Lean manufacturing

The Five Principles of Lean Manufacturing
The starting point for most organizations that decide to implement a lean manufacturing strategy is with a 5S strategy, a collection of principles that guide a company towards more organized, efficient, and clean spaces throughout, setting the stage for deeper and more complex lean strategy tactics. Here’s what each “S” in 5S stands for:

1. 
   Sort: Sort through items and separate that which is needed and often used from that which is never or rarely used. (A red tag system will sometimes be implemented here.)
   
2. 
   Straighten: Every item should have a home that workers can visit to retrieve the item as well as return it when they’re done. Tools and other items should always be ready and easy to use, arranged in a way that employees can easily find them thanks to clear, simple identification. (Shadow boards are a frequent tool here.)
   
3. 
   Shine: Beyond the tidying that occurs in the first and second S’s, shining is cleaning regularly so other lean standards can be upheld and so defects aren’t missed under inches of dust and grime. This step can also include preventive and predictive maintenance.
   
4. 
   Standardize: Implement standard processes for tasks. This could be a standard method of reviewing and assessing your 5S strategy, a method to clock in and out, or a specific way to perform any other function in the business. SOPs are one method of standardization.
   
5. 
   Sustain: Ensure the sustainability of your 5S strategy through regular review and reassessment as well as continue to uphold commitments made within the current strategy to achieve the slow, steady, continuous improvements that are a foundation of 5S, lean, and Kaizen.
   
6. 
   Safety: Some standards are adding safety as an additional S, creating a 6S strategy, because safety can so heavily impact each of the previous five as well as create inefficiencies of its own.