When people spend time searching, or a problem sits unnoticed for days, the cause is often that nothing shows what normal looks like. 5S and visual management fix that: everything has a place, and anything out of place is obvious.
Where it comes from
5S comes from Japanese workplace organization, spread with the Toyota Production System. The Lean Enterprise Institute translates the five steps as sort, straighten, shine, standardize and sustain. Straighten is also often called set in order. (Toyota itself uses four, without sustain.)
| Step | Workstation | Accounts payable |
|---|---|---|
| Sort | Remove tools not used | Archive dead folders and old templates |
| Straighten (set in order) | A marked place for each tool | One folder per stage: received, approved, paid |
| Shine | Clean, and inspect while cleaning | Clear the exception queue daily |
| Standardize | Write and post the standard | One naming rule for invoice files |
| Sustain | Regular audits | A weekly check of the folder against the rule |
Visual management is the partner: boards, color, shadow boards, queue counts, so the state of the work is visible without asking.
How a bot helps
A bot can audit a shared drive or work queue against the standard daily: files out of place, names that break the rule, items sitting past their limit. It can draw the board: how many invoices at each stage, how old the oldest is. It can't walk the shop floor; a person does that, with photos.
On the bots' own work
A bot team's shared computer gets cluttered fast: old drafts beside current files, scratch folders, retired skills. 5S it. Sorting old drafts out of the working folder prevents the "rendered the wrong file" problem. See the current version at the point of use.
When to use it
When people search, wait on information, or miss problems that were visible to anyone who looked. Light. Sustain is the hard part.
Where bots differ
A bot can't judge which items are actually used; it sees what was touched recently. Before anything is archived, a person confirms. And a bot never deletes in a sort; it moves things to a holding area.
Sources: Lean Enterprise Institute: 5S.
Back to Engineering tools for bots.
Short outline
5S: short outline
What it's for
5S sorts, sets in order, cleans, standardizes and sustains a workplace or shared workspace so the normal state is obvious and anything abnormal stands out. Visual management shows the state of the work without anyone asking.
Columns
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Area | The workstation, folder, queue or board being organized |
| Step | Sort, set in order, shine, standardize or sustain |
| Finding | What was seen, with a photo or listing |
| Action | What changes. Removal means moving to a holding area, never deleting. |
| Standard | The written rule for this area |
| Visual signal | How abnormal shows: a color, a count, an empty space, an age limit |
| Owner | Who keeps it |
| Audit | How often it is checked and the last score |
Steps, each with its "done when"
- Sort. Done when every item in the area is marked keep or move to holding, and a person has confirmed the moves.
- Set in order. Done when every kept item has one marked place and the layout is recorded.
- Shine and inspect. Done when the area is clean and anything found broken or out of date while cleaning is logged.
- Standardize and make it visual. Done when the standard is written, posted where the work is done, and has a visual signal for abnormal.
- Sustain. Done when an audit is scheduled with an owner, and the first audit has a score.
Common mistakes
- A one-time cleanup with no standard or audit.
- Deleting during sort instead of moving to a holding area.
- A bot judging what is used from file dates alone.
- A board that nobody looks at.