5S Explained (Sort of)

Pierre Dolet wrote a Note to The Cube yesterday about his company starting up a "5S" program. What is a 5S program? Well, a simple link for those who do not trust the Cube's interpretation is http://tpmonline.com/papakaizen/articls_on_lean_manufacturing_strategies/5s.htm.

And a (very) brief summary of the 5Ss would be:
Seiri - Sort
Seiton - Set in Order
Seiso - Shine
Seiketsu - Standardize
Shitsuke - Sustain

For those who do trust The Cube's spin on things . . .

5S is one of those "workplace 'philosophies' " (and the word 'philosophy' is double-quoted with reason) that seek to provide guidance on organization principles that can make things work smoother and more efficiently. Much like the Judeo-Christian-Islam evolution, this philosophy has its own progression: 5S - Lean Manufacturing - Six Sigma. Much like all of the religious philosophies, the origins were humble and well-meaning -- while the descendants have become, well, contentious in their divisions between fundamentalist blind adherents and those who try to understand the spirit of the thing. Both have their true prophets and hypocritical leaders - ah, but which is which?

The humble origin: Japan, bombed to rubble, turned to its traditional backbone characteristics of discipline, order and minimalism to rebuild the nation's industrial base. There were also assumptions of hierarchical loyalties and paternalism left inherently intact, if unsaid, but a key one was: you give your all to the company, the company is your home until you retire. Much like the U.S. auto industry -- until the 1970s.

So Japan's economic success was apparent to all in the 1970s and 80s, losing some of its shine starting in 1990 or thereabouts when it hit a recession which traditional answers have not found a way of resolving so far. But, by then, the American business management books had already been written for a decade about the "secrets" of Japan's economic success -- written and taught in the MBA programs for a decade or more. And, now, those MBAs are the Captains of Business & Industry, taking what they learned . . .

Now, trust the Cube for a moment, this is not a slam on the 5S-and-descendants philosophies --- but the Cube does note that those books and MBA programs tried to have the best of both worlds without really understanding either.

In America, for instance, the common phrase "Get a life" means that the job isn't everything and immediate self-gratification is part of the commercial equation -- and everyone buys into the concept of Democracy (whether or not we practice or understand its full implications). In Japan, those just weren't part of the equation when these workplace philosophies were developed: there were (still are) class divisions - and self-sacrifice for the larger goals of the group is intrinsic. Pierre Dolet, in his Note yesterday, mentioned that 80% of his company's manufacturing workforce is Mexican: still another psyche stirred into the melting pot of ideas.

But our MBAs and business books took only the form of the 5S philosophy, without questioning the underlying assumptions.

Drama - or comedy - ensues . . .