An allusion to 5S? example? Can you tell me the story, thank you!

Literally speaking, 5S refers to five words starting with the Roman notation "S" of Japanese words, namely: cleaning, rectification, sweeping, tidiness, and quality. These five words and the meaning they express sound very simple, but they will have a profound impact on the company's culture...

K Company is a printing company, mainly producing corrugated boxes and silk for packaging. Screen printing and traditional offset printing business. Two years ago, the company launched a "printing management information system", which has indeed played a great role in the highly competitive printing market. At this time, Mr. Hou, the general manager of the company, began to set his sights on the field of all-digital printing.

Accepting the 5S Challenge

The joint venture project being negotiated between K Company and a Hong Kong company is to introduce new digital printing equipment and processes into K Company, and at the same time transform the company's printing information system.

However, the joint venture negotiations with Hong Kong businessmen did not go smoothly. The other party made many comments about Company K's factory management that Mr. Hou considered too "picky": For example, the paper, ink, and tools in the warehouse and workshop were not neatly arranged; the floor was not clean enough, and there was too much oil on the printing press. "Unbearable"; the workers' work clothes were also "unsatisfactory"...

Later, in the terms of the joint venture, the investors insisted on "introducing the 5S method of on-site management of modern production enterprises" as a necessary conditions, written into the text of the contract.

At the beginning, Mr. Hou and the company management felt that the Hong Kong side was making a fuss out of a molehill. "It's just about doing hygiene and making the environment more beautiful." Mr. Hou felt that these things were too "pediatric" and had nothing to do with modern management and information management.

However, in order for the joint venture to proceed smoothly, Mr. Hou still agreed.

A few months have passed, and Mr. Hou recalled these ‘trivial things’, “with a feeling of being completely transformed”.

The shock of "trivial things"

Promoting the "5S management method" that was popular among Japanese manufacturing companies in the 1950s requires a lot of preparation and training.

Literally speaking, 5S refers to five words starting with the Roman notation "S" of Japanese words, namely: cleaning (Seiri), rectifying (Seiton), cleaning (Seiso), and tidiness. (Seiketsu), literacy (Shitsuke).

These five words and their meanings sound very simple. At the beginning, everyone was very disapproving.

A few days later, Mr. Mak, who was sent by the Hong Kong side to guide the implementation of 5S, conducted an on-site investigation and used a large number of on-site photos and investigation materials to give the leaders and employees of K Company a strong shock.

Mak discovered that there were always piles of different types of paper on the floor of the printing workshop, some of which were currently in use, and some that "I don't know who moved them here"; discarded ink and dismantled rollers The tubes and wire mesh lay in a corner of the workshop, covered in grease; the tools used by the workers were not clearly marked, and it took a lot of trouble to find a suitable tool.

The situation in the warehouse is not much better.

There is only a narrow, unisolated passage between the shelves where paper, ink and accessories are stacked and the shelves where finished products are stored. It is common for the product numbers to be inconsistent with the goods. Sometimes, the remaining paper returned from the workshop is mixed with the reams of new paper, and no one can tell how much has been used.

Mr. Mak also checked the MIS system that Mr. Hou was proud of, and checked several computers placed in the Planning Department, Sales Department, and Purchasing Department, and found that the files on the hard drive were also in chaos. There are randomly created subdirectories and randomly created files everywhere. There are some subdirectories and files that you don't know what is inside unless you open them and look at them. Moreover, Mr. Mak discovered that there are many types of file versions, including outdated files, temporary files, wrong files, or multiple copies of a file.

In Company K, everyone has been accustomed to the following phenomena for a long time: the things you want can never be found; the things you don’t need are not thrown away in time, and they seem to be “getting in the way” at any time; in the workshop, On the desk, in the file cabinet and in the computer, there are such "don't know" everywhere - I don't know who this is; I don't know when it was put here; I don't know if it is still useful; I don't know if it should be used. Clear it; I don’t know how much it is...

"In this case," Mr. Mak asked Mr. Hou bluntly, "How do you ensure the quality of the product? How do you ensure that the data in the computer is true? How to boost morale? Enhance employees’ sense of honor and mission?” For the last question, Mak pointed to a dusty slogan posted on the wall, “Regard users as God and quality as life.”

