Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No.

3, August 2014 132

A Case Study: 5s Implementation in Ceramics

Manufacturing Company
Vipulkumar C. Patel and Hemant Thakkar

Abstract--- The research work carried out to apply the 5S basic work environment problems and the compensation
methodology of lean manufacturing to solve the problems of a power on the choice of implementation of 5S. This paper is
ceramic industry in India with the aim to increase the simply representation of basic information with all pros and
efficiency of all processes and elimination of losses in the cons about the concept of 5S [1].
company. The objectives of the paper is to reduce the process
Harsha Lingareddy etal. (2013) This research involves the
wastes, smooth the process flow and maintain proper quality study and change in the work place of a manufacturing
control, improve storage facilities, safety, security and process industry to implementation of 5S. This strategy helps in
cost savings in a company through case study. Before and
minimizing the time of manufacturing and also increases the
after picture are taken for the applying 5S methodology in a area of work place. The solution found by 5S approach solely
company. 5S implemented has been carried out in storage minimizes several kinds of wastes in the production process
department and insulator department. After implementing of
and which finally helps in the development of the
5S in the storage department the space saving is 12.91% and organization. An Inspection process has been executed on the
also certain process wastes are reduced. In insulator basis of 5S check lists and the results analyzed to confirm
department the workplace became efficient and effectiveness.
great changes like increasing efficiency in production and
Keywords--- 5S, Space Utilization, Elimination of Process quality, improves safety [4].
Waste, Case Study J. Michalska etal. (2007) In this paper 5S implementation
results in increasing of an efficiency, safety, quality and
reduction of the industry pollution. The proceedings to
I. INTRODUCTION research clearly show that training of workers about the 5S
rules is very essential. The important task is to divide activities
L EAN thinking represents a set of principles and
techniques for the identification and elimination of waste
in manufacturing and administrative processes. 5S is a
on some main steps and to maintain the continuous
improvement. It is important to understand the need of
executing the routine inspections of usage the 5S rule. This
technique originated from Japan and it was first developed by inspection is executed by helping of so-called check list and
Hiroyuki Hirano in 1980s. It include five Japanese words created on its basis the radar graph of the 5S, which serves to
Seiri(Sort), Seiton(Set in order), Seiso(Shine), estimation of the workplace [9].
Seiketsu(Standardize) and Shitsuke(Sustain). The 5S
philosophy focuses on simplification of the work environment, Prof. S. B. Khedkar etal. (2012) This research is dealt with
effective workplace organization, and reduction of waste the implementation of 5S methodology in the S. P. Plastic
while improving safety and quality [10]. It allows the Industry MIDC, Nagpur. 5S implementation impacts the
enhancement of efficiency and productivity. The 5S technique instructors and workman of industry that work within the
is a structured program to systematically achieve total selected place. By following the 5S methodology, this
organization cleanliness and standardization in the workplace. research effort shows significant improvements to safety,
The benefit of 5S technique is improvement in productivity, productivity, efficiency, morale and housekeeping. The
quality, health and safety [1,6,7]. Through 5S methodology, research documents improvements by using before and after
the management can create an environment where quality pictures [7].
work is comfortable, clean and safe in the organization and it Gheorghe Dulhai etal. (2008) This paper presents a
can ensure the compliance to standards and will further foster continuous improvement strategy, process-oriented and
continuous improvement [1] aiming to improve manufacturing at auto car exhaust. The
Shahryar Sorooshian etal.(2012) They have experienced of improvement of auto car exhausts quality, using the “5S”
implementing a 5S philosophy and paper involves presentation rules, is accomplished at the initiative of the inferior levels of
of a real case study, specifically the influence of 5S on some the organization coordinated and helped by the superior
management. The efficient implementation of the „5S”
strategy leads to a subsequent improvement of the exhaust’s
Vipulkumar C. Patel, PG Scholar, Industrial Engineering, G. H. Patel quality [2].
college of Engineering & Technology, Gujarat, India. E-
[email protected] Ravinder Kumar Panchal etal. (2012) This paper focus on
Hemant Thakkar, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical the methodology adopted in 5S and implementation of the
Engineering, G. H. Patel college of Engineering & Technology, Gujarat,
India. E-mail:[email protected] same in the production industry. The 5S rules bring the great
changes in the company, for example: process improvement
DOI: 10.9756/BIJIEMS.10346

