How to Use Lean 5S on Construction Sites?

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Lean 5S is a simple and practical method to bring a quality culture to construction worksites. 5S is a five-step organization technique that practices sort, set, shine, standardize and sustain objectives to create and maintain an intuitive workspace.

It is a very well-known aspect of lean construction, the implementation of which results in an immediate transformation of the workplace.

This article guides through the 5S Lean principles and efficient ways to apply them on construction sites.

1. Sort

Sort in the 5S principle is about stratification management and the ability to spot unwanted and unnecessary items before they become problematic. This means going through the inventory on the construction site and removing or discarding all the unwanted items that are unnecessary for the current production operations. The sorting strategy is performed based on the requirements of the construction site.

The undesirable things that are not used frequently must be removed. It keeps the excess stuff away and makes it easier to find what is actually required.

Place a red tag for items that are not important or found doubtful and store them in a common place with the current date. If the item stays idle for more than a month, consider removing it from the location to a central holding area for reassignment. Once the excess tools and materials are removed from the construction site, move to the next 5S objective.

2. Set in Order

This step defines the objectives of having things in the right places to be readily available for use. The step organizes everything and designates space for every single tool or equipment.

For example, the use of vertical wall surfaces with tool holders, shadow boards and coloring them with different and bright colors for other disciplines or trades. At big storage locations, floor tape is used to create parking spots for bigger tools. These practices make everything visible and easy to find. Always place the frequently used tools at easily accessible locations. 

The 5S practice may not be perfect the first time of implementation. It is achieved through continuous improvement by changing and upgrading things later, after working with the system for some time.

3. Shine

Once the unwanted items are discarded, removed, and organized, the next step is to clean the area. Shine stage of 5S involves the following activities:

1. Wipe and clean all the shelves, tools, and floors
2. Check the tool and perform regular maintenance
3. Provide a fresh coat of paint for badly worn storage areas

4. Standardize

The standardization aspect of 5S focuses on making the first three S’s—sort, set, and shine—a constant routine. Here, emphasis is given to visual management to achieve and maintain standardized conditions. Standards always help individuals work and act quickly.

For example, if it is decided to yellow paint the shadow board that keeps safety equipment, then it should be followed for all future ones. This helps to have quick access to equipment and improve worker productivity.

5. Sustain

This is one of the difficult aspects of 5S to accomplish. For example, no matter how systematically things are arranged on the worksite, if the workers do not bring the used items back to their exact place, everything goes futile.

Hence, it is necessary to make a routine to spend a few minutes to bring back all the tools to their original locations. This makes it easier to start the subsequent work quickly. The concept of sustain emphasizes the ability to build a workplace with good habits and discipline. This is a managerial responsibility, where one has to demonstrate others what needs to be done and how to make it a practice among the employees.

Implementation of 5S on Worksite

Always start implementing 5S in one or more selected areas of the worksite. Once positive results are achieved, start extending this gradually to other sites. For effective implementation of 5S:

1. Train and make the concerned management, employees, and workers understand the importance and benefits of 5S.
2. Develop a 5S implementation plan for the organization that clearly mentions the responsibilities, deadlines, employees, and workers involved in the project.
3. Conduct status audit with photographs.
4. Implement the 5S implementation plan.
5. Assess the difference before and after the implementation of 5S and list out the results.
6. Share the results and experience and extend 5S to other areas.
7. Conduct periodic 5S internal audits.
8. Measure the output, floor space, flow distance, engineering cycle times, annual physical inventory time, and defect ratios before and after the implementation of 5S.
9. Introduce annual 5S awards to encourage and appreciate the efforts of employees and workers.

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