Compass Performance, Inc.

SIMPLIFY™ · Daily operating discipline

5S — the operating discipline that works anywhere

Sort · Set in Order · Shine · Standardize · Sustain. 5S is not a housekeeping project and it is not only for a factory. Define the work correctly and the same five steps run in a production cell, a garage, a laundry room, an office, a classroom, or a child's bedroom — the first stability anything else is built on.

Step 01: The Principle

Architecture determines performance — 5S is where that architecture becomes visible.

A standard that cannot be seen cannot be held — in a plant or in a garage.

Every enterprise already has a standard on the floor. The question is whether it is written, visible, and audited — or carried in the heads of the people who have been there longest. 5S makes the standard physical: the right condition of an area is obvious to anyone walking through it, and a deviation announces itself.

That is why 5S belongs to leadership, not to housekeeping. It is the daily proof that the operating system is real between improvement events.

Download the 5S PowerPoint (Compass-branded)Jump to the implementation roadmap

10 slides, ready to present to a leadership team or a floor crew.

Why 5S is critical

Disorder is not untidiness. It is a system telling you the work was never designed.

Disorder is a tax you pay every single day

Every search, every re-buy of something you already own, every step around an obstacle is time and money withdrawn from the same account. The tax is small enough to ignore and constant enough to matter.

You cannot improve a space you cannot see

Clutter hides the real problem. Until the unnecessary is removed, you are troubleshooting through noise — the leak, the shortage, the missing homework, the bottleneck are all camouflaged.

Standards live in physical space, not in documents

A rule that exists only on paper depends on memory and willpower. A rule built into the space — one obvious home, labeled, sized, in reach — is followed by default and its absence is visible instantly.

Order is what makes everything downstream possible

Safety, quality, speed, learning, and calm all sit on top of a stable environment. 5S is the first stability; without it, every other improvement you attempt is built on sand.

It changes the person, not just the place

Doing 5S once teaches a way of thinking: define the work, remove what does not serve it, give what remains a home, keep it visible, audit yourself. That habit transfers to a plant, a classroom, or a ten-year-old's room.

Cleaning is inspection

Hands on the equipment, the desk, the dryer, the bike is how you find the leak, the fray, the loose bolt, the missing part while it is still cheap to fix. Nobody finds those from across the room.

What disorder costs — every day, in every setting

  • Time lost hunting for tools, materials, files, keys, papers, or supplies — the most common and least measured waste there is.
  • Money spent replacing things you already own but cannot find.
  • Injuries and near misses from congestion, trip hazards, poor lighting, and blocked exits.
  • Failures found late — a leak, a worn belt, an overdue form — because nobody had hands on the thing.
  • Decisions delayed because information is scattered across piles, drives, and inboxes.
  • The low-grade stress of an environment that argues with you all day.

Step 02: The Philosophy

Reframe it before you launch it — the definition decides whether it survives.

5S is

  • The daily discipline that turns the operating framework into repeatable work.
  • A visual management system: the standard is visible, so a deviation is obvious.
  • The first stability the organization needs before it can improve anything reliably.
  • A leadership behavior measured by cadence and audit, not by appearance.

5S is not

  • A housekeeping project or a spring clean before a customer visit.
  • A one-time event that ends when the area looks good in a photograph.
  • Something delegated to maintenance, janitorial, or the newest supervisor.
  • A poster campaign — signage without a cadence decays within a quarter.

The distinction matters: appearance decays in weeks, a cadence compounds for years.

5S works anywhere — if you define the work first

The five steps do not change. The sentence about the work does.

5S never starts with cleaning. It starts with a sentence: what work does this space exist to do, and for whom? Once that sentence is true and specific, everything in the space is either evidence for it or clutter against it — and the five steps decide which.

01

What work happens here, in one sentence?

This sentence is the standard everything else is measured against. Vague sentences produce vague results.

"This garage exists to park two cars and maintain bikes and the yard" — not "this garage is for storage."

02

Who does that work, and how often?

Frequency decides distance. Daily items live at arm's reach; monthly items live higher or farther; yearly items live somewhere else entirely.

The teacher and 24 students, every period of every day — so student-access items get student-height homes.

03

What does the work actually need to be done well?

This is the keep list, written before you look at the pile — so the pile does not do your thinking for you.

For the laundry room: detergent, stain treatment, hangers, one basket per sorting category, a folding surface.