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 133

by costs’ reduction, increasing of effectiveness and efficiency successful and make reference on a regular basis with
in the processes, maintenance and improvement of the the member of the Quality Team which will provide
machines’ efficiency, safety increasing and reduction of the assistance to the companies in terms of further

•
industry pollution and waste [6]. comprehending its vision and mission.
Derya Sevim Korkut etal. (2009) This study involves 5S The involvement of all employees in the all
system for ensuring order and discipline in the companies and departments in the program 5S. All staff should
ensuring the supervision of both simple and even the smallest understand the five good reasons 5S program should
details, has been reviewed in full details and they have been be practiced at the workplace as it will result in a
taken under the content of the research through selecting the clean workplace with higher productivity, having a
assembly department as pilot department for 5S activities high quality, reducing cost, to ensure timely delivery
which is applied at a yacht manufacturing company. The and consequently, it is a safe workplace.
obtained results are evaluated and it has been observed that the
company came to a point better than the initial status. The II. METHODOLOGY OF 5S
clearly seen of the weekly results hang on 5S acknowledgment A method commonly used by a manufacturing company to
boards within the company by all personnel played an efficient achieve an effective, efficient, and organized work
role and involvement in the process. 5S approach is not a environment, so as to boost productivity, reduce cost, and
study covering a certain period of time, rather it is a method improve quality standards. 5S include five japanies word
defending the requirement of the standardization and which are seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu, and shutsuke.
continuation of all improvements need to be perform [10].
5S programs have been implanted in organizations and the
Marko Milosevic etal. (2013) In this paper explain the world as a way to improve production values while also
methods and techniques of lean concept which uses to increase improving employee morale and safety. The 5S methodology
the efficiency of all processes in the company. Also show the may be applied to most workplace scenarios in a short period
results of the level of implementation this method in of time due to its simple nature. The before and after picture
international and domestic production companies. It can are taken for implementation of 5S methodology in a
conclude that large companies pay much attention to "lean" company.
concept, both because productivity, and the satisfaction of
their employees [5].
P. M. Rojasra etal. (2012) This paper explain the
implementation of 5S methodology in the Krishna Plastic
Company, Udhyognagar, Amreli, Gujarat. Out of the available
various lean manufacturing techniques, 5S offers good
potential for required improvement. Ten week study is carried
out in the company. The results after the 5S implementations
states that production system efficiency is improved from 67%
to 88.8% in the successive week [3].
Jose H. Ablanedo-Rosas etal. (2010) In this paper results
of an empirical study applied to some Mexican organisations
with the aim of understanding their implementation
experience, empirical relationships, and ongoing challenges
associated with the 5S practice are elaborated. The 5S practice
is used as the basis for advanced quality and continuous
improvement philosophies and the organisation measures the
benefits from 5S implementation such as quality
improvement. The 5S practice is worthwhile for production
Figure 1: 5S Methodology
and service organisations and is universal to all organisations.
The big challenge is how to incorporate the 5S practice in A. Seiri
everyone’s (employee’s) life [8].
Sorting items which are not necessary and segregating and
A. Review Remarks disposing of goods that are not needed at work systematically.
The recommendation to implement 5S Separation process is helpful in determining the necessary
•
materials at the present or the future and should be stored in a
To make the 5S practices more influential the top designated storage area. Unnecessary items will be disposed
management are required to fully support this activity [1].The arrangement used for keeping each material in the
all through the company. In order to make the top company at correct place is named as sort. The defective or
management aware of the effectiveness of the 5S, they rarely used material and equipment’s in the company cause the
have to be shown the performance of product quality demolishment of the workplace’s order and decrease in the