Cleaning, rectifying, cleaning

Mak divides the work of promoting 5S into two major steps. The first is to promote the first three "S", namely cleaning, rectifying and cleaning.

Cleaning up means clarifying what is useful for each person, each production site (such as work stations, machines, locations, walls, storage racks, etc.), each desk, and each computer. , which ones are useless, rarely used, or damaged.

Cleaning is to sort out the defective products and non-essential items mixed with good materials, good tools, good accessories, and good documents. What should be dealt with should be dealt with on the spot, and what should be discarded should not be regretted. "Especially electronic 'waste'," Mak warned managers, "can greatly reduce your work efficiency; the constant search, confirmation, and comparison of files will waste a lot of working time."

Reorganization means to label and distinguish each cleared "useful" item, tool, material, and electronic file in an orderly manner, and place them in "according to the reasonable layout of the work space and the actual needs of the work." "Within reach" and "eye-catching" place to ensure "ready to use".

"Reorganizing" sounds very simple, but judging from Mak's experience, it is actually a very careful work. For example, computer file directories are the best example.

"Generally speaking, time, version, nature of work, and file owner can all become key factors in document classification." Based on his own experience, Mak introduced to everyone in detail "What is electronic Office". For a company that gradually uses computers and the Internet to manage production processes and handle daily affairs, how to properly handle the relationship between paper documents and electronic documents is an important part of developing good "electronic office" habits.

“In the process of electronicization, if the bad habits of ‘dirty, messy and poor’ in the manual work environment are brought in, the harm will be huge,” Mak said.

Cleaning, simply put, means doing a thorough cleaning. If problems are discovered, correct them promptly. However, "cleaning" is somewhat different from what people used to call "spring cleaning" in the past. "General cleaning" only solves the problem of "environmental sanitation" on a matter-of-fact basis, while the goal of "cleaning" is to "discover the source of garbage." In Mak's words, it means "checking, checking, and inspecting while cleaning."

Cheerful mood

With the gradual deepening of 3S (cleaning, arranging, cleaning), the windows of the workshop and office were wiped clean, and the sanitary dead corners were also cleaned up, including warehouses and filing cabinets. , file directories on computer hard drives, various forms and ledgers, and other "key rectification objects" also have a new look. However, no one, including Mr. Hou, felt that there was anything special about the "miracle medicine" introduced by Mr. Mak.

However, Mr. Hou admitted that there have been some subtle changes in everyone's mental outlook: people's mood seems to be much better than in the past, and the loose habits of some "informal" people have been somewhat restrained; The statistical data submitted are no longer the "muddled accounts" that "can't bear to be asked" in the past. The work surface and office environment are indeed much cleaner.

This is of course not all of 5S management.

Based on the results of the previous stage of rectification, Mr. Mak advised Mr. Hou: "The key points, or difficulties, of 5S management are not just to correct a mistake or clean up a certain garbage; the core of 5S management is to make continuous and effective improvements. activities to cultivate a meticulous professionalism and cultivate the professional qualities of diligence, thrift, pragmatism and discipline."

According to Mak's suggestion, the company began the second step of promoting 5S management: implementing the last two " S”, one is neatness (Seiketsu) and the other is literacy (Shitsuke).

The basic meaning of tidiness is "how to maintain a clean state", that is, how to persist in making a clean and orderly work site the standard of daily behavior; the basic meaning of literacy is "cultivating sentiment, improving "Cultivation", that is to say, consciously and voluntarily implement these very basic principles and norms in daily work, restrain one's own behavior, and form a style.

Mak further explained that the last two "S" are actually the concentrated expression of company culture. It is hard to imagine that customers will have a sense of trust in a company where garbage and dust are everywhere; it is also hard to imagine that employees will have a huge sense of responsibility and have a huge sense of responsibility in a work environment where discipline is lax, the environment is poor, and waste is everywhere. Ensure production quality and labor efficiency; in addition, not to mention that in a "dirty, messy, poor" enterprise, information systems can play a huge role.