Relearn to Deploy the 5S principle from Japanese Management
January 11, 2016 education , management 1 Comments

There is something about Japanese way of management that is impeccable, great to learn, easier to adopt and very fulfilling when followed. There are many leading management theories and principles in Japanese books of management that always comes handy irrespective of era or business you do. One such Management Principal is- 5S Methodology.

I have taught the 5S Methodology in a recent workshop and here's a recap of it those who missed it.

What is 5S Methodology- It is a simple workplace organization method that uses a list of 5 Japanese words starting from S. The 5S are-

Seiri
Seiton
Seiso
Seiketsu
Shitsuke

The 5s is a guiding principle to foster organizing the work place to drive in more work place efficiency and effectiveness. It is basically an organizing and decision making tool that comes handy even at your personal front. Here's what the 5 S means-

Seiri or To Sort : It is about keeping the required and removing the unnecessary items, and disposing them properly. Basically, to mean segregation and waste removal
Seiton or Set: It is about setting, streamlining all the sorted items to facilitate easy spotting and usage
Seiso or to Shine: This means to sanitize or scrub the resources in order to ensure that they are in proper working condition, clean and safe to work. The shine is also about the pleasing looks.
Seiketsu or Standardize: This is where decision making come sin. Seiketsu means to standardize the best practices in the work area, maintain orderliness and standardized every process.
Shitsuke or Sustain: Organizing is not a one time activity. So while you have Soreted, Scrubbed, Streamlined and standardized your equipments and processes, it is very important to ensure sustainability and continuity of the same "without being told".

Why 5S is important: We all know about "business time to market" and to ensure that 5S comes as aguiding principle especially in businesses like manufacturing which has large, complex processes and limited time. It is one the important tool to enable "Just In time" manufacturing. 5S can be used from manufacturing to health care, education, Government and other industries.

It is quite universal and enriching that I often use it at my home, kitchen and other activities too.

Well that's all for today folks. Do mail us if you want to write about any other managerial/ education subject/topic of your choice. If you want us to conduct a workshop for your students or employees, you can ping us too. Till then, live up the organized life.