•
of this approach. work efficiency [10]. This leads to fewer hazards and less
The organization should institute a system of clutter to interfere with productive work [9].
benchmarking with other companies which are

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 134

B. Seiton
Especially important is visualization of the workplace in
order to focuses on the need for the workplace. Tools,
equipment, and materials must be systematically arranged for
the easiest and the most efficient access [7]. The main
objectives of Seiton are forming a regular workplace, avoiding
time loss while searching the material and mistake proofing
work [3].
C. Seiso
Point outs the need and necessity of clean and neat work
place. Cleaning should become a daily activity. The dust, dirt
and wastes are the source of untidiness, indiscipline,
inefficiency, faulty production and work accidents. There for
Work place should be cleaned at regular intervals. Every tool
and equipment should be restored at their own places after Figure 2: Red Tagging of Material
their use [4].
Benefits
D. Seiketsu • Increased Productivity – The purpose of individual
Establishing the standard rules to maintain the perfect work areas will be more apparent, leading to a highly

•
hygiene and safe environment at the workplace [2]. The goal efficient workflow.
of this step is keeping, standardize, and preventing from this Workers will be more satisfied with their environment
present order and regularity. The necessary systems are Employee morale would increase as junk items or
formed in order to maintain the continuance of these good materials that are potential health hazards are

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practices at the workplace [10]. Standards should be very identified and removed.
communicative, clear and easy to understand. Regarding this The end product of your labours will be much

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during preparation and improving, it should be involved all improved as full attention can be paid to production.
participants of the process on the given workplace, it means Employees will no longer need to focus on tangential
direct workers [9]. tasks such as locating tools implementing their own
E. SHITSUKE organization systems.
Always Practice (Shitsuke): Train employees disciplined B. Set in Order
for practicing 5S system continuously so that the habits and
a. Organization of Work Station
culture within the organization. This is by far the most
difficult S to implement and achieve. People tend to resist The next step after identifying the unneeded item is to
change and even the most well-structured 5S plan will fail if organize the needed item as per the specific job requirement in
not constantly reinforced. It creates an educating, co- each station. In this process, tried to use as much of a visual
operating, discipline system and inspection for protecting the approach as possible to ease the organization process and
best present situation [1]. make work easier for the worker. Pictures (Figure 3) are taken
to differentiate the after and before condition of a storage
III. RESULT AND DISCUSSION department, thereby highlighting the importance of this
process.
A. Sort
The major benefits of organizing the work station are to
At beginning of this effort, several areas of this storage are ensure clear visibility of needed items, increasing efficiency of
disorganized and untidy. Figure (2) illustrates red tagging of job performed, reducing the run time, and increasing the
unnecessary materials. productivity.
The purpose of red tagging was to identify unnecessary
items that occupied space in the storage department. The
strategy is to create more space by better organizing the items
and equipment in permanent storage places or disposing of the
item if it is not needed.
After all the red-tagged items and equipment are moved
out of from the department, extra space is generated in the
store. These areas are then utilized for smoother materials and
traffic flow.

Figure 3: Before 5S After 5S

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 135

Figure 4, In Turning department the workplace is outline

by the yellow line. So that is to transportation of men,
materials, equipment movement in the department is very easy
and reduce the product damage and accident.

Figure 6:Trash Bins

Benefit:
The benefits of a clean workplace are readily apparent
after a short period of time. Employee morale increases, and
the most productive time can be dedicated to the most
important tasks.
•
Figure 4: Before 5S After 5S

•
Maintenance the cleanness of devices.
Labeling on the vertical lathe machine shown in the before
•
Maintenance the clean workplace, easy to check.
and after picture in figure 5.
Quick informing about damages (potential sources of

•
damages).

