5s Audit Principle, benefit and key tools you need to know

Do you now 90% of lean transformations program such as 5s audit end up in failure?. Why? Many mistakes are bound to happens since the 5s buzz words are everywhere. Yet small amount of relevant guide to deliver successful 5s program present.

based on research 5s program tend to Get barrier during Implementations. There are three main factor  that Is Impacting Lean program. The hingest One were Lack of Understanding of the program. Second  barrier from  top management. third the Sustainability of changes.

Basically  all the three of them can be resolved by having the same understanding of tools template,The metric being used to measure program succesfullness, and the deliverables to the bussiness. With decade of experiences in lean also seeing more than 30+ company strife to implementing 5s in factory and 5s in office. Here some tips to deliver successful 5s Audit.

5s Audit principle

Lean Manufacuring is not all about reduce cost and improve efficiency it also covers the human side inside the workplace. One of tools to implement lean culture are 5S. what is 5S? it is program that help you manage your workplace through 5 Set of activities and principles.

Since 5s are Program that Change the culture of the workplace, It needs to calibrated periodically. Following the cycle of PDCA, 5s program need scheduled audit in order to verify Consistency of the implementation. 5S audit also Important Since there are two ways of communication from 5s program Committee to 5S program Stakeholder.

At that time, we are in the middle of project development one of key product pipeline which is Midsized SUV car, we face some problem and in order to find the root cause we need to dissemble some of components inside the car.

Even though we are in the middle of pressure to finish the job. What I see and learn that he arranges the parts accordingly even the bolts and screw in very neat, very tidy yet quickly. Since he arranges the bolt in sequence of the assembly.

What I learn on those moment was one of human basic needs are feeling comfortable, one of element of comfort are clean environment wherever they are. At that time, we are in the middle of factory running test Area which is remote and in the middle of nowhere. However, clean workspaces create focus, since eyes capture almost billions information per seconds.

 5s Audit benefit

During decade working in manufacturing Business. I have been visiting 30+ sites within APAC and Europe. There is some distinguishable 5s program benefit from company that are implementing and the one that aren’t.

first benefit : Process clarity

When I had visiting some of company that are implementing 5s there are clarity what happen or what is going on. Every piece of process, raw materials and also the equipment naming are clear.

second benefit: High Ownership

Manufacturing shopfloor management lies in the middle management of shopfloor. the factory When 5s program are exist and successful, I do see how the operator explaining they task with different attitude which is high sense of ownership.

Third benefit: Lower Defect

This observation is one of the key items I do see in my greenbelt project. After implementing SMED and took 5s on managing the tools we do see decline in the scrap. Yes, I have done analysis with DOE, Probability plot, 2 sample T test and anything to find out the root cause of scrap. What I’m trying to say is the differences of the people aspects. As we try to eliminate variations within the process, I’m observing the 5s Score were increase as well.

5S Audit tools

Meanwhile 5S lean manufacturing pretty common program. Conducted by many companies it has highest difficulties, since the main idea of the 5S lean manufacturing are to change the habit of the people. To overcome these difficulties there are tools to monitor, discus, even to raise alarm the program status. Here some thus must have for 5S Program

Visual management Board

Good 6S program initiated with visual management board for shopfloor. These tools provide every aspect of 6S program such as the team of 6S including the steering committee, the 6S area map and area responsibility to give awareness of certain PIC for each dedicated area. For the non-shopfloor it will best use software such as excel or MS access as dashboard and deliver it timely regarding updates and the progress of 6s program

5S audit checklist

Meanwhile it is very obvious item bring by anybody but sometimes the program fails due to the simple issue such as redudance in the checklist of 5S audit and the low understanding of 5S audit check list either by the auditee and the auditor. For example, in the checklist of short there are item said that everything not related to work items should be shorted out. Meanwhile the auditee feels all the item he/she bring are related to work (i.e hammer for rework) but the auditor feels the frequency of the usage not really high the tools are sorted out. The aim of the 5s lean manufacturing were to ease the work but sometimes the auditor ask to remove the tools but in the practice the operator works more take longer during adjustment or repair. This might obvious but commonly happen.

5S tools for Red tag & Blue Tag

Red Tag and blue tag are essentials tools when it comes to capability program such as TQM and 5S lean manufacturing. The tagging gives the operator sense of owning the equipment also the feeling of transparency with the shopfloor management (line leader, shift supervisor or even cross function such as maintenance or SHE). But high commitment is the building block which occur frequently within this tool implemented sometimes tagging with more than one month progress killing the spirit of the program and leading losing the team engagement. This kind of issues should be reflected also during the internal audit checklist.

Conclusions:

5s lean manufacturing are good program to enhance culture however from study mentioned above it is not related with working service instead it is aligned with productivity. As lean facilitator it is important to connect our activity and deliverable result. 5S are easy to initiate however hard to maintain therefore 5s Audit checklist and also 5s tools are important key point to successful implemented your program. do you agree with this article or there might problem that arise during your 5S program? give us feedback or comment below.