International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)

ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-11, September 2019

An Experimental Examination of ‘5S’ Technique

for Continuous Improvement of the
Manufacturing Process
Dhara Goswami, Ravi Kant Gupta, Bharmal Choudhary

 concern and the implementation of this technology take a

Abstract. Lean manufacturing is the way of continuous beneficial for safety of the workers as well as machines etc.
improvement, provide support and execution of lean production Furthermore, in this competitive environment, to achieve
system. This technique focused on improving quality of products,
the target industries to take best judgment and choose best
minimum cost, customer satisfaction and eliminating waste in
industry. This research helps out to find out the various strategies methods and not to lose very limited opportunities. This is due
of lean manufacturing. The main objective of this research paper to lack of effectiveness and scattered system in the industries,
is to study and analysis of improvements in waste reduction a well to implementing the 5S systems into the workplace. With the
as improving productivity using 5S technique for an automobile help of 5S methodology, leadership can create an
ancillary unit for its production shop floor producing components environment where quality work is comfortable, clean and
from where the entire data is abstracted by applying 5S evolution
methodology. Furthermore, the features and classification of 5S
safe in the industry and follow the specifications and
technique is discussed. compliance as per the specified standards and improve
Keywords: Lean manufacturing, productivity, kaizen continuously. It reduces unwanted waste and improve
productivity by maintaining system continuously in the
I. INTRODUCTION workplace [3]. Continuous improvement effort and
Lean manufacturing help in creating quality products to participation from top leadership is a main factor, determines
accomplish the ultimate goal of smooth and high sustainable the success rate of the 5S methodology. Main obstacle in 5S
products to satisfy the consumers. Implementation of lean implementation is communicant between top, middle
manufacturing is very important to compete in today’s management and shop floor employees [15]. Before
environment to manufacture the products based on customer’s implementing 5S system in the industry, management or
demand and it helps to meet and satisfy the end users also. leadership should understand the meaning of 5S, such as
It is irrespective of what type of product is manufactured, why-why, how-how, when-when the 5S methodology to be
this technique can be applied to each and every manufacturing implement. To implement this technology all the members of
plant. It is a workspace management method which was the manufacturing unit should be involved in implementing
emerged in Japan as a consequence of the application of the “5S” method in the manufacturing unit in order to maintain
kaizen culture [19]. It maintains the quality environment and active performance and survive the competitive environment.
cleanliness in the workplace providing a healthy environment
II. 5S METHOD
to work more efficiently for the workers working over there in
the particular workplace [1]. ‘5’s’ is a Japanese methodology to improve the workspace in
Lean manufacturers can provide with low cost and high a clean, efficient and soft manner. The implementation of
quality products in a limited time rate of the production and ‘5’s’ minimizes the time and unnecessary movement as well.
can be increased exponentially when compared to other In the particular review we find that the main goal is to reduce
manufacturing units. Lean manufacturing not only improve the waste and increase the production rate to meet the
the quality of the product, it also reduce the cost and time in customers demand. This method is very helpful economically
all aspect of production with the help of 5S technique [2]. and environmentally. It increases the worth value of the
Reducing time effects the productivity of the industry leads to industry. The implementation of the particular technique can
faster delivery that can satisfy the customer as well as improve make the company a world class manufacturing company.
The growth of the industry can be improved exponentially
the performance of the product. In India manufactured
from a small unrecognised to world Class Company. There
products are tested at each and every step in order to maintain
are the steps which can reduce the timings and improve the
the quality so this method helps to maintain the quality check
quality and manufacturing cost along with the target of
efficiently while working. The main factor that is most reduction in the cost. From small scale industries to large
important in manufacturing industries to satisfy and scale industries this method can be implemented successfully
improving the production and waste reduction, it is the major [4] [12][18][20].
The main motto is to keep the things in the correct place and
position to avoid the waste and unwanted actions but before
Revised Manuscript Received on September 06, 2019 the implementation of this
Dhara Goswami , Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, India-303007
Ravi Kant Gupta, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, India-303007
process in any manufacturing
Bharmal Choudhary, Manipal University Jaipur, Jaipur, India-303007 unit it is very important for
Corresponding author: [email protected]