•
Improvement of the work environment.
Elimination of the accidents’ reasons.
D. Standardize
In order to standardize achieved, the workers from the
department have agreed upon that everyone should contribute
to daily clean-up of the working place. Moreover, in the end of
the working week a more detailed clean-up is performed, the
Figure 5: Before 5S After 5S performance of which is controlled by a dedicated employee
on a week-clean up duty.
Benefits
•
The task and responsibility are allocated to the worker for
Process improvement (increasing of effectiveness and daily cleanup activity.

•
efficiency).
GEMBA board (Figure 7), used to evaluate all the key
•
Shortening of the time of seeking necessary things.
Safety improvement. performance indicators (KPI); namely safety, quality,
productivity, labour absenteeism, and break down in the pug-
C. Clean / Shine mill of insulator department. It is a visual method to track all
In order to maintain a clean and organized work the daily floor activities and also provide for the posting of
atmosphere, cleaning supply shadow board are used. Several root causes and countermeasures when the KPIs do not meet
areas in the work station have problems keeping things clean. the goal. Also the skill record of employee is shown in chart.
This sometimes comes from not being able to find cleaning
supplies. By creating the cleaning supply shadow boards and
locations for those supplies, everyone knew where to get them
when needed and where they belong after the completion of
work. The importance of keeping each station was paramount
and awareness is created among the associates holding them
accountable for their specific work station. Also, trash bins
(fig. 6) are labelled and located at convenient locations to ease
the implementation process.

Figure 7: GEMBA Chart

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 136

Benefit: In figure (8) the frequency of size and weight, observed

•
that flanges, belts and bearing are used in higher quantities in
Safety increasing and reduction of the industry
the organization.
•
pollution.
Working out the procedures defining the course of
processes Plastic bag 100

E. Sustain
Color Size/weight
5
1000
20
14,16,18 cone 10
After the successful implementation of the 5S process, the 500
discipline to sustain is of the most importance. Proper Ele. Material 25
awareness, correct structures and procedures, support from 10
emery wheel 10
worker and management, adaptability to 5S is vital for 400
Net jali 25 Size/weight
continuous improvement. In order to achieve that, a 5S 25
observation sheet is prepared to aid in the implementation of Blower 5
the 5S process. The observation was done on a monthly basis 15
Steel wool 20
and the results are analyzed.
0 500 1000 1500
Benefits:
•
•
Increasing of the awareness and morale.
Figure 8: Frequency Use of Material In Size/ Weight
Decreasing of mistakes quantity resulting from the
In Figure (9) shown that the smaller frequency materials
•
inattention.
are indicates that they are used very frequently and hence such
•
Proceedings according to decisions.
material consumption is high.
Improvement of the internal communication

•
processes.
Improvement in the interaction of human relations.
F. Storage Space Utilization
Freq. of use(month)
In a storage department there are many raw materials,
tools, and machine components are stored. Several data are Color
collected from the checklist. Following table 1 gives the raw Ele. Material
materials size/weight, frequency use of materials in month, Freq. of
Net jali
and location of the materials. These data are collected for the use(month)
better arrangement of the materials in the store. Steel wool

Table 1: Data Collection of Material 0 5 10 15

Sr. Material Size/weight Freq. of Location
No. use(month)
1 Steel wool 20 1 A
Figure 9: Frequency of Use In Month
2 Gas pipes 15 6 A The new arrangement of location of materials based on
3 Blower 5 6 A frequency of use is suggested. For design of storage layout the
4 Casting 25 12 A FSN analysis is carried out. FSN analysis is based on
product die frequency of use item in the store. In this analysis
5 Net jali 25 2 A F- Stands for the fast moving item are corresponds to
6 Belt 400 2 A frequency use of item.
7 emery 10 8 A S-stands for slow moving item correspond to less
wheel frequently use.
8 Valve cock 10 1 A
N- Means Non-moving item will be not issue for longer
9 Ele. 25 1 B period.
Material
10 Bearing 500 1 B The suggested layout arrangement of materials is shown in
figure 10.
11 14,16,18 10 2 B
cone
12 Nut & bolt 20 1 B
13 Color 5 1 A
14 Flange 1000 3 A
15 Plastic bag 100 1 A

