At first glance, 5S is about good housekeeping. It is, but it goes much further. It is really about changing the mindset, about making orderly and standardised operations the norm rather than the exception. The 5 S concept is one of the cornerstones of Lean Management and has had a long association with the Shingo and the Toyota Production System (where, however, it is known as the 4S system). It is fundamental to both TPM and to total quality, and has almost invariably been the first programme taken by Japanese compares in the UK when taking over operations in a British factory. 5S has a direct impact on safety, cost, quality, delivery, and on OEE.

The 5 S's stem from 5 Japanese words. It is a name that has stuck, despite the fact that few English speakers understand the Japanese words. There have been a number of attempts to use English words whilst retaining the five S's; for example the Shingo version refers to Sort, Straighten, Shine, Systematise, Sustain. However, these are generally unsatisfactory. We have adopted a Western version, origin unknown, called CANDO whilst still referring to the concept as "5S".

C is for Cleanup. This is about removing all items (especially accumulated dirt and grime, but also inventory, paper, furniture, tools, memos, manuals, rubbish, filing cabinets, etc) that are not required or are unnecessary within a period ahead. Such items are waste, or lead to waste. They take up space, lead to extra walking around, and lead to waste of time whilst searching for needed items buried under piles of less important material. An office example is the "clean desk" policy run by several companies, requiring employees to have a clear desk at the end of each day. In the office beware of paperwork that is shuffled, reread, and searched through often several times per day. It's all waste. Cleanout also includes fixing: any tools or equipment that is broken or not calibrated must either be thrown away or repaired - decide which, and act.

There are two approaches. One is to begin with a longer period (say 6 months) and to clear all that is not foreseen to be used within that period; then to reduce the period until you are working with only (say) this week's items. The more common approach is to "red tag" items that are not in use or where there is uncertainty. Dates are written on the red tags. Tagged items are then removed and either thrown out or, where there is uncertainty about the future use of the item, placed in a holding area. Tagged items remaining in the holding area for more than say 6 months are thrown out. Red tagging is best done by in focused areas, one at a time. "Blitz" one area, then move on. Red tagging should also be done by both operators from the area, who should be issued with say 4 red tags and challenged to use them up, and by red tag pairs comprising a supervisor from the area and an outsider. Cleanup is also an opportunity to review the floor paint layout and policy. Are the aisles in the right place bearing in mind the requirements for flow, are the colours used appropriate, and so forth. Finally don't forget to include windows, walls (are those posters still appropriate?), lighting, and the overhead beams and roof.

A is for Arranging; "a place for everything". This step aims to arrange the workplace and it's associated tools, equipment and inventory in the optimal locations. The analogy between the kitchen and the garage is often used. In the kitchen, cutlery is kept in specific slots in a specific drawer; in the garage tools, rags, and half used tins of paint often lie around for ages. The goal is to make the workplace not only good and easy to work in, but also that anyone should be able to locate the necessary equipment. Reaching, bending and walking should be minimised. It is really about having things easy to hand, labelled, classified, and easily visible. Time wasted should be cut by careful location of tools and materials. Do a Pareto in order to locate the most frequently used items closest. It may be possible to incorporate some failsafing: cords attached to tools, racking or slots that do not hold other than the correct tool.

Instructions and standards should be clear (drawings better than words), up to date, and be located at the workplace. Shadow boards may be used for tools, books arranged by topic, shelves not too high, wheels on carts, heavy low and light high, colour coded connections and pipes, and so on. It is also about inventory: having specific locations or footprints for specific parts, perhaps painted squares, minimum and maximum quantities shown, and of course a limit on excessive parts delivered lineside too early. When combined with cleanup, this lays the foundation for the kanban system. Taking arrangement further means thinking about overhead "Andon" boards, signalling systems, progress boards, charts and graphs, and establishing responsibility for them being kept up to date. A major consideration should be consideration of the correct size for pallets and boxes, and the arrangements for their movement so as to avoid double handling.

N is for Neatness; "everything in its place" and ready to go. The simple fact is that the cleaner or tidier a location is, the easier it is to see if something is out of place. Once again, the garage analogy; with clean garage an oil leek is seen straight away. Neatness has a direct impact on productivity: searching for lost papers and tools should be eliminated. It is also a safety issue. Responsibility for Neatness should lie with the operator, not with cleaners. Good 5S programmes establish what are termed "5 Minute Cleanup" routines. Here, each operator develops his or her own 5 minute per day clean and check routine, for each day of the week. Note that this is not left to chance; it is a carefully timed and documented set of actions that are to be undertaken on specific days of the week. The documentation, of course, should be kept at the workplace and should for instance specify what abnormality looks like and what cleaning agents should be used. Neatness and cleanliness extends to non-seen areas: machines need to be clean inside and out - in fact, making the innards of machines visible by using transparent covers is desirable. Routine maintenance may be incorporated: oil every day, replace after 5000 sheets, and "aircraft style checks" where items are checked at the start of every shift (have you ever been into a bank to discover a non-working pen chained to the counter?). One important activity is identifying which maintenance activities are the responsibility of the ordinary staff, and which are the responsibilities of specialist maintenance staff. Responsibility for the photocopier is good example; clearly define who is responsible for what: secretaries, staff, specialists.

D is for "Discipline". This step aims to keep the factory or office in a "Chief Executive's visit" state all the time. The thought here is that it is easier to keep things going, than to stop and restart over again - like the momentum of a train. This is not discipline in the army sense, but rather getting into the routine or mindset of keeping up the standards and procedures established in earlier steps. The difficulty of achieving this should not be underestimated; Toyota reckons it takes several months to establish this with a new employee. So what is required to keep up the momentum? First, a regular audit. It is a good idea to establish a 5S committee of operators themselves and get them to establish the audit checklist. But remember to include the not-so-obvious: clothing, corners, waste bins, stairways, windows, signs, electrical connections, as well as the obvious machines, jigs, and stores. The audit time should be at random intervals. The audit checklist should not be used only as weekly pat on the back, but as a means of detecting any deterioration, and the reasons for that deterioration. But rewards and recognition, both intrinsic and extrinsic, are also part of the game. Intrinsic rewards include recognition of good work, perhaps by a weekly "floating trophy" and built into staff evaluations, and extrinsic rewards may include small prizes or vouchers. Much would depend on company culture.

Finally, O stands for Ongoing Improvement. This is maintaining the tempo of continuous improvement. Here we should not only be concerned with cleaning up spillage of oil and so forth, but asking why the spillage occurred in the first place. Get to the root cause. This is Juran's views on "chronic" and "sporadic" defects; whilst it is OK to tackle sporadic defects by fire fighting, an attack on the underlying and continuing sources of defects means that the effects go on and on and on. How do we move towards this? First, by establishing clear standards so one can move from standard to standard. Second, by a continuing Pareto attack on the recurring sources of problems, which means having records to do this. Third, by tightening the red tag horizon. Fourth, by seeking pokayoke in regard to housekeeping; for example machines that will not start before routine checks have been made or audible warnings that activate if bar codes are not scanned. And we also need to repeat the Cleanup activity at regular intervals because products and tooling changes. Most of all we need to encourage a questioning culture combined with visibility - so that if something is out of place or missing it is not only noticed, but also questioned. This takes years of management persistence.