Published By:
Retrieval Number K24880981119/2019©BEIESP
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.K2488.0981119
3494 & Sciences Publication
 An Experimental Examination of ‘5S’ Technique for Continuous Improvement of the Manufacturing Process

the top leaders of the industry to understand the method very

briefly. It eliminates the waste like: over production, defects,
over processing, transportation movement etc [5] [14]
2.1 ‘5S’ What is it?
A Japanese method introduced by Takashi Osada in 1980s,
method of workplace management which includes the
improvement of working environment, human capabilities
and productivity. The word 5S means 5 disciplines for
maintaining ideal workplace, reduce the unnecessary
movements and waste material [6].
These are the 5S in achieving the better quality requirements
and high performance in increasing the standards of the
manufacturing unit.
SEIRI = (SET-IN-ORDER)
Many times it also means sorting, removing the unwanted
Figure 1. Implementation steps of '5S' method
things that you don’t need, while working, first of all go
through all the tools, machines, equipment, materials etc.
III. PROBLEM STATEMENT
Then identify the items that are required and the items which
are not required. Then separate out the wanted and unwanted Discussing the problems that can be resolved by using the 5S
ones. Now only keeping the wanted ones, remove the techniques:
unwanted items from the workplace or store them in a • Proper utilization of space of space by sorting out the items
particular place if they might be of use in future [13]. This and storing the useful items near the reach while working to
makes the clean and clear idea to the workers at the time of reduce the unnecessary movements
machining / operations of what to use and making the • Storage of both wanted and unwanted items is done so that
workplace more spacious by removing the unwanted ones. unwanted items can be sell or use it somewhere else, hence
Thus making the workplace neat and clean and creating the reducing the waste
healthy environment leads to the more efficiently working of • Time can be saved by keeping the things at proper places so
workers in the workplace [7] [9]. that items don’t go missing during the time of operations or
SEITON = (SET-IN-ORDER) important items don’t get lost
In 2nd step after sorting it comes to set in order the wanted • Cleaning of the workplace after every cycle which
items are set in order and set the place of all the wanted things maintains the hygiene in the workplace
that will be needed while performing operations. Proper place • Time can be saved by regularly maintaining the machines
must be decided which is in reach and near the working area, or operation machine so that any mechanical problems
so that unwanted movements can be minimized. The workers doesn’t arrive.
involved also play an important role, which results in saving • Safety of the workers can be ensured, by maintaining the
time and increasing the efficiency and that helps in lowering healthy and good hygiene of workplace can reduce the risk of
the risk of important items getting lost/ found missing / workers falling sick.
searching during the operation performing time [8]. • Disciple and regulations are maintained.
SEISO = (SHINE) • A proper system is maintained for the operations to be
The 3rd step is to make the workplace shine by regularly carried out.
cleaning the workplace, by regularly calibrating the
machines/devices, by regular maintenance of machines IV. CURRENT STATUS
appearance, by keeping the equipment’s in good working
The awareness regarding the 5S terminology is not that high
conditions. Cleaning must be performed after the completion
in the manufacturing units due to lack of training and
of every cycle in order to remove the unwanted scrap and
communication gap between board top members and shop
leftovers of the materials. By doing so the hygiene is
floor workers. The present status of the company named
maintained in the workplace which leads to the healthy- happy
EECL limited involved in manufacturing the automobile
and friendly surrounding for the workers to work for long run
components and has production units in India. Its turnover in
without falling sick. This increases the motivation of the
2017 is 50 million dollar and supply parts to major car
workers to work in the manufacturing unit [10].
manufacturing company in India.
SEIKETSU = (STANDARDIZATION)
The present production system in the company is not smooth
The most important S among 5S it is the standard way in
line and company and management wants to improve the
which the operations are to be carried out [11]. Discipline is
current system to improve its productivity. So implementation
the main goal of standardization. It governs the above three S
5S evolution techniques find suitable to improve the existing
in proper decorum and increases the safety concerns of the
system of the organization. To improve this in first phase
worker, and with the help of this worker can work without any
employee is first trained and spread awareness among all
types of confusion if proper set of instructions are provided.
employees throughout the organization. As EECL defines the
Thus decreasing the over machining the products.
continuous improvement formula, monthly a 5S evolution
SHUTSUKE = (SUSTAIN)
audit report is prepared
Generally known as self-discipline that every
throughout the company and
manager/worker has to maintain with some principles along
employees are given
with procedures and with the help of this rules the entire 5S
incentives for maintaining
System is maintained.

