The 5S method: optimizing your work environment

The 5S method to learn how to create the ideal workspace

Stemming from the Japanese Kaizen approach, the 5S system is a continuous improvement technique that allows in 5 steps to rethink the team's workspace in order to improve its performance.

With this Template, find as a team simple and concrete solutions to organize your workspace in a secure, clean and efficient way!The 5S method is a continuous improvement technique that optimizes the team’s work environment. Originated from the Japanese management concept known as Kaizen, which advocates continuous improvement in small steps, the 5S method encourages you to make changes, sometimes small, but lasting, effective in the long term and inexpensive.

Whether you work in an open space, a store, a production workshop, or anywhere else, the 5S method gives you the opportunity to improve efficiency and productivity very simply. Just follow the 5 steps to optimize your workspace. Also standing for the initials of Japanese words, the 5S in English mean: 

• Sort (Seiri)
• Set in order (Seiton)
• Shine (Seiso)
• Standardize (Seiketsu)
• Sustain (Shitsuke)

Step by step, this method helps you work as a team to boost efficiency, save time and energy, reduce the risk of accidents and improve product quality.

With Klaxoon whiteboard’s features, you can easily list, categorize and sort your ideas, whether you’re together in a room or working remotely, so the whole team can participate and find solutions for every space!

Efficiency and well-being at work, the undeniable benefits of the 5S method

A clear, tidy space, whether it contains tools and heavy machinery or a laptop and a shared office, tends to be calming and encourages a clear mind. Following the 5S method means you’re more inclined to create, manufacture, produce, organize meetings and collaborate. In short, anything that helps your work! And this will happen regardless of whether you work as a team or on your own.

As your career progresses, your professional needs may change, as well as the management or composition of your team. This is why knowing and regularly using the 5S method will help you be self-reliant during internal reorganizations and easily find balance, efficiency and wellbeing at work.

Finally, as a team leader, more than just a management tool to visibly improve working conditions for everyone, the 5S method encourages long-lasting and hassle-free new habits, to make your life easier. You can then make sure they become the new normal and apply them in your daily work, for both you and your colleagues. So, don’t miss out, give the 5S method a go!

Follow the 5S method with Klaxoon

Start by inviting your team members to your whiteboard, and brief them on how to use Klaxoon’s Board if need be.

Step 1: Seiri, or Sort

As a team, list everything you can currently find in your workspace, and ask yourself whether it's useful. For each idea posted, add two options: keep or discard.

Step 2: copy the "to keep" items into the Seiton or Set area

Collectively rank ideas according to how important they are (from the dark red to the light red box): 

• Very important
• Important
• Less important

The rule to follow for setting your ideas in order is the following: the more important the object, the closer it should be to you. Keeping this in mind, post a space or storage place for each item in a different colored idea.

Step 3: Seiso or Shine

Here, suggest solutions or best practices to keep everything clean and tidy in your shared workspace. Post your ideas in a different color, so they're easy to see.

Step 4: Seiketsu, or Standardize

This step is an opportunity to capitalize on your best practices. For example, you can take a picture of your clean, tidy workspace to use as a reference for the future.

Step 5: Shitsuke, or Sustain

Finally, Shitsuke or Sustain is the final step of the 5S method. Each team member is responsible for a workstation or part of a workspace, and adds their name in Dimensions for the corresponding idea. So, no more excuses, you have everything you need to keep workspaces functional, efficient and pleasant!