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 137

The Benefits derived from revising the materials

arrangement in storage department:
•
•
The space utilizing in storage department

•
Time saving in find out materials

•
Increase work environment
Increase employee performance and morale
G. Process Improvement in Insulator Department
The process flow diagram is shown in figure 11 for the
understanding the movement of the in-process materials. The
manufacturing of ceramics components is carried out in
batches. Some process is carried out on individual basis, and
certain process is carried out on lot basis.
Using the operation data the flowchart is drawn for
understanding the process of ceramic “insulator” product.
There are two methods for the manufacturing of insulators;
one is lot-wise process and individual product-wise process.
Figure 10:Before After modified
According to the revised layout new locations are defined
for the better arrangement of materials. This arrangement
saves about 12.91 % space of the store.
Table 2: Material Area
Sr. Name of Quantity location Area Area after
No. materials before 5s 5s imp.
imp.
1 Tested 800 A 75 60
flange
2 Without 300 A 50 35
tested
flange
3 Plastics 20 A 40 30
bag
4 Mix raw 50 A 50 42
material
5 Rack 10 A 65 50
Figure 11: Process Flow Chart
6 Nuts & 20 B 40 39
bolts Below graph indicates that testing consumes maximum
7 Storage 200 B 40 35 process time on individual basis. The quality control is very
data essential to satisfaction of customers, so it cannot be
8 Bearing 1000 B 12 12 eliminated or simplified. As there is 100% inspection and
testing of all ceramic components, to balance the processing
9 Valve 10 B 24 24
cock time multiple test set up should be developed to eliminate the
10 Raw 50 B 20 12 bottleneck in the production of ceramic components.
materials
11 Inspection 1 A 50 42

12
area
Office 3 B 45 40
Time(min)
511 421 40
30
time in minute

20
Calculation: 10
•
0

•
Total area of storage dept.= 666 sq. feet
Occupied Area before 5S implementation= 511 sq.
feet

•
(511*100)/666= 76.12 %
Occupied Area after 5S implementation= 421 sq. feet operation

•
(421*100)/666= 63.21 %
Total storage area saving = 12.91 %
Figure 12: Individual Processes

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 138

• The result of implementation of 5S is 12.91% sq. ft.

space saving in the storage department, so that
Time in hour
•
movement of men, material is reduced.
Awareness of the 5S concept indirectly improved the
120
morale of employees with better working
100
Time in hour

•
environment.
80
Periodically 5 S scorecards should be checked and 5 S
60
auditing should be carried out for long term benefits to
40
the organization.
20
0
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
My Sincere thanks to my guide Dr. Hemant Thakkar, for
providing in my research work. I express my thanks to my
Institution namely G. H. Patel College of Engineering and
Technology for providing me with a good motivation,
environment and facilities like Internet, books, computers and
operation all that as my source to complete this research work. My
heart-felt thanks to my family, friends and colleagues who
have helped me for the completion of this work.
Figure 13: Lot Processes
In lot process maximum time is consumed in humidity REFERENCES
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elimination of the accidents’ reasons in the company.

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Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, Vol. 4, No. 3, August 2014 139

BIOGRAPHY
Vipulkumar C. Patel1,PG Scholar, Industrial
Engineering, G. H. Patel college of Engineering &
Technology, Gujarat, India,[email protected]

Dr. Hemant R. Thakkar2 , Associate Professor,

Department of Mechanical Engineering, G. H. Patel
college of Engineering & Technology, Gujarat,
India,[email protected]

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