Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Cart (0)
  • Account
  • Search
Lean Enterprise Institute Logo
  • Explore Lean
        • What is Lean?
        • The Lean Transformation Framework
        • A Brief History of Lean
        • Lexicon Terms
        • Topics to explore
          • Operations
          • Lean Product & Process Development
          • Administration & Support
          • Problem-Solving
          • Coaching
          • Executive Leadership
          • Line Management
  • The Lean Post
        • Subscribe to see exclusive content
          • Subscribe
        • Featured posts
          Muda Corporation: The Pitfalls of 5S

          Transforming Your Organization with Lean Thinking and...

          Edgar Schein and John Shook at the Stanford Lean Healthcare Academic Conference.

          In Honor of Dr. Edgar Schein: A...

          • See all Posts
  • Events & Training
        • Custom Coaching and Learning Experiences
        • Co-Learning Partnerships
        • Forms and Templates
        • Featured learning
          • Lean Summit 2023

            March 08, 2023 | Optional Pre-Summit Workshops March 6-7
            Tucson, Arizona

          • Key Concepts of Lean Management Remotely 

            March 13, 2023 | Online Live Course

          • Building a Lean Operating and Management System 

            March 21, 2023 | Boston, MA

          • Improvement Kata/Coaching Kata Remotely

            April 10, 2023 | Online Live Course

          • See all Events
  • Store
        • Shopping Cart
        • Featured books
          Managing to Learn: Using the A3 management process

          Managing to Learn: Using the A3 management process

          Learning to See

          Learning to See

          • See all Books
  • About Us
        • Our people
          • Senior Advisors and Staff
          • Faculty
          • Board of Directors
        • Contact Us
        • Lean Global Network
        • Press Releases
        • In the News
        • Careers
        • About us

The Lean Post / Articles / Muda Corporation: The Pitfalls of 5S

Muda Corporation: The Pitfalls of 5S

Line Management

Muda Corporation: The Pitfalls of 5S

By Marius Gil

February 14, 2017

In the latest installment of his "Muda Corporation" series, Marius Gil shares nine common mistakes he has seen people make with 5S.

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPrintComment

5S is undoubtedly one of the most popular lean methodologies. It is even enjoying more acceptance in sectors traditionally reluctant to embrace management systems that come from different industries (namely the automotive industry – “We do not make bolts and screws” is a statement that I have heard repeatedly). Among others, I am referring to the food industry, healthcare and pharmaceuticals. In most of these sectors, people feel that the story behind the implementation of 5S fits well into their way of working and their own culture.

Unfortunately, no matter how positive their approach to 5S is, I have seen some organizations confuse 5S with the whole lean philosophy. In other words, they tend to believe that lean starts and finishes simply by setting up a 5S program extended across the company. Eight other common mistakes I’ve seen companies make with their 5S efforts are featured in my new installment of my Muda Corporation series.

Muda Corporation: The Pitfalls of 5S

This reminds me of a case of a pharmaceutical company I worked with, in which a new plant manager had been recently appointed. At first glance, the plant showed excellent examples of visual management and 5S concepts. A closer look, however, made it clear that some of the panels were not updated, the standards were not respected and not all the instructions were known by the staff. When the plant manager inquired the staff about these anomalous issues, his fears were fully confirmed: under the pressure of the group policies, the staff misinterpreted the 5S concepts, overwhelming work areas with information panels signs and labels that rarely helped to the needs of the process. 

To cope with this situation of widespread confusion, he took a bold decision: he removed all signs and panels, deleted zonings and drove the process back to the basics, obviating the bulk of useless information built up over the years in response to erroneous assumptions. For many months the support functions and even the management team worked hand-in-hand with the production team on the shop floor, discovering where new standards were required and consequently redefining them. 

One year later the plant manager explained the benefits of the new approach: the plant was now fully equipped with the necessary standards and most of the support functions had established their office on the shop. But the most valuable lesson probably was that too much information can be just as wasteful as a lack of it.

Sometimes we mix up the need to apply the 5S concept in everything we do with the need to develop 5S workshops in all areas of our companies. The first point is a real must while the second one is clearly a mistake. All lean tools should be applied in line with a pull system: only where the process shows its weaknesses and we understand its causes.

FacebookTweetLinkedInEmailPrintComment

Written by:

Marius Gil

About Marius Gil

Marius Gil was introduced to Lean Management while he was working in the automotive industry some twenty years ago. From that early date until present he has coached a large number of professionals during the transformation process of their company. Today, Marius combines his continual learning process with other activities addressed to spread the lean culture through teaching, writing, consulting and designing training games.

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related

Turner Case Study: Lean in Construction

Line Management

Respect for People: Making the Job Easier for Workers

Case Study by David Drickhamer

businessman at start line

Line Management

Managing the Work from Startup to Scaleup

Article by Michael Ballé and Nicolas Chartier

data center

Line Management

Improving the Value-Creating Work of Building Data Centers Around the World

Article by Lean Leaper

Related books

Toyota Way of Dantotsu Cover

The Toyota Way of Dantotsu Radical Quality Improvement (Paperback)

by Sadao Nomura

The Gold Mine Trilogy 4 Book Set

The Gold Mine Trilogy 4 Book Set

by Freddy Ballé and Michael Ballé

Related events

March 08, 2023 | Optional Pre-Summit Workshops March 6-7
Tucson, Arizona

Lean Summit 2023

Learn more

March 13, 2023 | Online Live Course

Key Concepts of Lean Management Remotely 

Learn more

Explore topics

Line Management graphic icon Line Management
Operations graphic icon Operations

Subscribe to get the very best of lean thinking delivered right to your inbox

Subscribe
  • Privacy Policy
  • Sitemap
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

©Copyright 2000-2023 Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc. All rights reserved.
Lean Enterprise Institute, the leaper image, and stick figure are registered trademarks of Lean Enterprise Institute, Inc.

This website uses cookies to improve your experience. We'll assume you're ok with this, but you can opt-out if you wish. Learn More. ACCEPT
Privacy & Cookies Policy

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these cookies, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Non-necessary
Any cookies that may not be particularly necessary for the website to function and is used specifically to collect user personal data via analytics, ads, other embedded contents are termed as non-necessary cookies. It is mandatory to procure user consent prior to running these cookies on your website.
SAVE & ACCEPT
Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!