Published By:
Retrieval Number K24880981119/2019©BEIESP
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.K2488.0981119
3495 & Sciences Publication
 International Journal of Innovative Technology and Exploring Engineering (IJITEE)
ISSN: 2278-3075, Volume-8 Issue-11, September 2019

established procedures. Being guided by the 5S principles, the

company improved its results each year since 2017.This case
study covers the data collected for the year 2016.
A 5S evolution checklist audit is prepared based on the 16
questions, is done in all production departments of the
company and rated on 5 point scale in which a point is given
by special committee and all these points are sum up and radar
chart [2a &b] were made. Based on the rating calculation
were made and histograms depicts fig. 3 shows the current &
previous status.

Figure 4: Correlation between 5S evolution and

Productivity

V. IMPLEMENTATION OF ‘5S’
The implementation of 5S requires the thorough
understanding of the system among all the members from top
board members to shop floor workers. It requires lots of
planning although it might seem simple.
For the very 1st step the top members should understand
about the system and among the members the one person
having a brief knowledge about 5S should lead and make the
other members understand the same. Then this top leaders
should be divided into various shop floors production system
and should be made in charge of the particular shop floor.
They should be regarded with the responsibility of
implementing the 5S method in the particular shop, for that
one should discuss the process with shop floor workers and
help the workers in implementing the method in daily
practice. As per the checklist assigned weightage were
calculated and these weightages and Statistical analysis was
performed with the help of SPSS that is free software readily
available with the goal to identify effectiveness of 5S
implementation on the organization performance. The
experimental design is made from two different steps that
were put in practice with the help of statistical SPSS.
Results should be noted before and after applying 5S
method and by using this technique significant improvement
in productivity is recorded. Due confidentiality of data we are
unable to present the data in this paper.

VI. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

Date were collected for past one year and correlation
analysis were tested and found that Pearson correlation (0.62)
The results and findings of the research study are that 5S
Level has a positive moderate
Pearson correlation (0.62)
with Productivity, with a
significance of 0.032. The

Published By:
Retrieval Number K24880981119/2019©BEIESP
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.K2488.0981119
3496 & Sciences Publication
 An Experimental Examination of ‘5S’ Technique for Continuous Improvement of the Manufacturing Process

table 1 represents the result analysis as well as scatterplot 15. Kaushik K and Sanjeev K 2012 International Journal of Management,
IT and Engineering Volume 2(6) 402-416
graphic for the two analyzed parameters and can observe the 16. Khamis, N., Abrahman, M.N, Jamaludin, K.R., Ismail, A.R., Ghani, J.A
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.Among the successful projects we should mention - Scrap 17. Mann D. 2010 Creating a lean culture: Tools to sustain lean
conversions (New York: Productivity Press)
Reduction, eliminating internal sorting, Improving 18. Dombrowski U and Mielke T 2014 Procedia CIRP 17 565-570
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Table 1 : Result of the study improvement through Lean-Kaizen concept using value stream map in
Indian manufacturing firms (2019) International Journal of Systems
5 S Level Assurance Engineering and Management, DOI:
Pearson Correlation 0.62 10.1007/s13198-019-00810-z
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Significance 0.032 Lean-Kaizen using value stream map: a case study in India (2018)
Productivity N 10 International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, 96 (5-8),
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VII. CONCLUSION roadmap for identifying continuous improvement opportunities in
Indian small and medium sized enterprise (2018) Journal of
After going through the analysis and through study and Engineering, Design and Technology, 16 (1), pp. 143-160.
implementation of 5S a noticeable change can be seen in the
efficiency of the outputs and reduction in time, increment in
production rate. The growth of industries can noticeably seen
from small developing industry to top world class industry.
Hence 5S technique is overall useful for growth rate of any
manufacturing industrial unit. This means that implementing
and maintaining 5S method and standards in the organisation
leads to improvement in efficiency of the organisation. The
need of 5S in any manufacturing organisation is highly
important. The requirement of 5S method implemented
represent one of the first step taken in the Lean Management
strategy and increase the productivity of the organization.
Moreover, due to 5S, the whole industry is clean, safe and
better environment and the product quality is increased. The
errors are easily identified and removed, waste and costs are
reduced. The product or service fulfils the customer needs in
most efficient and significant manner. Due to lack of such
wonderful system, lack of efficiency, workplace lead to waste
of time and resources, low quality products, mismanagement,
safety issues, delays in delivery and so on. 5S technique is a
starting point for any industry who wants to achieve their
goals and reputation and position in the market.

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Published By:
Retrieval Number K24880981119/2019©BEIESP
Blue Eyes Intelligence Engineering
DOI: 10.35940/ijitee.K2488.0981119
3497 & Sciences Publication