Have you heard of the term 5S before? Do you know that there is a specific method on how clean-up which is more efficient? Most of us just go through cleaning as if it is a chore. But, why must it be? Does cleaning up need to be a chore?
There are few ways that you could do your own clean-up, just do it method like what Nike is promoting, or if you are a bit of OCD like me, could go through series of step and probably make it fun along the way.
We all went to this, searching for items which are not in its place? Moving from one room to another because the place gets cluttered? Your friends or mother in law just call over to say hi and ending up telling that he/she is 5 minutes from your house. What a nightmare!!! With 5S it should not be.
Why do you need 5S?
The key to cleaning up is to imagine how the area should look like? How would you feel once it is clean? How would you feel when it is fully arranged? and how would you feel when you could find anything that you want in an instant rather than screaming at somebody about it?
Its all about the feeling, which is why I put up the serene greenery picture. Something of a peace of mind when your house or or place or where you are staying in in its prime condition. Not prime because of it is new, but prime because you feel happy with it.
It’s a peaceful place you call HOME with the help of 5S.
An office could be a home, a room could be a home, hey even a pantry could be a home if you feel safe, secure and peaceful inside.
Let’s join the journey with me on getting a peaceful home. Choose and pick your location, or place that you want to feel home, and I’ll help you along the journey of discovery. I hope you enjoy my blog and stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Which cycle are you in now?
To make it clear, I maybe getting compensation for product sold and any advertisement available as a result of my content.
With that, I hope to be serving most of my readers in a positive tone moving forward. May all our life be made easy in the future, and have a blissful day ahead. 5S are able to move a lot, but it does require that we work and take action.
All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.
Walt Disney
What is in 5S?
5S consist of a 5 step process which is derived from the Japanese under the concept of Total Productive Maintenance. In 5S, 5 basic steps are followed meticulously from start to finish. These step are develop in such a way to ensure that the process could be develop into a daily habit and routine. 5S requires that a change in the way we do things. 5S requires that we embrace some new habits and follow a standard process. The 5S start with:
1. Sort / Seiri
This is the basic of 5S, the first step. This is where we sort and remove all the unnecessary items. This step is the most important step in 5S. Most people did not even move from this step. One of the key habit in this step is JUST DO IT and take action. Generally this is the step which I would propose, do not over think or wait until the best time comes. It will never arrive. Instead I always advice my client to just schedule a time weekly say Friday afternoon and just contentiously do it till it finish. Else, if you are those impromptu types, then just find a day and clean up and sort out everything in one go.
There is no better time than NOW.
2. Straighten / Seiton
This is the 5S step, once you have removed all the unnecessary item items, and are ready to move into doing a better arrangement. In this step, you will figure out how to do a proper labeling, and how to ensure that you could easily find what ever you want. 5S concept will definitely help you to reduce your searching time. When did you last forget where you put your car keys. By following 5S steps, you will find the most suitable ways so that your searching time is eliminated to 0.
3. Shine / Seiso
Everybody thinks that cleaning is suppose to be a cleaners job. In 5S, you are the cleaner. You know very well how your house, office or workplace is than anybody else in the world. You want to make it comfortable. Figure out how you could reduce your cleaning time time to minimum. In this blog, you will learn how to clean effectively, and how to create a cleaning schedule. Perfect.
That is not the only thing. CLR is the keyword.
Cleaning, lubrication and re-tightening. 5S embraces totality and a fully optimized system. A minor defect is a defect that will create havoc and chaos in your life. All these could be solve by performing a simple system of cleaning, lubrication and re-tightening at the designed time and schedule. You design the time and schedule according to your need. The tool is there.
4. Standardize / Shiketshu
Basically 5S systems consist of major activity in step 1,2 and 3. Once you have completed the step 1, 2, 3 you have completed the major hurdle of 5S. However, that is not the end. Standardized is important. You need to make it obvious that something are wrong. Something are out of order and something which is not suppose to be there. Standardized creates a system of expectation. The same when we go to McDonalds, we expects them to taste the same, and the service to be the same and the place to be the same. If there are any out of sync, we could detect it immediately. That is what standardised in 5S system is all about. Detect the deviation when it is there.
5. Sustain / Shitsuke
This is the most challenging step in 5S. To sustain is the most important step. Discipline is key, and we need to always repeat the whole process again and again. In 5S what is important is the continuous improvement or Kaizen. We do not expect our first cycle to be perfect, neither our second and so forth, but we do expect them to improve in time.
As the saying goes, today should be better than yesterday, and tomorrow should be better than today. That is the gist of Kaizen.
As long as we are improving the system and our workplace, we will be living in a great and happy place.
5S Journey
5S is a journey not a destination. Let’s start the journey forward and always think it as a system. A journey of a thousand mile start with a single step. The first step is Step 1: Sort / Seiri. Go through the system.