04

What does 'right' look like at the end of a cycle?

The reset condition is what you audit. Without it, 'clean' is an opinion and the space drifts back within a month.

Desk clear except monitor and notebook; laundry counter empty; tools on the board; floor clear to the wall.

The same discipline, translated into six settings

Find the setting closest to yours, read the five lines, then run it. The working instrument below carries the same translation onto the printed sheet.

Manufacturing cell / line

Operators, supervisor, maintenance

The work — This cell exists to build and pack product X to standard, safely, at rate, on every shift.

Sort
Red-tag every tool, fixture, part, and document not used by the current process; stage tags with an owner and a decision date.
Set in Order
Locate tools and material at point of use in job sequence; outline, shadow-board, and label; set min/max quantities with visual triggers.
Shine
Clean to inspect on a schedule; log every leak, loose fastener, worn belt, and abnormal sound; fix at the source.
Standardize
One-page standard work, layout, and cleaning schedule posted at the station with the owner's name on it.
Sustain
Five to ten minutes at shift end, supervisor weekly audit, manager monthly, executive quarterly walk, score posted.

First pass — One shift, one bounded cell, whole team present, with a roped-off holding area and 200 printed tags.

Red tag here — A numbered tag on any item the cell does not need for today's work.

Measure — Square feet recovered, dollars of inventory returned, search minutes removed per shift, downtime found early.

Home / garage

You, and whoever else parks or builds in there

The work — This garage exists to park the vehicles, maintain the bikes and yard equipment, and hold the tools those jobs need.

Sort
Everything not used in the last twelve months goes to a tag pile: donate, sell, return to its real owner, or scrap. Broken things get repaired this month or they leave.
Set in Order
Zones by job — vehicle, yard, bikes, projects. Hand tools on a pegboard with outlines, consumables in labeled bins, long-handled items on wall hooks, floor kept clear to the wall.
Shine
Sweep the bay and wipe the bench at the end of each project; while wiping, check for oil spots, frayed cords, dull blades, and low fluids.
Standardize
A photo of the finished wall taped inside the door, bins labeled, and a written rule: nothing new comes in without something going out.
Sustain
Ten minutes at the end of every project, a fifteen-minute reset each Saturday, and a full reassessment each spring and fall.

First pass — One Saturday, everything out onto the driveway, keep list written first, nothing goes back in without a reason.

Red tag here — A strip of masking tape with the date on anything you cannot justify — if you have not touched it by the date, it leaves.

Measure — Cars parked inside, minutes to find any tool, and the count of duplicate items discovered.

Laundry room

Whoever runs the household laundry

The work — This room exists to move dirty clothes to clean, folded, and put away without a backlog forming on any surface.

Sort
Remove everything that is not laundry: nine near-empty bottles become one, single socks get a date, and the ironing board that has never been used leaves.
Set in Order
Sorting baskets at the entry point, detergent and stain treatment above the washer at reach height, hangers on a rail, a clear folding surface, a basket per person for delivery.
Shine
Wipe the machines and clear the lint trap every load; check hoses, seals, and the vent for lint build-up monthly — that check is a fire prevention step.
Standardize
A card on the wall: sorting rules, cycle settings, what gets hung not folded, and 'the counter is empty when laundry is done.'
Sustain
The room resets at the end of every load, and a five-minute check each week that the counter and floor are still clear.

First pass — Ninety minutes: clear every surface, consolidate the products, install the baskets and the hanging rail.

Red tag here — A dated sticky note on anything stored here that is not part of laundry.

Measure — Surfaces clear at end of day, loads with no backlog, and minutes from dryer to drawer.

Office

You and the team who use the space and the files

The work — This desk exists to produce focused work of type X and to route information, requests, and decisions without anything being lost.

Sort
Clear the desk to the surface. Every paper is action, reference, or recycling. Kill the drawer of dead cables, the third stapler, and the reference binder replaced two years ago. Do the same to the drive and the inbox.
Set in Order
One home per category: in-tray, action file, reference by topic, supplies in one drawer. Digital mirrors physical — one naming convention, one folder tree, shortcuts to today's work.
Shine
Two minutes at the end of the day to clear the surface; weekly, empty the in-tray to zero and back up what matters.
Standardize
A written desk standard, a file naming convention, and a rule for how long paper may live in the in-tray before it becomes a task.
Sustain
End-of-day reset, Friday fifteen-minute review, and a quarterly purge of files and subscriptions.

