Five S is a system which helps an organization improve its workplace along with the workplace culture. It also helps reduce waste and optimize workplace productivity. Five S is a combination of the following five S’s: Sorting, Systematic Arrangement, Shining, Standardisation, and Sustenance. There is one additional S that is as important as the other facts of Five S, which is Safety. Hence, it also termed as Six S (Five S + Safety).

Five S philosophy is a good beginning point for all the improvement efforts aiming to eliminate waste from the manufacturing process, and ultimately improve the bottom line of the company by improving products and services and lowering costs. A lot of companies are looking forward to making their operations more efficient & effective. This concept is highly attractive to any manufacturing facility looking for improvement in their bottom line by reducing costs.

“Place for Everything, and Everything in its Place – PEEP” is the objective of this method.

The Five S methodology is a simple and universal approach that works in all kind of industries across geographies. It is essentially a platform for other manufacturing improvement frameworks such as Just-In-Time (JIT) production, cellular manufacturing, Total Quality Management (TQM), or Six Sigma initiatives, or Total Productive Maintenance (TPM) and is also a great contributor to making the workplace a better place to spend time.

The above mentioned are few of the known facts of Five S. In this article, we intend to share 6 surprising facts of Five S:

1. Five S can save time and improve your efficiency by 20%

An international survey has found that an employee loses up to 2 hours of his/ her fruitful time per week over searching for lost information or digital documents. But by the help of 1^st S – Sorting, you can save all those 2 hours.

Another research by Harvard Business Review shows that the clutter at the workplace is leading to stress which is costing businesses up to $190 billion every year. But, with the help of 2^nd S – Systematic Arrangement, you will never lose even a penny!

2. It can improve your visuals and save search time by 90%

As per research by Thermopylae Science + Technology, human brain process visuals 60,000 times faster and adapts it. Via Five S & Visualisation, around 90% of the total information can be transmitted to our brain through visuals, which is the 4^th S – Standardisation.

3. It is practiced by the world’s leading Fortune 500 companies

Five S is more than mere housekeeping and hence it is practiced by many of the fortune 500 companies. It is the foundation for all improvement initiatives. It has helped companies to save millions from its original expense and has helped them to invest the same for further improvement.

4. It is applicable in the service sector as well and has helped a bank save up INR 30 million

Five S has helped one of the leading Indian banks save INR 3+ crore rupees in the last decade. The bank is implementing Five S and has also claimed to have saved on an average INR 7.5 crore (INR 75 million) with the help of the quality control programs conducted at the bank. It was Five S that contributed up to 50% of the savings.

Earlier the retrievals of the documents used to take about 2-3 days but now it takes only 30 seconds.

5. Just by spending 10mins every day for Five S, companies can save millions

Five S has helped several organizations with millions of rupees. They were able to do this just by spending fixed few mins (~10 mins) each day for practicing Five S. Progressive organizations allocate specific time for conducting five s activities on the shop floor.

6. Bonus fact: Couple Safety with Five S and your Five S initiative will go a long way

As per data reported by Business Standard, in the year 2018, 121 employees died on the job in India’s top firms. This shows that workplace safety is one of the most important aspects of any organization. The employees of any organization are the most important asset of the organization. So, making sure of their safety should be the prime duty for any organization.

Team Faber Infinite has been working with clients from across the industries and geographies on Five S. We have helped the client deliver phenomenal results.

Call us to benchmark and audit your Five S practices and thus become best in class.

Written & Compiled by Faber Priyal & Faber Mayuri