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Implement Kaizen Tool 5S to Improve Workplace Condition and Pave Way for
Lean Management at a Selected Pharmaceutical Factory

Conference Paper · January 2019

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International Conference on Engineering Research and Education
School of Applied sciences & Technology, SUST, Sylhet pp. 1

Theme: Mechanical, Manufacturing and Industrial Engineering

Area: Industrial Engineering and Management
Paper Id: 298

Implement Kaizen Tool 5S to Improve Workplace Condition and

Pave Way for Lean Management at a Selected Pharmaceutical
Factory
Md Shafiqul Islam1,* Muhammad Abdus Samad1 and Tanjila Islam2
1
Department of Industrial and Production Engineering, Shahjalal University of Science and
Technology, Sylhet.
2
Department of Statistics, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology, Sylhet.
Email: shafiqul.sust.ipe@gmail.com*, samad-ipe@sust.edu , tanjilaislam.1339@gmail.com
* Corresponding author: Md Shafiqul Islam

Keywords: Abstract: 5S is a Japanese technique for keeping the workplace in

• Kaizen; order, clean and deploy a self-discipline routine. Properly
• Lean; implemented 5S method can establish a visual control system in the
• 5S; workplace which will be vital to tackle the 8 wastes of lean. The
• Cycle time; aim of this paper is to implement 5S in a pharmaceutical factory
• Sustain. and compare the results of before and after implementation. The
following departments were chosen for the implementation project:
Admin, Production (a particular section), Store and Quality
Control. Before starting the implementation process, the current
condition of these departments were recorded. For collecting the
data, observation charts, previous audit reports and photographs
were used. Relevant training in 5S was given to all the employees
before the implementation phase. The target was to attach and
involve everyone with the development process. During the
implementation phase, the steps of 5S were followed accordingly:
sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain. The areas that were
part of this project were monitored and kept in observation for two
months. In this observation period, new set of data were collected
to justify the change. New observation sheets were prepared and
new photographs were taken. The before and after implementation
data were compared. The result showed significant reduction of
cycle time in the areas where 5S were implemented. As the result
was positive and satisfactory, some set of standard was set so that
everyone in the factory will follow the same procedure. For
sustaining this improvement, the factory was divided into several
zones at the beginning. During the study period, the groups in the
selected zones were audited and they received scores according to
their performance. As the 5S implementation showed satisfactory
positive results, top management decided to implement this
throughout the factory. Each zone has a 5S committee consisting of
a team leader and some group members. Their responsibilities are
to implement the standardized format of 5S that was prepared for
this factory regularly after the observation period. Continuous
monitoring and regular 5S audit will help to sustain this technique
at this factory.
pp. 2 Islam, et al., 2018

1. Introduction
Kaizen is a Japanese technique which means continuous improvement. The broad definition would
be small scale incremental improvement that continuously adds value in the process and reduce
wastes. From lean point of view, any process or system has 8 deadly wastes which are also known
as “Muda” (Stevenson, 2011). These wastes are: Defect, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-utilized
staff talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion and Extra processing. In order to be efficient and
reduce non value adding activities, a process or system focuses on reducing these wastes (Kadarova
et al. 2016). The primary objective of this paper is to reduce some of these wastes by implementing
5S which is one of the tools of Kaizen. Implementing Kaizen tools paves the way for lean
management by introducing Just in time philosophy and Jidoka which are the two pillars of lean
(Cortes et al. 2016).

5S is also a Japanese technique. The methodology was developed by Sakichi Toyoda and his son
Kiichiro along with Toyota engineer Taiichi Ohno. It was later further developed by Hiroyuki
Hirano (Willis, 2016). Today’s business world almost all the major organizations use this technique
(Veres et al. 2018). This technique is the first step of implementing Kaizen and start lean journey
of an organization. The 5 steps of the 5S methods are: Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in order), Seiso
(Shine), Seiketsu (Standardization), Shitsuke (Sustain). The necessity of using 5S may arise from
using other tools like PDCA cycle or the DMAIC model etc. (Islam et al. 2017).

