When it comes to managing a manufacturing business, one of the factors that often flies under the radar, but has a significant impact on your operations, is housekeeping. It’s not just about maintaining a tidy workspace—it’s about ensuring safety, increasing efficiency, and achieving standardization. This is where 6S housekeeping audits come into play. Regular, thorough audits are your roadmap to a lean, efficient, and safe production environment.
Explaining the 6S of Housekeeping
The 6S in housekeeping stands for Sort, Set in order, Shine, Standardize, Sustain, and Safety. Each S represents a simple step in a comprehensive approach to workplace organization and cleanliness:
- Sort involves distinguishing the necessary items from the unnecessary, and eliminating the latter.
- Set in order pertains to arranging essential items in a manner that promotes workflow.
- Shine centers around maintaining cleanliness and making it a part of the daily routine.
- Standardize aims to create uniform procedures and practices across the board.
- Sustain is all about making Sort, Set in order, Shine, and Standardize habits within the workplace.
- Safety, an extension of the original 5S, ensures every change incorporates a safety check.
Mastering these steps sets the foundation for effective production management. It helps keep operations running smoothly, minimizing downtime due to clutter or other inefficiencies.
How to Measure Housekeeping 6S
Measuring 6S might seem like a daunting task, but it doesn’t have to be. A thorough 6S audit is your key tool. The goal of each audit is to identify areas that need improvement, with each S evaluated individually.
Assess each S against your established standards and grade them. For instance, are unnecessary items being kept? If so, you know your Sort process needs adjustments. If items are hard to locate, it’s time to revisit the Set in order phase. Cleanliness and standardization issues? Shine and Standardize are your focus points. Struggling to maintain the new order? Look into your Sustain practices. Safety concerns stemming from changes need to be addressed immediately.
To facilitate this, create a checklist for each S with clear criteria. This ensures everyone knows what to expect and what the standards are, making your audits more effective and less subjective.
Calculating the 6S Score
Once you’ve completed your individual assessments, it’s time to calculate your 6S score. Standard industry methods usually involve assigning a numerical value to each S, based on your audit, and adding them up to get a total score.
Don’t get hung up on achieving a perfect score. Instead, pay attention to the trend of scores over time. Is it improving? If so, well done—you’re on your way to a more effective and efficient workspace. Is your score dropping or remaining stagnant? It’s an indication that your current 6S practices need reevaluation and improvement.
Utilizing Scores to Improve Production
Your monthly 6S scores are more than just numbers—they’re valuable insights into your production process. To truly take advantage of your audits, you need to take the necessary actions based on these results.
A low score in any S indicates a bottleneck. Use this information to formulate an action plan. Perhaps you need better storage for tools (Set in order) or maybe you need clearer procedures (Standardize). Your 6S audits should guide your path.
As the production manager, you are the key driver for these improvements. It’s up to you to champion these changes, promote housekeeping habits, and ensure everyone’s on board with these practices.
Conclusion
Navigating 6S housekeeping audits no longer needs to be challenging. With a clear understanding of each S, a robust audit process, standard scoring system, and a commitment to utilizing these scores for improvement, you’re well-equipped to manage and enhance your production environment.
Remember, it’s not just about making changes—it’s about creating a culture within your workspace. A culture that values continuous improvement, efficiency, safety, and standardization. With these practices in place and constant vigilance, you’re on your way to a well-oiled, efficient, and profitable manufacturing process.
