LEAN 5S - Creative Safety Supply May 2014 | Page 20

Standardize Consistency is key We all have our own way of doing things. This kind of individuality is great in our personal lives because it makes life much more interesting and fun. Standardize uses three steps to make sure that the 5S pillars are getting done consistently and correctly: 1) Make sure that each employee knows his responsibilities. But non-conformity can be unproductive in the workplace. If your employees started doing things their own way, then things will start to get missed and conditions will slowly start to deteriorate. If they don’t know exactly what is expected of them, then how can they do it? The STANDARDIZE pillar seeks to utilize a set of schedules and checklists that can be easily followed so that each step is performed exactly the same way every day. They should have a clear understanding of their daily and weekly Sort, Set to Order and Shine tasks. Their responsibilities should be clearly written out on a checklist or a chart so that it can be easily accessed throughout the day. This way, each employee knows what he needs to do, when he needs to do it, and exactly how to do it. There is no room for uncertainty. Image, Top: Safety and Lean committee meeting to discuss 5S tasks and responsibilities - 18 -