their responsibilities.

Shitsuke(discipline)

It deals with sustaining 5S activities in organizations. Gupta and Jain (2015) indicated that it
is the hardest step of 5S activities because many facilities apply 5S methodology for several
months nevertheless in longer period, they become unsuccessful to sustain these activities (as
cited in Peterson and Smith, 2001)

Advantages of 5S in facilities

According to Al-Aomar (2011), transparent process flow, clean workplace, reduced setup
times, reduced cycle times, increased floor space, lower safety incident/accident rate, less
wasted labor time, better equipment reliability are the main advantages of implementing 5S in
organizations. Hirano (1995) expressed another benefit of 5S that is product diversification.
Implementing 5S reduces setup time and serching time for finding dies and tools.
Furthermore, lower setup times increases diversification rate of product. Higher quality of
products is another benefits of 5S since workers can not take defective parts due to cleanliness
and orderliness in production area.

Patel and Thakkar(2014) asserted that 5S can be applied at all levels since concept is very
bacis and it can be easily understood by everyone in facility, it also creates team work
environment and increases aware of responsibilities (p.776).

In the study of Hodge et al.(2011), 5S is applied in textile industry compaines. Company E

that is a expansive maker of a differing assortment of yarn sorts starts to utilize 5S.
Representative of company indicated that while the company spent hundred of dollars for
investing 5s system, hundred thousands dollar were saved. Also, the company saved over
40000 dollars by implementing 5S project in the tool room (p.242). Another study was made
by Jimenez et al. (2014). Jimenez et al. stated that by implementing 5S methodology in the
laboratories of universty school of industrial engineering, they achieved many improvements
such as 30% reduction of preparation time, increasing available space by 25%, decreasing,
inventory and decreasing accidents in the laboratory (p.170).
 Hirano, H. (1996). 5S for Operators. 5 Pillars of the Visual Workplace. Tokyo:
Productivity Press

Al-Aomar, R. A. (2011). Applying 5S LEAN Technology: An infrastructure for

continuous process improvement. World Academy of Science, Engineering and
Technology, 59, 2014-2019.

Gupta, S., & Jain, S. K. (2015). An application of 5S concept to organize the

workplace at a scientific instruments manufacturing company. International Journal of Lean
Six Sigma, 6(1), 73–88. doi:10.1108/ijlss-08-2013-0047

Hodge, G. L., Goforth Ross, K., Joines, J. A., & Thoney, K. (2011). Adapting lean
manufacturing principles to the textile industry. Production Planning & Control, 22(3), 237–
247.doi:10.1080/09537287.2010.498577

Patel, V. C., & Thakkar, H. (2014). Review on implementation of 5S in various

organization. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications, 4(3), 774-779.

Jiménez, M., Romero, L., Domínguez, M., & del Mar Espinosa, M. (2015). 5S
methodology implementation in the laboratories of an industrial engineering university
school. Safety science, 78, 163-172.