Hiding the Evidence

No, this is not a reference to a James Patterson novel. 

Rather a reminder that a tidy office or facility will not solve problems and might hide evidence needed to show a necessity for a root cause analysis and counteractive behavior.

Is it alright to discard an item if it is identified as a non-production part? Is the discarding onto the scrap heap of a non-production item harmless to a company?  If it was a missing link in an item production it would lead to a work stoppage until the piece that was missing the part was found. 

This is ideally when and where an organization should implement a 5S program.  Just as refresher 5S is a system of: Sort, Set, Shine, Standardize and Sustain.  For some 5S is merely a housekeeping method rather than a problem identification system.  Housekeepers merely find any place to store the item as opposed to an orderly method.  The process should be to ask “why” until we find the basic cause and take action. The premise of 5Y is to ask “why” at least five times to unearth the root issue. 

The connection between 5S and 5Y should be robust.  The outcome of 5S program is a tidy office or facility.  However, the outcome should not be the goal.  Five S should be a troubleshooting program and a way to uncover and fix small problems before they become big ones.  

Five Y is the investigative part of Five S.  When running the 5Y part of 5S must ask the essentials: where, when, why and how.  Until those questions are completely answered followed by corrective action 5S merely becomes a useless “toy”. 

Perhaps, an example might be enlightening.  This is an example from a manufacturing facility which not only shows poor 5S program but lack of proper communications (this could just as easily occur in an office situation).

An electrical closet was closed but not secured.  Clearly a safety hazard and an OSHA violation.  Machinery was running and the operator was unaware of the closet was unsecured.  Asking the first “why” showed that maintenance crew had been working with the closet at night.  Furthermore, all must be well as the machinery was making parts.  The next “why” question revealed a quality issue.  The machinery was producing nonconforming parts and many parts were scrapped and the work was eventually stopped. 

The night shift maintenance crew had gone off their shift. The day maintenance group thought the work was completed and began operating the machinery unaware that the safety and error proofing devices had been disabled.   Uniformed that parts were merely ran as tests, the day shift proceeded to pack parts for shipping.  The day operators were running the machinery oblivious to the danger of serious injury.  Apparently, nonconforming items could be made at any time and not be caught due to the lack of automatic checks and proper communications.  This lack of safety procedure and communication will lead to poor customer service.  In this case bad parts had already been shipped to customers.  A robust and intertwined 5S and 5Y program would have identified the problem prior to a machine operator restarting any machinery. 

Lean systems or programs often begin with self-discipline – 5S and 5Y demonstrates and builds the need to follow these standards.  This is usually followed by further continuous improvements such as standard work, kanban, plant layout, point of use storage and cellular manufacturing. 

A superior 5S and 5Y program exhibits a facility’s culture and allows problem identification and preventive action. The premise of 5S is everything has a place, everything in its place and ready for use.  If not the 5Y portion of 5S must be engaged.   Without this engagement little problems will become larger or even momentous problems for an organization.