First pass — Two hours: desk surface, then drawers, then the top level of the drive.

Red tag here — A dated folder called "decide by" — physical and digital. Anything unopened by the date is gone.

Measure — Seconds to find any document, in-tray at zero, and interruptions caused by missing information.

Classroom

The teacher and every student in the room

The work — This classroom exists so that 25 students can learn, transition, and produce work with minimum lost time and maximum independence.

Sort
Remove materials not used this year, dead markers, broken devices, and decorations that no longer teach anything. Wall space is instructional space.
Set in Order
Student-access supplies at student height with labels and pictures; teacher-only materials separate; one tray per class period; turn-in and hand-back trays by the door in transition order.
Shine
Sixty-second end-of-period reset run by the students themselves; a weekly check of devices, chargers, and consumable levels.
Standardize
Photographs of the correct condition posted above each station, labels in words and images, and a written routine for entry, transition, and dismissal.
Sustain
Students run the reset every period, a class job rotation owns the zones, and the teacher walks the rubric each Friday.

First pass — One planning day per zone: supplies, then the teacher desk, then walls and storage.

Red tag here — A labeled bin by the door for anything to decide on at the end of the unit.

Measure — Minutes of transition time per period, supply requests interrupting instruction, and students who can find materials without asking.

Bedroom

The child — with a parent coaching, not doing it for them

The work — This room exists so a child can sleep, dress, do homework, and play — and reset it alone in five minutes.

Sort
Together, sort into keep, outgrown, broken, and give away. The child makes the calls out loud; the parent asks questions instead of overruling. Nothing that does not fit or does not work stays.
Set in Order
Homes a child can reach and reload: open bins by category with picture labels, hooks instead of hangers, one shelf for current books and toys, a clear surface for homework.
Shine
Five-minute reset before lights out; wipe the desk and check under the bed once a week.
Standardize
A photo of the finished room on the wall or door — that photo is the standard, and it beats any lecture.
Sustain
Nightly reset, a weekly two-minute walk with a parent, and a seasonal sort as clothes and interests change.

First pass — Ninety minutes with the child leading, in one category at a time — clothes, then toys, then books, then surfaces.

Red tag here — A "maybe box" with a date on the lid: if it is not missed by then, it goes.

Measure — Minutes to reset, mornings without a search for shoes or homework, and resets done without a reminder.

Closet

Whoever dresses out of it

The work — This closet exists so the clothes worn in this season can be found, reached, and returned in seconds.

Sort
Everything not worn in the last twelve months, not fitting, or waiting on a repair goes into a tag pile: donate, sell, alter this month, or discard.
Set in Order
Zones by use — work, weekend, formal, seasonal. One hanger type, garments faced the same direction, shoes at floor level, folded knits on shelves, out-of-season boxed and labeled above.
Shine
Wipe the shelves and rod and vacuum the floor when the season turns; check for damage, missing buttons, and worn heels as you go.
Standardize
A photo of the finished closet on the inside of the door, shelf labels, and one rule: nothing new comes in without something going out.
Sustain
Return every garment to its zone the same day, a five-minute reset each week, and a full sort at each season change.

First pass — Two hours: everything out onto the bed, keep list written first, nothing goes back on the rod without a reason.

Red tag here — A dated tag on the hanger of anything you cannot justify — if it is unworn by that date, it leaves.

Measure — Seconds to assemble an outfit, garments worn in the last month as a share of the total, and linear feet of rod recovered.

Other

The people who use the space and own the result

The work — Name the space and the single sentence that says what it exists to produce, for whom, and to what standard.

Sort
Remove everything the stated purpose does not require; tag anything uncertain with an owner and a decision date.
Set in Order
Give every remaining item one home, located in the order the work is performed, labeled so a stranger could return it.
Shine
Clean to inspect on a fixed rhythm and record every defect found rather than only cleaning the surface.
Standardize
One page — or one photograph — that shows the correct condition, with the owner's name and the reset rule on it.
Sustain
A short reset at the end of each cycle, a weekly walk against the standard, and a scheduled full reassessment.

First pass — One bounded session with everyone who uses the space present, the purpose written first, and a holding area for tagged items.

Red tag here — A dated tag on anything the stated purpose does not require.

