5 S? A lean machine?

[MIXONE]

I'll say...

Fuck it...

[marty]

Western Manufacturing has had a love affair with (essentially) Toyota manufacturing methodolgy. Interestingly, their corporate culture failed spectacularly in F1.

Have a look at their current culture - rushed, clean at expense of safe, covering things up to save face....

[mashman]

Be thankful that you're not in Italy lol

[neels]

We're getting a similar, although less buzzwordish message at work about tidiness. We are told to chuck stuff away if it's broken or it's bits left over and not leave it lurking in that box under the desk just in case it comes in handy one day.

Interestingly, several times that one day has come along but we no longer have a couple of bits that we need or a dead one to pull apart to burgle parts off or get part numbers to repair another one, so we end up buying stuff in instead.

More efficient and cost effective apparently.

[schrodingers cat]

We're getting a similar, although less buzzwordish message at work about tidiness. We are told to chuck stuff away if it's broken or it's bits left over and not leave it lurking in that box under the desk just in case it comes in handy one day.

Interestingly, several times that one day has come along but we no longer have a couple of bits that we need or a dead one to pull apart to burgle parts off or get part numbers to repair another one, so we end up buying stuff in instead.

More efficient and cost effective apparently.

You do know that it is one of the cornerstones of the universe - the day you throw away the mouldering 6 year old pile of shit in the corner is the week you'll need some of it...

Seriously though, this is where a bit of common sense comes into play. Used brake pads/spark plugs/stripped bolts/worn bushes/empty boxes/broken pallets, lets face it, they're rubbish and should be chucked.
I 'work to my rubbish bin'. As I'm doing a job I assess what is shit and throw it away. If worth keeping it gets labled and placed in a logical storage place. Occasionally I biff something I should have kept but don't lose any sleep over it.

Simple procedures can make a massive difference. When I had my workshop I ensured the guys put stuff back as soon as they had finished using it. 20 seconds putting something back was cheaper than 5 guys walking in circles for 4 minutes saying 'where the fuck is the ....?'

[AD345]

5S

It is the essential first step to building a culture of continuous improvement

It is not an end in itself nor is it a quick fix for productivity for profit improvement or operational effectiveness

Done right it is an invaluable tool for instilling cultural change, engaging staff and beginning a very worthwiile journey

Done wrong it is a complete waste of time and money and can be very DIS engagng as promises made are not sustained


Mom - PM me if you want to go somewhere with this. This (CI, TQM, TCO, 6 Siigma and more jargon than you can shake a stock at) is what I do and I do OK with it.

[neels]

Used brake pads/spark plugs/stripped bolts/worn bushes/empty boxes/broken pallets, lets face it, they're rubbish and should be chucked

20 seconds putting something back was cheaper than 5 guys walking in circles for 4 minutes saying 'where the fuck is the ....?'

I have to admit that I quite often keep one shagged part, in case I need to take it into the idiots at repco when I need one to put it on the counter and show them that the one their computer says is the right one is not the right one.

But in general I agree, and I should do it more often, it would save me a lot of time sorting out my garage.

My dad even throws stuff away now, which is a major achievement. But after sorting out his workshop and finding he had 50 odd cortina tie rod ends and out of those about 12 good ones (enough to keep his car on the road for another century) he decided it probably wouldn't hurt to chuck some things away.

[schrodingers cat]

http://www.despair.com/viewall.html

[mashman]

What about workplace culture?

lol, usually a myriad of policies and procedures brought in by new management... policies and procedures that don't actually fit the "culture" of the workplace... but they know best they're experienced managers ...

I would venture that the main departmental performance indicator (snigger) would be staff turnover... something that isn't taken serious enough (oh and happy bday )

[ynot slow]

When I worked for a nationwide company the company had national dept guys,for various depts,under our manager who was national manager soft furnishings we had another few,one decided that starting at my desk this was how we are setting them out.The idea was she or any other person(14 of us)could be dropped from Welly to Invers and step into functionality immediately.The price folders in compartment 2,invoice books 3,quotes in file 4 etc.Was a good idea,till I suggested that I was left handed and desk set up that way,although ambidextrous at times,and my term was maternity replacement,seems she hadn't thought of that,just wanted safe uncluttered work areas,never mind you could be working on quote 1 and Mrs Smith wants to query her job,MrJones rings and gives go ahead etc,might take 10 mins to get it done but her idea was clear each file straight away.Me I was happy to have them all at my reach,then wouldn't forget the Jones file because it ws at hand.And after being in the field for 20 yrs within 3 companies thought I had it pretty streamlined,but the manager in her wisdom(6mths)deemed any ideas but her own were WRONG,until her ideas were Wroong,then it was someone elses idea.

[doc]

Shit we delt with that old chestnut when I was a NZ Dairy Foods back in 1998 then when I was at Gilmours it was brought in in 2006 they even got the same yarpie bloke that run the sessions at Dairy Foods to run it at Gilmours As he recorgnised me from NZDF he tried to rope me in to champion the shite at Gilmours with no luck.

Well it's back. Now it is been rebranded as "Operation Excellence" modelled from Toyota. It's a nice idea but can't see it working cos the negativity of those that aren't the champions.

The 5s part is being done by people who don't even do the job. Other people laying out your work area and tasks.

Sort of time and motion stuff.

Time will tell.

[Subike]

Does this practice acually have a label?
Amazing...
I'm not taking the piss out of it, but
in my experiance of having a workshop where these were not instituted meant that,
the cost of replacement tools due to being lost was high,
lotsof small injuries which could have been avoided .
Unnessesary cleaning presonel had to be employed,
The cost of the "she will be right" discipline meant production time lost
The difference betweem making a profit and just wasting time trying to make a profit is S5
A clean workshop, with just the right tools inmediatly at hand with continuous spick and span cleaning , constant reminders of saftey and employee discipline meant that profit was made,
osh was happy the workers got paid top rates, and it was a fun place to work.
Not a fad, but 5 S should be in every workplace as a mater of course it you want to operate a profitable business.
Assembly line type workshops are where this profits the most.

[Mully]

It's a nice idea but can't see it working cos the negativity of those that aren't the champions.

Oh yeah, Champions (capital is important). We call them Green Belts and Black Belts (depending on their level) in our madhouse.

Not a fad, but 5 S should be in every workplace as a mater of course it you want to operate a profitable business.

Agreed, but the trouble is, it's not the workers who are driving it (and who should be as a matter of course) - it's the "Champions" (who are usually "managers" with nothing to do) who insist upon it.

I had a "manager" who decided that he wanted everyone's desk cleaned (not just tidied) before they went home each night. He actually seriously suggested that we could all effectively stop working at 1630h every day so we could have our desks clean by 1700h. I had to go over his head and make the owner over-rule him because he failed to see how stupid that is.

I've worked in freight forwarding for over 10 years - as a rule of thumb, anyone with a completely tidy desk isn't pulling their weight (of course there are exceptions). I have trays where files go (to be done, pending XYZ, etc), but at any given time, I might have 20-30 files on the go.

5S is like a lot of things; great ideas if the plebs do it - not so good when it's rammed down their throats.

[mashman]

Efficiency experts teaching old dogs new tricks... it'll never work lol...