5S Deployment Analysis

5S is a fundamental pillar of a Lean deployment. The 5S exercise captures core principles of the Lean philosophy that facilitate the extension and development of a lasting lean implementation. Think of it as the foundation upon which a house is built upon.

While some think of it as a spring-cleaning, and position it as such, it is much more. Rather than think of it as a one-time event or something that is done once a year, think of it as the beginning of a culture and process that enables the pursuit and elimination of waste from your organization.

What Exactly Is 5S?

Simply stated, a 5S is the structured method to organize the work place. As evidenced by its name, there are 5 steps in a 5S. These steps are:

Sort:

Separate those things needed for the job from those that are not needed. Examples include obsolete and expired procedures, damaged and expired inventory, defunct/old equipment, etc. At the end of sort, unneeded items are disposed of (as in gotten rid of).

Set In Order:

For the things needed to do the job, put them in a logical order or logical placement to enhance the work process

The cart connects the nurse on the hospital floor to the supply/store of the hospital for common patient care supplies and special medical care supplies. The objective of a 5S exercise applied to the hospital cart would produce an end result of on time delivery of such supplies to the nursing stations. Nurses are notorious hoarders. They want to make sure they have needed supplies for their patients and inconsistent supply from the cart, whether it be the frequency of visits or the lack of supply on the cart, cause a behavior to create a ‘stash’ of supply. This hidden inventory is excess inventory. Multiplied across a hospital and network, the inventory impact can be significant. Hidden stashes of inventory lead to ‘lost’ inventory, obsolescence of inventory and damaged inventory. This further compounds the inventory