Measure — Time lost searching, space recovered, items removed, and defects found before they caused a stoppage.

Step 03: The Architecture

Each S has a definition and a test — the test is what makes it real.

1

Sort

Seiri

Remove everything that is not needed to do the work.

  • Red-tag tools, parts, fixtures, and paperwork not used in the current process.
  • Hold red-tagged items in a staged area with a decision date and an owner.
  • Return, relocate, repair, or dispose — no item stays in limbo.

The test — Nothing in the area exists without a reason someone can state out loud.

2

Set in Order

Seiton

Give everything that remains one obvious home, positioned for the work.

  • Locate tools and material at point of use, in the sequence the job runs.
  • Label, outline, shadow-board, and color-code so the location is self-evident.
  • Set minimum and maximum quantities so a shortage is visible before it stops the line.

The test — A new operator finds what they need in seconds without asking anyone.

3

Shine

Seiso

Clean to inspect — cleaning is how the equipment tells you what is failing.

  • Clean the equipment and the workspace as a scheduled inspection, not a chore.
  • Log every leak, loose fastener, worn belt, and abnormal sound found while cleaning.
  • Fix at the source: contain the leak rather than schedule the wipe-down.

The test — Abnormal conditions are found by operators, before they become downtime.

4

Standardize

Seiketsu

Write down the best known way and make it the visible default.

  • Document standard work, layouts, cleaning schedules, and checkpoints — one page, at the station.
  • Post the standard where the work happens, with the owner's name on it.
  • Change the standard through a controlled revision, never by verbal workaround.

The test — Two shifts running the same job run it the same way.

5

Sustain

Shitsuke

Build the leadership cadence that keeps the standard alive.

  • Audit on a published schedule — supervisor weekly, manager monthly, executive quarterly.
  • Score against a defined rubric, post the score, and assign every gap an owner and a date.
  • Recognize the areas holding the standard; coach the ones that are not.

The test — The standard holds when no one from outside the area is watching.

5S inside the Compass Operating System™

FOUNDATION™
Creates the stability, safety, and trust every other discipline is built on.
SIMPLIFY™
Removes waste, motion, and complexity from the work itself.
LEAD™
Gives leaders a visible standard to coach, audit, and hold.
GROW™
Makes the standard repeatable so it can be replicated across lines and sites.
ARC™
Assess, refine, commit, repeat — 5S is where renewal is measured daily.

Step 04: The Outcome

What the enterprise gets when 5S is a discipline rather than an event.

Safety

Hazards, congestion, and blind corners are designed out of the area.

Search time

Motion and hunting for tools, material, and information disappear from the cycle.

Equipment reliability

Cleaning-as-inspection surfaces failures while they are still cheap.

Quality

One standard, visibly posted, removes shift-to-shift variation.

Capacity

Released hours and floor space become growth capacity rather than overtime.

Ownership

The people doing the work own the standard instead of receiving it.

Released hours and floor space are the point. 5S converts recovered capacity into growth capacity — the same conversion SIMPLIFY™ makes at the enterprise level.

Step 05: The Action

Seven steps from a single pilot area to a replicated site standard.

  1. Step 01Week 1

    Charter and choose the pilot area

    Bound the work so it can succeed visibly before it is scaled.

    • Name an executive sponsor, a 5S leader, and an area champion who works in the area.
    • Pick one pilot area small enough to finish and visible enough to matter.
    • Baseline the area: photographs from fixed positions, search-time samples, safety findings, downtime.
    • Write a one-page charter: problem, measurable goal, dates, and who decides.

    Output — Signed charter, baseline pack, and a pilot area with a named owner.

  2. Step 02Week 1-2

    Train the team on the work, not the theory

    Everyone who touches the area understands the five steps and their part.

    • Run a 60-90 minute session on the floor, in the area, using the real workstation.
    • Walk the current state together and let the team name what gets in their way.
    • Agree on the audit rubric before the first S — the standard is defined up front.

    Output — Trained area team, agreed rubric, and a list of the team's own irritations.

  3. Step 03Week 2

    Sort and red-tag

    Get everything unnecessary out of the area, with decisions closed.

    • Red-tag event with the whole area team present; tag everything not needed for current work.
    • Stage red-tagged items with an owner and a decision date, not an open pile.
    • Close every tag: return, relocate, repair, or dispose — and record what it freed up.

