Method 5S is a Japanese method characterized by the identification of five basic principles to improve our quality of life, principles that, in turn, are based on two pillars: order and cleanliness.
This Japanese technique can be applied in different circumstances of life, whether professional or personal, in fact, many companies choose to implement it to increase production and how to face the working day.
- The 5S method was applied at Toyota in 1960 to ensure a much more organized.
- Hygienic and efficient workplace.
- The company has sought to increase its labor productivity.
- Being one of the most used tools with the Kaizen method.
Since then, method 5S has been used in several organizations in different sectors for its wide distribution, in addition, it can also be applied in the educational field, as it helps to promote hygiene habits from an early age. , its psychopedagic foundation is based on the promotion of cultural change in relation to grooming habits imposed in educational institutions.
The Japanese 5S method refers to five fundamental principles beginning with the letter S. While this is a methodology that can be applied without any inconvenience in daily life, since it does not require prior preparation, it is important that it is strictly respected. maximize results.
Ideally, it is to practice this method in an organized and systematic way to be effective, because perseverance is one of the key elements of the technique and a way of naturalizing it as a way of life. These principles are:
Seiri is a selection process in which what is not necessary is omitted, the person makes an analytical effort to identify what he really needs and then separate these elements from what only takes up space, so ideally after this selection, The respective elimination of everything that is no longer used is carried out and that , in addition, it means a nuisance.
Another advantage of this selection is that it identifies the necessary elements and the person is not yet their property, an appropriate criterion to give some importance to the objects is to ask when they were last used, if you find that it has been more than a year, the ideal is to throw it away.
In this way, this selection prepares the work material for the next step, which is to choose the best location for each item.
This is the second step and is characterized by the organization, in particular, the goal is to place the objects in the right place and identify the most important ones to be able to store them in more accessible places.
In this way, you can define certain classification areas. In short, it’s about organizing the entire workspace so that the loss of energy and time is minimal when it comes to finding something.
It is at this point that the cleaning itself is done, the idea is to remove all the dirt to get a really clean working environment, in addition the ideal is to identify the main source of dirt and prevent it from accumulating.
Identify and resolve anomalies so as not to create a chain effect, so you’ll remember that cleanup should be maintained every day to prevent it from cluttering again.
Finally, a routine is established to follow, improving day by day thanks to discipline, so we must continue to work always keeping in mind the 5S as a method of order, hygiene and efficiency.
Applying the 5S method to work is a way to control spaces and optimize time, however, it should be remembered that it is a methodology perfectly usable in personal life, in which the classification, organization, cleaning and identification of anomalies or problems facilitate the path to well-being.