5S team and startup - What do I need from Management?

[CMfgT]

Well I finally got the go ahead to do a full out 5S project in our Grinding department. We have a lot of room for improvement and I even have employees that are willing to be on a team that have been in a facility that started 5S about 4 years ago-and the best part they were both auditors.
I would like to have two teams (one on 1st shift and one on 2nd Shift) so both shifts feel ownership and responsibility. I have already done the initial 5S training and showed multiple images of what 5S is and what the “dirt and un-organization” in their department looks like. Now I need to make up a team. I want the operators to be involved, but I also need maintenance personnel on my team to build stands, shadow boards, fixtures for tools, help paint, get the paint..etc. I want the operators to paint and clean, but it would be nice to have a person dedicated to helping with 5S. In the past I did a small 5S along with my Black Belt project…but I did everything…painted, made the boards, organized, labeled tools, put together the tool cabinet…basically I did it all to get my black belt project completed. Well, those days are over, I am not trying to sound better than everyone, but I am ready to MANAGE the project and lead the teams. Can anyone help me develop a team to propose to upper management.

The department has about 20 on 1st, and 10 on second. I was thinking.
1 Director
2 team leaders (one on each shift)
2 Operators (on each shift)
1 Maintence personnel (on each shift)
1 Assistant (for posting data, making graphs, collecting info from auditors)
Then 2 auditors (one on 1st and one on 2nd shift) when the project is completed for standardize and sustain.

I can’t do this all on my own or they will not take ownership. How does the team sound??? What recommendations should I propose/demand from management? I need to pull operators away from production time…what is a reasonable amount to request? 1 hour a day? 10 hours a week?

This is why I came to the company 2 years ago...I am eager to succeed!

Thanks,

[wmarhel]

You need two things from management:

1) A committment that they will support the initiative. Getting a, "Sure, go ahead and do it." doesn't necessarily constitute as committment. Is upper management willing to lead the way? Maybe come out to help throw out garbage or clean some equipment?

2) A level of understanding of on what 5S is really about, and it just cleaning up an area. The idea behind 5S is to create an environment that is very visual and able to self-regulate itself.

Wayne

[KenQE]

In Reply to Parent Post by CMfgT

I need to pull operators away from production time…what is a reasonable amount to request? 1 hour a day? 10 hours a week?

My suggestion on pulling production operators away from production time. First let the team help define the process goals or milestones along the way. Then let the team (including the operators) estimate the time needed to reach the goals knowing that production cannot slide. And finally let the team determine how to accomplish the goals along with also meeting production goals. This will bring more team involvement and ownership, plus the experience operators probably know best how to squeeze in the time.

[Stijloor]

In Reply to Parent Post by wmarhel

You need two things from management:

1) A committment that they will support the initiative. Getting a, "Sure, go ahead and do it." doesn't necessarily constitute as committment. Is upper management willing to lead the way? Maybe come out to help throw out garbage or clean some equipment?

2) A level of understanding of on what 5S is really about, and it just cleaning up an area. The idea behind 5S is to create an environment that is very visual and able to self-regulate itself.

Wayne

I agree!

5-S is a total environmental and cultural change within an organization. Too often confused with a cleanup and wall-painting campaign highlighted with before and after pictures. Many organizations completely misunderstand the intent of 5-S. That's way the implementation of the last "S" fails....

If Management is not completely behind it, or better take the lead, 5-S is doomed to fail. But we have heard that one before haven't we?

Stijloor.

[janedoe]

Don't forget to post the measures for a 5S initiative. If it's not measured it won't be improved.

I developed an excel spread sheet to track the 5S projects, and linked them to savings among other things. I tracked, for example, the square feet of spaced freed up. It was worth (around) 125 dollars. That's a one-time savings. Reduced travel time due to searching in an un-organized area; quantity of boxes thrown away etc. are some examples of other things I measured in 5S projects.

[Stijloor]

In Reply to Parent Post by janedoe

Don't forget to post the measures for a 5S initiative. If it's not measured it won't be improved.

I developed an excel spread sheet to track the 5S projects, and linked them to savings among other things. I tracked, for example, the square feet of spaced freed up. It was worth (around) 125 dollars. That's a one-time savings. Reduced travel time due to searching in an un-organized area; quantity of boxes thrown away etc. are some examples of other things I measured in 5S projects.

When you reach your 5 post count, can you attach your 5-S tracking spread sheet?

Stijloor, Forum Moderator.

[wmarhel]

In Reply to Parent Post by janedoe

Don't forget to post the measures for a 5S initiative. If it's not measured it won't be improved.

I developed an excel spread sheet to track the 5S projects, and linked them to savings among other things. I tracked, for example, the square feet of spaced freed up. It was worth (around) 125 dollars. That's a one-time savings. Reduced travel time due to searching in an un-organized area; quantity of boxes thrown away etc. are some examples of other things I measured in 5S projects.

Hi Janedoe,

Don't take this the wrong way, but the space cleared up resulted in zero savings. It is still being accounted for as a fixed overhead. This is the reason so many claimed savings are often viewed with much skepticism by an organization's accounting department. Unless you could actually take that amount of space out of the overhead costs, it doesn't account (pun intended) for anything.

That being said, I don't agree with many of the accounting practicing practices in use today such as the need to absorb overhead which all too often results in over-production. What you should look at are those metrics which can impact the bottom line on a monthly basis. Of course there are many "soft" benefits such as improvements in morale and getting people engaged, but those won't necessarily make sense to the accounting crowd. As such, this has resulted in the interest of "Lean Accounting" methods, but at the end of the day GAAP stills in the accounting world in the U.S.

Just state the improvement as a decrease in floor space used, and present the savings as an "opportunity" should they be able to move a new product into that space. As groups free up space, I will typically have the area cordoned off and not allow anything to be put there until someone has an idea how to make money from it. On one hand it keeps it from simply getting cluttered up, but more importantly; it forces them to keep thinking about where the next improvement will come or what the next generation layout will look like.

Wayne

[janedoe]

I agree with you Wayne that the accounting practices are dis-functional. GAAP procedures have stayed essentially the same since the 1800's...what's that say for the world of accounting?

Isn't it funny that accountants will claim it costs 125 /sq ft to maintain a building, but when an improvement is accomplished in favor of a savings they refuse to admit the impact. Much the same as they do when claiming that the costs of carrying inventory is 10%. (Hahahahah....I never encountered a business where that was the case, rather, it was more like 45%...but I had to prove it).

At the end of the day the sad part is this: The man in the corner office listens to the accountant rather than someone who understands the drivers of business.

Oh well.