    Output — Cleared area, closed red-tag log, and recovered space and dollars quantified.

  4. Step 04Week 3-4

    Set in order and shine

    Design the layout around the work, then clean to inspect.

    • Locate what remains at point of use, in the sequence of the job; label and outline every location.
    • Set min/max quantities and visual triggers for replenishment.
    • Run the first clean-to-inspect pass and log every abnormal condition found.
    • Fix at the source: contain leaks and correct root causes rather than scheduling more cleaning.

    Output — Visual layout, marked locations, and an abnormality log with owners and dates.

  5. Step 05Week 4-5

    Standardize the best known way

    Write the standard down and post it where the work happens.

    • Document standard work, layout, and cleaning schedule on one page per station.
    • Post the standard, the owner's name, and the audit score at the area board.
    • Define how the standard changes — revision control, not verbal workaround.

    Output — Posted standard work, area board, and a controlled revision process.

  6. Step 06Week 6 onward

    Sustain through cadence and audit

    Convert a good week into a permanent operating condition.

    • Daily: 5-10 minutes of 5S at shift end, built into the schedule, not added to it.
    • Weekly supervisor audit, monthly manager audit, quarterly executive walk — published dates.
    • Post scores and trends; every gap gets an owner and a date; recognize areas that hold.

    Output — Audit trend line, closed-gap log, and a cadence on the leadership calendar.

  7. Step 07Quarter 2 onward

    Replicate and renew (ARC™)

    Standardize what worked, then raise the standard.

    • Convert the pilot into the site playbook: rubric, board layout, standard-work format.
    • Sequence the next areas; use the pilot team to coach rather than a central staff group.
    • Reassess quarterly against a higher standard — the bar moves as capability grows.

    Output — Site playbook, rollout sequence, and a higher rubric for the next cycle.

Inside step 03

The Red Tag event — how it actually works

A red tag is a physical, numbered label attached to any item in the area that cannot be justified for the work running today. The tag does not throw the item away — it starts a clock. Every tagged item gets an owner, a disposition, and a decision date, and nothing returns to the floor without a reason someone can state out loud.

Why a tag instead of a clean-up

  • It separates the decision from the emotion: the item leaves the work area first, and the keep-or-lose argument happens later, at the holding area, with facts.
  • It makes hoarding visible. A pile of tags in one department is a data point about how the enterprise buys, stores, and trusts its own supply chain.
  • It converts clutter into recovered numbers — square feet, dollars of returned inventory, hours of search time removed from the cycle.
  • It gives operators authority. The people doing the work decide what the work needs; leadership funds and closes the decisions.

What goes on the tag

Tag number
Sequential and unique — it is the key to the log and to closing the loop.
Date tagged
Starts the decision clock; a tag with no date never closes.
Area / cell and tagged by
Says where the item came from and who to ask about it.
Item description and quantity
Specific enough that someone who was not there can identify it.
Category
Tool, fixture, raw material, WIP, spare part, paperwork, furniture, equipment, unknown.
Reason for tag
Not needed here / not needed now / defective / obsolete / unknown owner / excess quantity.
Estimated value
Turns the event into a financial result rather than a tidy-up.
Proposed disposition
The recommendation from the floor — the decision is confirmed at the holding area.
Decision owner and decision date
The two fields that make a tag a commitment instead of a wish.
Closed date and outcome
Proves the tag was resolved; the log is audited, not assumed.

Run of the day — one area, one shift

  1. 01 · Before the day

    1 week out

    Prepare the event

    Bound the area on a map and photograph it from fixed positions. Print 200+ numbered tags and the log. Mark and rope off a holding area with signage. Confirm the sponsor, the area champion, maintenance support, a fork truck or cart, and a disposal/return route. Tell every function that owns material in the area that it will be tagged.

  2. 02 · Open

    20 min

    Brief the team in the area

    State the goal, the rules, and the safety expectations standing in the area itself. Make one rule explicit: nobody is judged for what is found. The pile is a system result, not a personal failure.

  3. 03 · Sweep 1

    90 min

    Tag everything not needed for today's work

    Work in pairs, one zone at a time, floor to ceiling: benches, drawers, cabinets, racks, overhead, under equipment, outside walls, and every document board. If the pair cannot agree, the item gets tagged — doubt is a tag.

