I get asked often how lean can save shops money and I always answer "by eliminating waste." Lean management is the theory of eliminating waste by refining processes. As you journey through the lean process you will incorporate the 5S Kaizen philosophy and identify items in your operation that can be eliminated through one of the seven elements of waste.
The 5S Kaizen philosophy is based on five Japanese words that begin with S: Seiri – Sort, Seiton – Set in order, Seiso – Shine, Seitetsu – Standardize, and Shitsuke – Sustain. By progressing through the 5S steps you will develop habits that will streamline your operation, remove waste and ultimately save money.
The first step in the process is to Sort. Here is where you will do a waste walk. Look at everything in your facility and determine what is needed and what is not. One of the things I like to look at when I do a waste walk is what the body technicians are keeping. We all know they need a roll of 180 sandpaper, but do they need two or three? You will be surprised what your technicians have in their stash. How about rolls of tape? I would be willing to bet you can find three or four rolls slid on the handle of your masking machine. Why? Because they are going to need them.
I am sure they are going to need them but let's say they take them out of the supply cabinet on the 28th of the month, they are reordered and invoiced on the 30th. Your month closed on the 31st when you walk back and look at the masking machine you will find those same four rolls of tape. You did not need to buy those until the next month. A little example, but I bet that got you thinking about those extra rolls of sandpaper also.
Now that you know what you need you have to make sure everything has a place, or Set, in order. The technician above probably has two or three rolls of 180 sandpaper because he doesn't know where he put the first one, got a replacement and then found the first one. Did he return the second one back to the supply cabinet? Of course not, he could lose the first one again. What if he had a body cart that had what he needed on it and on that body cart there was a spot for a roll of 180 sandpaper. It would be where he needed it, when he needed it and you would not have the wasted expense of the extra rolls. This again is a simple example but I think you can see the pattern here as well as the value in setting things in order.
The next step is to make things Shine. This is more than just sweeping the floor and cleaning up an area, it also means checking out your equipment and making sure it's functional. Take a look at your welder, what do the nozzles look like? Some that I have seen are pitted and corroded causing the welding spool to stick. When the welding spool sticks the technician has to stop working, check out the problem, try to find a new tip or chase down another welder. A Shine action would be to assign the welder to a technician, put his name on it, and have him take ownership of the welder's condition. He would do the periodic maintenance, ensure it is always in working order and save you the lost productive labor caused by the welder breaking down.
This leads to Standardize. This is where you establish best practices and workplace controls to ensure that the previous three steps are followed. Create a wall chart of what the body cart should look like and then set up all the body carts to look the same. Develop a checklist of what should be inspected on all your equipment and when. Hang the checklist on the piece of equipment with the name of the person responsible for the maintenance.
The last step is the hardest. To Sustain what's above takes development of good habits and dedicated motivation. It will require buy-in from each individual in your facility. To get their buy-in you will have to involve them in the previous four steps so they will feel included. Sometimes this is a little hard after you have taken a couple rolls of 180 sandpaper and three rolls of tape from them, but they will come around. It will take patience, determination and most of all discipline.
I have just scratched the surface in this quick review of the 5S Kaizen philosophy. Look around your shop for areas where you can make a difference and where you can achieve savings. That's the great thing about lean and the 5S Kaizen philosophy, you can start anywhere and at whatever level you want and still realize a benefit.