2. Materials and Methodology

A pharmaceutical factory was selected for this study. Four departments were chosen for the
implementation task. The selected departments were: Admin, Production (Packing unit), Store and
Quality control. Same procedure were followed for all the departments. The steps taken are shown
below:

Assign teams into

Training to all the Current data
5S Introduction Dividing zones zones and select
concerned people Collection
zone leaders

Provide time
Compare the results Collect new data Perform audit Monitor the steps schedule and task
list to each teams

Fig.1 Steps followed in this study.

The study began by introducing 5S to top management. Since it was a proven scientific method,
case studies and analysis from other industries were presented to them. The top management
permitted to conduct this study. Initially all the employees received basic training on 5S. The
training module covered basic ideas about the steps of 5S and they can be practically implemented.
Before the implementation started, the current data was collected from the factory. The main
objective of introducing 5S was to establish JIT (Just in Time) which is a pillar of lean (Mayr et al.
2018). So, from each of the four departments, 1 task was selected to count the cycle time before
5S. It was assumed that after implementing 5S, several of the 8 wastes i.e. waiting, transportation,
motion will be eliminated reducing the cycle time of the task.

After the data collection, the four departments were divided into 11 zones. At first management
wanted to form cross functional teams. However, to get better results it was decided that teams will
be formed from the same departments. One team and one team leader was assigned for each zones.
After that, each teams were given a specific time schedule for conducting their 5S activities. Based

Islam*, M., Samad, M.A. and Islam, T.; (shafiqul.sust.ipe@gmail.com*)

International Conference on Engineering Research and Education
School of Applied sciences & Technology, SUST, Sylhet pp. 3

on each zones, several scopes for implementing 5S were identified and they were provided to each
teams. The progress were monitored by the authors along with coordination between the team
members and with top management.

After 2 months of 5S related activities, the zones were audited. The audit mainly focused on the
fact that if the progress made over the 2 months period sustained or not. Based on that audit result
new instruction were suggested to top management so that the improvement will be sustained in
the long run. After the audit was completed, new data was taken for the previously selected tasks
from the four department to compare the change in cycle time before and after 5S.

3. Data Collection and Zone Distribution

From each of the departments, a specific task was selected for calculating the cycle time. The
description of the task and current cycle time is shown in the below table 1:

Table 1. Current cycle time for selected tasks

Name of the Task Department Cycle Time
GRM Admin 3 days
Packing of 1 batch Production 165 minutes
Sending materials in the retention unit Store 5 days
Release of bulk material after blending Quality Control 35 per day

The area of the four departments was divided into 11 zones. The purpose of dividing the areas into
zones was so that the total area will get proper attention. Some areas were small but needed critical
monitoring, some area were large but small amount of monitoring would have been sufficed. The
zones were set up accordingly to the need. Zones distributed by the departments were as shown in
table 2 along with the time allocated for them for performing these 5S activities:

Table 2. Distribution of zones and time allocation

Name of the department Zone Area Zone ID and time
Admin Printer and photocopy section Ad-01 (Sun: 10-11)
Admin Officer’s desks Ad-02 (Tue: 03-05)
Production Sachet printing area Pr-03 (Sun 11-12)
Production Conveyor tables Pr-04 (Tue: 04-05)
Production Final check area Pr-05 (Thu: 04-05)
Store Entry way St-06 (Wed: 12-01)
Store Racks St-07 (Mon: 09-12)
Store Loading and unloading area St-08 (Sun: 12-01)
Quality Control QC lab-1 QC-09 (Mon: 02-03)
Quality Control QC lab-2 QC-10 (Tue: 02-03)
Quality Control Officer’s desk QC-11 (Thu: 03-05)

4. Launching of 5S Activities and Results

After the 5S activities were launch, the authors and a team from the top management continuously
took update and monitored each teams. Most of the work procedure were similar in nature for all
the zones. The standardization format was provided to each teams 2 weeks after the implementation
started. The reason was that the format was built based on the necessary 5S scopes available in the
factory. As a result, initial 2 weeks were mainly the first step (Sort) preparation and from the third
week the teams were able to do set in order. The general work procedure completed in the steps are
described in table 3.

