«Today. Tomorrow. Toyota. « A statement of quality and innovation that brought Toyota as a slogan for the European market in 2004, highlighting its competitive advantage that is summarized in its organizational phylosophy: The 5 S’s of Toyota, or the «Just in time».
The endemic method of management of Toyota as its 5 S’s is a legacy that the company left us of how the organizational culture can radically change the results in the long term.
The 5 S’s come from five Japanese words that describe the 5 steps of this system. Like many of the principles, not only of Toyota, but of Asian cultures, they involve a philosophical aura that can be applied perfectly to our daily life. An inherent advantage of this process is the simplicity of being able to standardize it to almost all activities, becoming a clear and solid base.
The 5 S’s
Seiri: Classification and discard. This step is closely related to efficiency, where making an introspection of the resources used by the company (or you) is the core part. Those resources that are never used must be cut out, those that are periodically used must be saved and those that are always used must be available at hand. Maximize resources using only the indispensable ones.
Seiton: Order. After cutting your resources and working with what is indispensable, the following is to segment the rest in an orderly manner, locate a disposition of the processes in a rational way, depending on how much we use them, and how to improve our productivity using them, so that we maximize the use of the time and performance. This accompanied by the standardization of processes, allows this productivity to be multiplied by all those who perform these activities.
Seisō: Elimination of dirt. After achieving efficiency and the order of resources comes the elimination of «dirt» in the activities; those errors or habits that, a priori, slow down the optimized results. This is measured by applying the administrative direction and control to analyse such anomalies and remove them from the process.
Seiketsu: Standardization. All activities can become standardized, including those that encompass creativity and innovation. Once there is neatness in the resources, the next thing is to regulate it, so that all the members of the organization can benefit from it, and thus multiply its effects. Of course, standardization requires leadership and the ability to involve all participants in the goals and objectives of the company.
Shitsuke: Discipline. Maintaining an attitude, motivation and discipline at a high level is the final and, of course, the part which manages to cement everything in the long term. The focal point is to maintain a motivation in the organization for each immersed member; it is also important to maintain these results in the company and continuously evaluate the entire process of the 5 S’s to detect new ways of conserving and improving what has been achieved.
Finally, it should be emphasized that Japanese culture highlight the values of cleanliness, tradition, order and discipline. Its high efficiency is only the product of centuries of applying this philosophy and making it inherent to their lifestyle, maybe, Asian cultures have much to teach us about life and work.
Soñador y constructor de mundos.