Color Living is one of the country's leading living room furniture manufacturers. With approximately 200 employees and a growing market presence, they requested our assistance in improving operational effectiveness, capitalizing on group synergies, and improving productivity and quality. All of this was part of a need to systematically improve costs to prevent imports that could compete with their products.
Our answer was clear. If they want to initiate an improvement process that has a significant impact on results, while achieving broad participation and commitment from people, what they need is to develop the 5S as a management system.
We struggled at first to demonstrate that the 5Ss are not a program of order and cleanliness. Most practices suffer from a certain superficiality, forgetting that order and cleanliness are instrumental. They are the means to develop the necessary skills, promote a participatory spirit, and create a movement of improvement that has no end.
With these clear concepts in mind, Color Living has embarked on this process of implementing the 5 "S," which will reach all areas of the organization, both productive and administrative. As we stated in another article, the 5 "S" represent a management logic, a way of organizing daily activities, and a way of interacting between people and areas. Therefore, they are not something exclusive to productive areas; on the contrary, they can and should be developed throughout the organization. Thus, we will be moving toward a true cultural change, which is ultimately one of the objectives of the 5 "S."
If we summarize the main steps we took, these were:
1. First, provide initial training to clarify basic concepts and identify who would make up the 5S Council responsible for leading the process.
2. The pilot area was selected, and the objectives to be achieved with the system's implementation were developed. These are guiding objectives that will drive the entire process.
3. Work was done on creating red labels and on the internal marketing necessary to recruit people to the new project.
4. We conducted an initial experience in the Pilot Area to test theoretical knowledge in practice and address any questions that arose from a specific real-life case.
5. Finally, we made the official launch in the Pilot Area, with great participation and enthusiasm from the operators.
The process is just beginning to take shape, but we can already see the first results, which are very promising:
- Broad involvement of people
- Clear improvement in the physical and psychological work environment
- Growing Space Organization (lay-out)
- Minimizing effort
- Reduction of movements that do not add value
- Horizontal transmission of experiences
- Group learning
- Participation in decision-making
- Growing awareness of quality and costs.
As Lucas Liendo, Head of Human Resources, states:
“The most important advantage of implementing the 5S program at Color Living, regardless of the program's specifics, is the implementation of a method. The absence of this type of program for so many years makes its implementation so difficult for us today. However, little by little, our way of thinking is changing, and results are beginning to appear. The 5S program has given everyone in the organization, from management to operational levels, a second chance to grow and advance without having to change companies.”
Perhaps one of the most significant results provided by the 5Ss is that when a group begins its implementation seriously and consistently, the rest immediately catch on. Today, we are in a stage of consolidating learning and planning the next steps. As is often the case, the implementation committee is being overworked by operators due to their enthusiasm for the program. Therefore, what is needed is to continually rethink the action plan to balance the need to move at the right speed and in the right direction with the required operational results.
To ensure the desired results, we will work on the following critical points:
- Action Plan for each of the areas.
- On-the-job training for operators and supervisors
- Systematization of area meetings to analyze progress
- Monitoring key management indicators
- Application of problem analysis tools and search for solutions.
- Involvement of non-productive areas as essential support for program advancement (improved purchasing, HR support, management involvement for cost analysis, and extensive dialogue with sales to continually increase external customer satisfaction)
The challenge is still enormous, as the goals we seek to achieve are ambitious. The important thing is to be clearly aware that this is the best path.
The 5 S's are the foundation of all organizational improvement and one of the keys to Japan's global success. Their simple, common-sense application results in concrete benefits for all stakeholders in business success: shareholders, employees, suppliers, customers, and the community.
