What Is The "Set" Of Lean Manufacturing 5S?

By Michael Baker

In Lean Manufacturing 5S, there are certain steps that you must take in order to get your organization more efficient. And more specifically, there are 5 areas in the 5S initiative that will need to be followed for this to happen. The first step is the sort phase, where you decide what stays and what goes. The next step is "set", or "straighten." But what is the "set" of lean manufacturing 5S anyway?

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When people in the lean manufacturing worlddiscuss 5S, one of the areas they cover is the "Set" area. If you recall, the first step is to sort. You basically go through all of the stuff in an area and decide what stays and what does not belong. Once you have this done, you will already have a much better looking work area just because there is less stuff in there. Now, we need to find a place for all of this stuff.

This is where the set comes into play. What you are going to attempt to do is find a designated place for each and everything in the work area. There are many ways to do this, but let's look at 2 of them.

Use a peg board - This is a very simple step to put into place. All you need is a peg board, and a stand with wheels. The reason for the wheels is it gives you flexibility if you need to move it around again.

On this board, you will have outlines and labels of where everything goes. This task may seem mundane, and people may joke about the scissors having a set place, but trust me, when I say not to give up or relax one bit. This initiative needs to be firm and across the board.

Use tape - This basically means to have areas either on a table or on the floor that is taped off and labeled. This will give everything a home. Even the trash can will have a little circle of tape on the floor and be labeled trash can. This will ensure that only the trash can gets placed there and if it is not there, you will know this immediately.

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You should also try to get everything as close to the operation as necessary. This will eliminate much of the wasted movements of the person, and will basically make their job easier.

Getting all of the right tools in the area, and then giving them a place to call home, is basically what the "Set" part of lean manufacturing 5S is. It is easy to do, and will just take a little follow up to ensure is still being done. It will also give you work space a much needed makeover, make it cleaner, and easier to operate in.

Lean Manufacturing Secrets goes into detail about the different techniques and philosophies to implement a lean manufacturing 5S initiative.

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