5S Management Methods Outside "Poetry" (1)

Editor's note: literally, 5S refers to 5 words starting from the Rome phonetic notation "S" with Japanese words, namely, cleaning, rectifying, cleaning, tidiness, and accomplishment.

These 5 words and what they mean sounds very simple, but they will have a profound impact on the culture of the company.

K is a printing company specializing in packaging corrugated boxes, screen printing and traditional offset printing.

2 years ago, the company launched a set of "printing management information system", which played a great role in the highly competitive printing market.

At this time, the general manager of the company, Mr. Hou, began to focus on the field of digital printing.

5S accepts the challenge from Hongkong, which is a joint venture between K and a company in Beijing. It introduces the new digital printing equipment and technology in K, and improves the printing information system of the company.

However, the joint venture negotiations with Hong Kong businessmen are not going well.

The other side put forward a lot of "picky" comments on the factory management of K company, such as paper, ink and tools in warehouses and workshops, which are not neat enough; the floor is not clean enough, and the oil on the printing machine is too "intolerable"; the workers' work clothes are also "dissatisfied".

Later, in the joint venture provision, investors insisted on "introducing the 5S method of modern production enterprise on-site management" as a necessary condition and wrote it in the contract text.

At the beginning of Hou Zonghe's management, the management felt that the Hong Kong side was "making a mountain out of a molehill".

"Not to do hygiene, to make the environment more beautiful", Hou always feels that these things are too "Pediatrics", and modern management, information management is virtually unrelated.

However, in order to carry out the joint venture smoothly, Hou agreed with his promise.

Months later, Hou recalled that these "trivial things" had "a sense of rebirth".

In 1950s, the "5S management method" that swept the Japanese manufacturing enterprises needs a lot of preparation and training.

Literally, 5S refers to the 5 words that start with the Japanese phonetic "Rome S", namely, Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and literacy.

These 5 words and their meanings are very simple.

At the beginning, everyone was very disapproving.

A few days later, the Hong Kong side sent to guide Mr. Mak, who was 5S, through the field investigation, using a large number of live photos and survey materials, so that the leadership and staff of K were shocked.

Mak found that on the floor of the printing shop, there are always different types of paper, including those that are used now, and those who do not know who moved in. The discarded ink and the detached roller and silk net lie in a corner of the workshop, which is full of greasy. The tools used by the workers are not marked.

The situation in the warehouse is not much better.

There is only a narrow, unsegregated channel between the shelves of paper, ink and fittings and the shelves of finished goods. The number and quality of goods do not agree with each other.

Sometimes, the surplus paper returned from the workshop is mixed with the new paper that is ordered, and no one can tell clearly how much it has been used.