This website uses cookies primarily for visitor analytics. Certain pages will ask you to fill in contact details to receive additional information. On these pages you have the option of having the site log your details for future visits. Indicating you want the site to remember your details will place a cookie on your device. To view our full cookie policy, please click here. You can also view it at any time by going to our Contact Us page.

Close

What could 5S do for you?

19 March 2022

Debra Smith explains how the 5S organisation method can help support the food industry in relation to hygiene and food safety. 

Figure 1.
Figure 1.

5S is a workplace organisation method that can help systematically create a safe, clean, efficient, and structured workspace. First developed and implemented in post-war Japan by the Toyota Motor Company, 5S has become a key element in achieving lean manufacturing, and waste reduction.

5S is based on the application of five principal elements – Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardise, and Sustain. (See Figure 1)

Within the food industry, 5S principles can be used to promote food safety and quality by promoting hygiene and preventing, or significantly minimising, contamination incidents that may influence the safety, legality, and integrity of food products that are manufactured, held, or transported. 

The primary benefit of 5S in the food industry is that it promotes the food safety management system (FSMS): It is reported that more than 85% of the food safety issues that occur on a site are caused by failures in GMPs (including environmental hygiene), rather than failures in the HACCP plan. Consequently, 5S has gained prominence industry-wide as a way to improve compliance with the FSMS, food safety regulations, food safety and quality standards, and customer requirements. 

Examples of how each 5S element can help reduce failures in environmental hygiene GMPs are shown in Figure 2.

An important secondary benefit of 5S is that it offers a good starting point for creating a Lean Enterprise. 

In addition 5S can help support company-wide integration of work processes through the participation of all employees. It can raise workers’ morale and motivation through their hands-on participation and it can streamline processes and reduce operating costs. 

It can also help create a stable foundation for the systematic implementation of lean manufacturing practices that are required to reduce wastes and inconsistencies, and thus promote value-added work.

Typical steps to setting up 5s within a food facility include:

Set the scope: It is important to set a project scope before its introduction. After addressing food safety and quality issues in a plant, 5S can be used to specifically focus on lowering operation costs or environmental impacts. The most practical way to focus 5S efforts within a food facility is to align them with key compliance expectations as defined in the FSMS.

Management commitment and employee motivation: Implementation and maintenance of 5S requires close collaboration between all members of staff. The 5S method applies to the work processes conducted by front-line employees so they need to be committed to it. Management must also be committed, providing the leadership, resources, and support to the 5S endeavour. It is a good idea to form a 5S team and identify a team leader who will represent members from each department or division.

Figure 2.
Figure 2.

Educate and train employees: For 5S to be effective, allocate each responsible employee a work zone. Educate, train, and refresh them regularly on their zone’s tasks. 5S is a visual method, so let employees explore which methods they think will best work, as their ideas are likely to be the most successful. 

Divide the facility into manageable zones, which may be based on process steps, hygiene or food safety requirements, or other departmental activity.

Set clear expectations of 5S methodology for each of the zones using a simple checklist. This can cover facilities, equipment, tools, and even the movement of people working in an area.

Train and designate a person or a group responsible for implementing 5S within each of the allocated zones. Remember 5S is an every day, every moment activity. It is generally preferable to visually note the ‘Before State’ and ‘After State’ expectations at each zone.

Review improvements: To sustain 5S improvements, create a review system in which employees are trained to audit other departments. Divide the review work into chunks and allocate to different groups on a rotational basis. Let employees meet frequently for 10-15 minutes to discuss and suggest solutions to food safety and quality issues.

Set a frequency of a 5S implementation and review meeting. This may be done weekly, monthly, or quarterly based on zone risk and departments’ expectations. Remember the 5S review should be done by someone who is not responsible for implementing 5S in that particular zone. 

Implementers should complete the 5S checklist at scheduled intervals, which will then be verified by the reviewers. The reviewed 5S checklist will then be discussed by the 5S team to deliberate on any fixes, corrective actions, or improvements required in zonal 5S programs. The outcomes from these meetings should be well-documented and a future date should be set a future 5S implementation and review audit for each of the zones.

Conclusion
5S can promote improvement in hygiene and food safety within a food facility. It can also improve operational efficiencies and staff motivation, reduce waste, and help ensure compliance to food industry safety standards, regulations, and customer expectations. 

Vikan has produced a Whitepaper that offers more detail on implementing 5S in food production applications. It can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/3gpeirr.

Debra Smith is global hygiene specialist for Vikan.


Contact Details and Archive...

Print this page | E-mail this page