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The Japanese 5S' System - Part I PDF Print E-mail
Written by Namucana Musiwa   
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 00:00
During my first year at Boart Longyear Zambia Limited, Drilling Division (which Trywell Muwowo sometimes referred to as the Drinking Division), our Managing Director, Peart Siwale, without notifying us in advance, one day came armed with a camera and without explanation took shots of staff in their offices and scenes from different offices, stores section, canteen and workshops.  He also took shots of several parts of our surroundings and went as far as taking pictures of the inside of desk drawers for individual staff and tool boxes.  I’ll never forget how embarrassed most of us were when, during the next quality circle meeting, Peart passed around the pictures.

One of the pictures was of my office showing an old typewriter, that nobody was using at that time and was stored on top of a filing cabinet.  Several pictures showed the inside of desk drawers from different offices clustered with papers untidily stashed.  One of the most amusing pictures exposed a machine operator’s tool box spotting a small tin of cobra floor wax and a hair comb.  Pictures of surroundings showed some pieces of broken furniture, bodies of old vehicles, heaps of scrap and overgrowth in one or two corners of the yard.  While Boart Drilling prided itself with clean surroundings, we were certainly not as neat as we ought to have been.  Peart asked us whether the filing cabinet was the right place for a typewriter and also wondered if an old typewriter that had outlived its usefulness had any place in the office of a Personnel and Administrative Officer.

He then went on to talk about what is known as ‘The Japanese 5S’ System’.  He referred to the five ‘S’ as Five Key Ways To A Total Quality Environment.  He also cautioned us that the five ‘S’ system was not new to anyone – it was about things that everybody knew about but very few took seriously.  And indeed the five ‘S’ is a common sense approach to improvement but again as we all know common sense is not very common.
I wondered why I had not thought about the concepts in that manner myself! 

Being exposed to the five ‘S’ system changed my life forever and I was perplexed at the simplicity of the concepts which I found could easily be applied even at home.  I also found, like my workmates did, add new words to my vocabulary exciting.  What is even more interesting is the fact that you do not even need money to apply the five ‘S’ – you may need to spend money and time on training, purchasing cleaning detergents, bins, tools and mutton cloth but you do not need to invest huge sums of money into the five ‘S’ system.  You can stick to your existing budget on the same items and still make a difference.  All you need to do is win people’s commitment to the five ‘S’ system.  People must see the benefits of a totally clean and tidy environment.

As soon as I had learnt about the five ‘S’ I too went and taught my household about it and would occasionally remind them when they seemed to slip back to the old ways.

The Japanese 5S’ System is about five Japanese words that constitute housekeeping and are a precondition for effectiveness, efficiency and all-round quality.  With quality and positive minded staff, every service provider can certainly provide excellent customer service.   These five words are ‘Seiri’, ‘Seiton’, ‘Seiso’, ‘Seiketsu’ and ‘Shitsuke’

Seiri means sort out.  Distinguish what you need from want you do not need.  Seiton means arrange.  Once you have sorted out what you need from what you do not need arrange the things you need in an orderly manner.  Seiso means clean your work area, home or environment.  Seiketsu means standardize while Shitsuke means discipline.  To apply the 5S’ consistently you need to have a high level of self-discipline.

For the next three weeks or so, I will share with you the meaning and relevance of these five words.  Although the 5S’ movement obviously results in major improvements in the workplace and home, it is even more important in changing the way people approach their work and what they do.  It is crucial in enabling people to see things clearly.

It is impossible to mount a 5S’ campaign with just one or two people.  You need to have everyone actively involved.  Each of the individual things that need to be done is simple enough in itself.  The difficult thing is  to keep doing them.  This requires determination, persistence and cooperation.  But that combination in turn creates a  new sense of team identity and a better corporate climate.

If we are serious about Making and Keeping Zambia clean everyone must embrace the Japanese 5S’ System.  We will not only improve the outlook of the country in general but we will be less wasteful, healthier, more productive and more efficient.  We will not be embarrassed when visitors come to our homes or offices unexpectedly.  We will be proud to host any of the teams that will participate in the World Cup in 2010 and also proudly host their fans.  In a sense the five ‘S’ can help boost our tourism potential.  What does the Japanese 5S’ System really mean?  Keep on reading.
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