Lean Tools | 5S | 5th S Shitsuke or Sustaining | Definition and Technique For Implementation.

In 5S System achieving the 1^st 4our S; Seiri or Sorting, Seiton or Set in order, Seiso or Shining & Seiketsu or Standardizing is comparatively easy than the 5^th S; Shitsuke.   Shitsuke is the 5^th and the final step of the 5S method. It means “Sustain” or “Sustained discipline”, or “Sustaining through discipline”.

Maintaining exact discipline in the workstation so that all rules and actions distinct from the first, next, third and fourth S are followed until they are enhanced, the fifth S of 5S, actual meaning in Japanese is “Discipline”.

It is a Japanese word that carries an asset of culturing importance:

Discipline and training compulsory upon a person:

Children are trained by their parents to brush their teeth after each meal.

Self-discipline:

Children grow into adults who brush their teeth after each meal.

Shared cultural self-discipline:

Everyone is expected to brush their teeth after each meal.

Personal discipline to continually practice and improve:

Golfers follow putts and drives - they do not merely play one round on the weekend without practicing in between.

The responsibility for Shitsuke is shared between management and the workforce.

Managers should remind the employees of the 5S ethics, and support them through regular messages and behaviors.

In the Japanese language the 5^th S – Shitsuke is written as:

躾

The final stage is 5S - Shitsuke or Sustain, ensuring that the company continues to continually progress using the previous stage of 5S. Keep up housekeeping, and accomplish audits and so onward.

5S should become part of the culture of the business and the liability of everyone in the organization.

In the first four methods of 5S Series, we have been looking at the heredity of 5S practices. Shitsuke is typically written with Japanese hiragana syllables rather than the kanji characters consequent from Chinese. The kanji  has the symbol for “body, self, soul or mind” on the left side, and the symbol for “beauty” on the right. It means “self-discipline,” or internalized, self-motivated discipline. Discipline from the outside should step by step and naturally transform into self-discipline as a person matures. A Discipline, then becomes a continuous practice or a state of being.

5S has some principles. Such as:

1.       Introduce and support audit and certification programs, to formally ensure that the new standards are sustained and implemented.

2.       Develop Seiketsu (Standardized Cleanup) procedures and appraisal the criteria from time to time Conduct inspections to ensure the standards are met.

3.       Devote time and resources to the less-frequent cleanups.

4.       Provide training, storage space, cleaning supplies replacement parts and other resources as required to enable the standards to be met.

5.       Train new employees in the 5S methods, as well as explain  the principles.

6.       Communicate the 5S principles to the workers on a regular basis-perhaps by installing and updating posters that emphasize one or another aspect of the 5S program.

Visual Communication:

Communicating with other’s or understanding to someone is not an easy process. Here, sometimes language is not enough to understand anything. Guess, in a garments industry sewing floor, there in front of the machine a notice is hanged. Where a safety instruction says, “sit in your chair for working from the 2 inch away of machine.” The sentence itself is clear, but everyone has not a sense of 2 inches. Therefore, if there a visual explanation and notice, a tape marking is located on the floor 2 inches from the machine, letting everyone know what areas are unsafe. Communication discipline means using language that is clear, and checking that people have understood properly. It means using visual communication as well as verbal.

Leaders Behavior:

Leaders behavior should be a role model for the others. In Japan, after the earthquake of Stunami, Prime Minister Kon and the members of the Japanese cabinet changed from their usual business suits to the work uniforms usually seen in factories. This expressed their determination to work to get the situation under control. Government spokesman Yukio Edano gave a statement in the television was an apparent constant state of exhaustion. Similarly, in a Japanese workplace, everyone, even executive are expected to pull together and do what needs to be done in an emergency.

Self Control or Composure:

During the critical moment, bars and restaurants saw a severe drop in their business. Even Japanese who were not directly affected felt that they couldn’t feel good about themselves while others were suffering. Most people practicing voluntary as controlled from the buying of staples such as toilet paper, even though many were anxious about those items becoming short supply.

Shitsuke means that once procedures and approaches are affected, workers voluntarily carry out the 5S activities without having to be noticed. It should not be necessary to reward workers to perform their assigned tasks, or discipline workers for not doing them. Workers should continue to practice the activities even after moving to different workstations. Shitsuke means not just following the rules, but exhausting the common sense to recognize and react properly to 5S encounters. It means using your Brain.

 Md. Farid Ahmed
IE Officer
Fakir Apparels Ltd.
BSCIC Industrial Area, Enayet Nagar,
Fatulla, Narayangonj, Bangladesh.
Mobile: 8801814220987
E-mail: farid.ieconcern@gmail.com