Islam*, M., Samad, M.A. and Islam, T.

pp. 4 Islam, et al., 2018

Table 3. 5S Implementation Tasks

Step Task Performed
Seiri (Sort) : Unnecessary items were red tagged (All zones).
Red tag items were divided into several categories i.e. scrap, repairable,
wrong location, defective, excess quantity, safety hazard and others (All
zones).
Seiton (Set in : Files and cabinets were reorganized (Ad-02, QC-11).
order) Reagents and other chemical containing bottles were labelled. (QC-09 and
10)
Signboard method (St- 06, 07, 08)
Color coding and marking (Ad-01, Pr-03, 04, 05)
Seiso (Shine) : Every employee was instructed to take responsibilities for their own
workplace and tidy up before or after coming to work every day (All zones)
Seiketsu : Everyone received same format on how to conduct the 5S activities. The
(Standardization) tagging, labelling, marking, placement were done according to the set
standard provided. Everyone followed the same format and same template
so that the previous three steps can be performed without any chaos or
haphazardness. (All zones)
Shitsuke : Top management decided to perform regular audit and introduced reward
(Sustain) and recognition so that people will be self-motivated to perform 5S and
continue doing it so that it can be sustained in the long run. One team every
month will get special incentives and certificates as part of the reward and
recognition program (All zones).
After engaging in 5S activities for two months, an audit was completed to justify the activities taken
by the teams. The audit considered 5 points of interest. They were: finishing, reorganization,
cleaning, visualization and safety. Based on the total number of works at hand in each zones and
total works completed, the teams were assigned number on a scale of 100. The evaluation method
based on which numbers were assigned are shown in table 4.

Table 4. 5S evaluation
Factor Focus
Finishing 1. There is no garbage on the floor, desktop, cabinet/equipment
2. There is no unnecessary product in the control cabinet
3. No obvious waste (excess items)
4. No doodles or expired stickers on the wall
Reorganization 1.Items are located and marked as standard
2.Cabinets/drawers, etc. as required
3.Necessary items are placed in convenient places
4.Items are not littered/mixed
Cleaning 1.No dust on top or inside of equipment or items
2.Walls, tables, cabinets, dust-free
3.Surface water stains/oil stains in the area
4.Items intact without damage
Visualization 1.Area / channel line / room / seat logo clear
2.Regional breakdown, clear responsibility and responsibilities
3.Fixed door / push-pull marking / door opening and closing line
4.Upper and lower limits of the instrument, indicating the
direction of the medium of the pipeline
Safety 1.Hazardous areas/points have safety signs
2.No exposed wire or electrical damage
3.Fire extinguisher/fire hydrant/warning sign

Islam*, M., Samad, M.A. and Islam, T.; (shafiqul.sust.ipe@gmail.com*)

International Conference on Engineering Research and Education
School of Applied sciences & Technology, SUST, Sylhet pp. 5

4.No barriers to fire facilities and access

Each factors had four focus area. Each focus area was worth points 0 to 5. Each teams were
judged based on these focus and they were given points based on the task they performed. The
points received by each teams are summarized below in table 5.

Table 5. Point scored by each teams

Team Finishing Reorganization Cleaning Visualization Safety Total
Name
Ad-01 4,2,2,5 3,3,5,2 4,4,4,4 3,5,4,4 5,5,5,5 78

Ad-02 3,5,5,4 5,5,4,4 2,3,1,2 5,4,4,5 4,5,5,5 80

Pr-03 4,3,4,3 4,4,4,4 3,2,3,4 2,3,3,0 3,2,2,1 58

Pr-04 5,5,3,4 4,5,3,4 4,3,1,2 5,4,4,4 3,4,4,4 75

Pr-05 4,5,4,4 3,4,4,5 5,4,4,5 3,3,3,3 4,3,4,5 79

St-06 3,4,3,3 3,5,4,3 5,4,3,3 4,5,3,4 3,3,4,4 73

St-07 4,4,4,5 5,4,4,5 4,4,3,5 5,5,3,4 5,4,4,2 83

St-08 3,3,2,3 4,5,4,3 4,3,4,5 4,4,5,5 5,4,3,4 77

QC-09 4,5,5,5 3,5,5,5 5,5,5,5 4,3,4,4 3,4,4,3 86

QC-10 5,4,5,5 5,5,5,5 5,5,5,5 5,5,5,5 5,5,5,5 99

QC-11 4,4,5,3 4,5,4,4 5,5,5,5 4,5,5,5 4,4,4,5 89

The tasks mentioned table 1 was reevaluated after 5S completion and the new cycle time was
calculated. The new cycle time is shown in below table 6.

