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What is 5 S (5C/CANDO) Training?

5S training is a set of techniques providing a standard approach to housekeeping within the workplace. It is often described as more than just simple housekeeping however, and the elements listed below certainly have broader implications.

The cornerstone of 5S is that an untidy, cluttered work area is not productive. Along with the physical implications of cluttered and untidy work areas, it is generally accepted that employees are fair happier in a clean and tidy environment and therefore be more inclined to work harder with due care and attention.

Listed below are the 5 premises that adhere to 5 S training:

SORT

The first area concerns itself with identifying the work area and conducting a critical assessment to ensure that employees are sorting their area for best practise.

SET

The “setting” process is essentially a continuation of the Sort phase in as much as once an area has been identified as needing attention, various items will be removed, discarded or held in an alternative location to create space.

SHINE

The principle for the Shine section is that employees are happier and more productive in a cleaner environment. Of course, if everything is sorted and set in a proper place, then it will be immediately ready to use. The task of establishing a clean working environment is a continuous and ongoing task.

STANDARDISATION

This section concerns itself with ensuring that all the implemented processes become standard practice within the workplace. The danger in any new process is that when focus moves, things revert back to the way that they were. This section therefore ensures that the new processes become standard procedure by setting a schedule by which all elements are revisited on a regular basis.

SUSTAIN

The final stage of the process shows a fundamental difference between Standardisation and Sustain. Standardisation is the introduction of a formal process to ensure that the new processes are maintained. Sustain however concerns itself with changing people’s approaches to win “hearts and minds” on the new processes. Therefore this is changing the employee’s culture within the workplace to ensure that the new processes are changed with the employee themselves wanting to take responsibility for the actions themselves. This can be achieved by looking at the following key points:

Communication: Ensure that the employee understands the aims and goals of the process and why they are being implemented. This would be the ideal opportunity to give employees themselves the chance to voice their own ideas.

Education: Ensuring that the employees understand the concepts and the individual techniques.

Rewards & Recognition: Rewarding individuals for good practice.

Time: Ensuring that people have the time to implement the systems.

Structure: A clear and defined structure of responsibility for the implemented systems, including what is to be done by whom, when, why, and ensuring that schedules are updated and clearly visible.