1. Introduction to 6S

2. What is 6S?
Provides a structure and steps for improving workplace organisation, order and cleanliness
Accomplished by placing work teams in control of their own areas, helping them to focus on causes and elimination of waste
Establishing standards of housekeeping, storage and visual communication.
What we call "6S" derives from "5S" the method of workplace organization and visual controls popularized by Hiroyuki Hirano (1990). The five "Ss" refer to five Japanese words—seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shitsuke. Seiri means to separate needed and unneeded materials and to remove the latter. Seiton means to neatly arrange and identify needed materials for ease of use. Seiso means to conduct a cleanup campaign. Seiketsu means to do seiri, seiton, and seiso at frequent intervals and to standardize your 5S procedures. Shitsuke means to form the habit of always following the first four Ss.
Often referred to as 5S, but in healthcare we have added a sixth “S” – SAFETY. This is absolutely critical to good service delivery for us.
Common analogy is to compare the level of organisation in the kitchen as opposed to the garage or garden shed.
The origin of 5S seems rooted in the works of two American pioneers who were scrupulously studied by Japanese managers. These were Frederick W. Taylor's Scientific Management (1911) and Henry Ford (1922). Indeed, Ford's CANDO program (Cleaning up, Arranging, Neatness, Discipline, Ongoing Improvement), which builds on Taylor's work, appears as the obvious origin for 5S.

3. Why do 6S? Simple process which involves everyone
Drives a continuous improvement approach
Provides basic workplace disciplines for Lean
Delivers improved productivity quality and safety
A highly visual performance measure
What is the potential impact of a badly organised workplace on service delivery?
NHS example of audiovisual department was mentioned earlier on – are there others you can think of?

4. SAFETY SORT SUSTAIN (Checking for hazards,
respect workplace and employees)
SORT
(Separate needed
from not needed)
Eliminate unnecessary
things from the work area
STORE
(A place for everything)
Organise what remains
in the work area
SUSTAIN
(Discipline to ensure
improved systems
are maintained)
Make 6S the norm
Begin with “Sort.” It is important to remember that the 6S process is cyclical and continuous.
STANDARDISE
(Build into accepted
routines)
Standardise practices
e.g. safety, cleaning
SHINE
(Clean and wash)

5. Sort Involves four key steps: Identifying items that are not used
Disposing of non-essential items
Determining frequency of use of items required in workplace
Eliminating sources of clutter and safety risks

6. “a place for everything and everything in its place”
Store
“a place for everything and everything in its place”
arranging workplace items and establishing guidelines for storage of these items.
locating items based on their frequency of use
a permanent or home location is assigned for each item, thereby ensuring that the item can be located with ease
eliminating random storage means that there is a place for everything and that everything should be in its designated place if not in use.

7. Shine
Entails visually and physically sweeping the area and includes three primary activities:
Ensuring that everything is in its proper place. A visual sweep should instantly identify any missing or misplaced items
Identifying and correcting repeated violations
Correcting repeated housekeeping problems such as incorrectly stored inventory, tools out of place, etc
Shine means the removal of sources of contamination so that you always have a clean and neat work area.

8. Standardise maintain and monitor adherence to the first three Ss.
defines how a task should be done and lets everyone involved in the process know the ‘best way’ to do something
becomes part of the everyday routine
Standardisation makes information about locations more easily recognisable. If all labels are formatted in the same way, it is easier to sweep through them. If procedures for retrieving and returning items and information are uniform, it makes it easier for everyone in the work area to locate them quickly.

9. Sustain
Follow the rules to keep the workplace 6S-right — "maintain the gain.“
routine practice of all the preceding steps. It requires all employees to do their part to carry out the 6S actions they have agreed upon.
for 6S to be successful on an ongoing basis, you must sustain the improvements made.
an effective way of maintaining momentum within organisations is to have a meaningful 6S review process in place to regularly measure performance and monitor improvements.

10. Safety Eliminate hazards
The sixth "S" was added to maintain the focus on safety within the Lean environment and embed safe conditions into all our improvements

11. Implementing 6S 1. Plan a course of action 2. Educate the workforce
3. Evaluate the work area
4. Initiate the 6S’s
5. Measure the results
6. Maintain 6S activities

12. Measure the Results Step 1: Conduct a post-implementation assessment
Step 2: Analyse the results of the post-implementation assessment
Step 3: Benchmark

13. The three steps for maintaining 6S activities are:
Maintain 6S Activities
The three steps for maintaining 6S activities are:
Step 1: Set goals
Step 2: Establish Standard Operating Procedures
Step 3: Adhere to the 6S process schedule.

14. Leadership of 6S
Successfully implementing and sustaining 6S is heavily dependant on senior management commitment, support and involvement.
Managers can contribute significantly to 6S in a variety of ways, including:
Go and see what’s happening
Personally demonstrate their understanding and leadership of 6S
Apply 6S in their own work areas
Work with other leaders and employees in model areas
Perform routine 6S checks and review adherence to the standards
Make it fun and provide recognition

15. Benefits for Employees
Creates more pleasant working environment
Builds greater job satisfaction
Improves employee morale
Produces a cleaner and more organised work area
Improves communication
Places high focus on safety
Reduces frustration of trying to locate items

16. Benefits for the Organisation
Creates environment for team-based improvements
Encourages visual control
Highlights & eliminates several types of waste
Frees up floor space
Places high focus on safety
Reduces defects, resulting in higher quality
Reduces waste, resulting in lower costs
Reduces delays, resulting in reliable deliveries
Encourages effective work practices.
Helps to develop efficient work processes