Table 6. New cycle time for selected tasks

Name of the Task Department Cycle Time
GRM Admin 6 hours
Packing of 1 batch Production 122 minutes
Sending materials in the retention unit Store 2 days
Release of bulk material after blending Quality Control 50 per day

The updated cycle time shows that the process are done now much faster than before. The cycle
time in both table 1 and table 6 are average data.

5. Discussion
The reason the cycle time reduced was mainly reorganization, categorization and proper labeling.
Before 5S, for the tasks mentioned in table 1 and 6 there was unnecessary waiting, transportation
and motion in the system. The main reason for these wastes was the workstations were unorganized
and hence people did not find the necessary items when they needed. The searching for items
wasted valuable times. While looking for an item people were at a loss and did not know if they
would find their desired items in the place they are looking for.

Islam*, M., Samad, M.A. and Islam, T.

 pp. 6 Islam, et al., 2018

After 5S implementation, all the items are properly placed and everything is fixed in their own
location. Marking and labelling made it easier for people to find their desired items. The signboard
strategy followed in the store department made it count free and search free. Also sorting out
unnecessary items made the workplace clutter free. The reward and recognition system introduced
after the two months implementation project made the employees more responsible for their
respective workplace. As 5S implementation has started to remove the wastes and reduce the cycle
time in the process, the organization should input more focus and resource in the 5S activities in
future.

6. Conclusion
When people are given responsibilities for their own workplace, they tend to make the workplace
more organized and clean. The 5S activities motivates the employee to work in a good environment.
Along with this, when any organization recognize the 5S activities and motivates the employees
further by introducing reward system, it will sustain there for a very long time. The main purpose
of this study was to see if 5S activities can work successfully as a Kaizen tool. The result showed
that 5S activities are able to eliminate wastes. As the cycle time of tasks are reduced by the 5S
process, continuously implementing these will help to make the system or the process a Just in
Time process which will pave the way for lean management.

7. Reference

• William J. Stevenson, Operation Management: Theory and Practice, McGraw-Hill Higher

Education, 11th edition, 2011.
• Kadarova, J. and Demecko, M. (2016), ‘New Approaches in Lean Management’, Procedia
Economics and Finance, Vol. 39, pp. 11-16.
• Cortes, H., Daaboul, J., Duigou, J., L., Eynard, B. (2016), ‘Strategic Lean Management:
Integration of operational Performance Indicators for strategic Lean management’, IFAC-
Papers online, Vol. 49, No. 12, pp. 65-70.
• Drew Willis, Process Implementation Through 5S: Laying the Foundation for Lean,
Productivity Press, 1st edition, 2016.
• Veres, C., Marian, L., Moica, S., Al-Akel, K. (2018), ‘Case study concerning 5S method
impact in an automotive company’, Procedia Manufacturing, Vol. 22, pp. 900-905.
• Islam, T. and Islam, M. (2017), ‘Developing Control Charts in a Manufacturing Industry
and Improvement of Quality Using PDCA Cycle’, 3rd International Conference on
Mechanical, Industrial and Materials Engineering.
• Mayr, A., Weigelt, M.., Kuhl, A., Grimm, S., Erll, A., Potzel, M. and Franke, J. (2018),
‘Lean 4.0 - A conceptual conjunction of lean management and Industry 4.0’, Procedia
CIRP, Vol. 72, pp. 622-628.

Islam*, M., Samad, M.A. and Islam, T.; (shafiqul.sust.ipe@gmail.com*)

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