  4. 04 · Move

    60 min

    Move tagged items to the holding area

    Log every tag as it moves. Group by category so quantities and duplicates become obvious. Nothing tagged stays in the work area, and nothing leaves the site yet.

  5. 05 · Sweep 2

    45 min

    Second pass with fresh eyes

    Swap zones between pairs and walk again. The second pass typically finds 20-30% more, because the first pass protects familiar things.

  6. 06 · Decide

    60 min

    Disposition review at the holding area

    Champion, supervisor, maintenance, planning, and finance walk the holding area together and assign a disposition, an owner, and a decision date to every tag. Fast decisions are the point; unresolved items get a hold date, never an open pile.

  7. 07 · Close

    30 min

    Count the result and set the follow-up

    Photograph the cleared area from the same fixed positions. Report square feet recovered, items tagged, dollars returned or written off, and open tags with dates. Book the follow-up review and the first weekly audit before anyone leaves.

Rules of the event

  • If two people cannot agree the item is needed for today's work, it gets tagged.
  • Tag the item, never the person — findings are never used in a performance conversation.
  • No item is removed from the area without a numbered tag and a log entry.
  • Nothing is thrown away during the sweep; disposal happens after the disposition review.
  • Every tag carries an owner and a decision date before the team leaves the floor.
  • Open tags older than 30 days escalate to the sponsor — the holding area is not storage.
  • Safety, calibration, and regulatory items are quarantined for the responsible function, not dispositioned by the team.
  • The holding area is cleared to zero before the event is called complete.

The holding area

  • One marked, signed location per site, visible to leadership — not a back corner.
  • Laid out by category with the log posted at the entrance and updated the same day.
  • A maximum footprint: when it is full, decisions get made before more tags arrive.
  • Reviewed on a published weekly cadence until it is empty.
  • Nothing enters without a tag number; nothing leaves without a closed log line.

Closing a tag — the six dispositions

Keep in place

Used in the current process, at least weekly, by this area.

How it closes — Give it a labeled home in Set in Order and remove the tag on the log.

Relocate

Needed, but not here — belongs at another point of use or in central storage.

How it closes — Move it, record the new location, and confirm the receiving area accepted it.

Return

Stock, spares, or tooling that belongs to stores, another department, or a supplier.

How it closes — Return with paperwork and record the credit or inventory adjustment.

Repair

Needed and worth fixing; currently unusable.

How it closes — Work order raised, owner and date on the log, tag closes when it returns serviceable.

Sell or scrap

Obsolete, surplus, or beyond economic repair.

How it closes — Approval per policy, then disposal with the recovered or written-off value recorded.

Hold and decide

Genuinely uncertain — nobody present can say whether the item is needed.

How it closes — Dated hold in the holding area with a named owner; auto-escalates at 30 days.

What you count afterwards

Items tagged

Count of tags raised, split by category.

Square feet recovered

Floor area released, measured from the before/after map.

Dollars recovered

Inventory returned, spares recovered, and scrap or resale value.

Search time removed

Sampled hunting time per shift, before and after.

Tag closure rate

Percentage of tags closed within their decision date.

Open tags aging

Count of tags older than 30 days — the honesty check on the whole event.

Execute it yourself

The first pass — one session, any space, six moves

This is the whole method at the smallest scale that still works. A cell takes a shift, a garage takes a Saturday, a desk takes two hours, a child's room takes ninety minutes. The sequence never changes.

  1. Move 0110 minutes

    Bound it and write the work sentence

    • Pick a space small enough to finish in one session — one bay, one desk, one closet, one cell.
    • Write the work sentence: what this space exists to do, for whom, how often.
    • Write the keep list before you look at the pile: what the work genuinely needs.
    • Photograph the space from two fixed positions. Those photos are your before.

    Proof it is done — A written sentence, a keep list, and two photographs.

  2. Move 0230-40% of your time

    Sort — take everything out

    • Empty the space, or as much of it as you can handle, into a staging area.
    • Sort into four piles: needed here, needed but not here, decide later, gone.
    • Put a date on the decide-later pile. Doubt is a tag — if you hesitate, it gets tagged.
    • Close the gone pile the same day: bin, donate, sell, or return it. Do not create a new pile somewhere else.

    Proof it is done — An empty space, four sorted piles, and the gone pile physically out of the building.

  3. Move 0325% of your time

    Set in order — design homes for what is left

    • Place by frequency: daily items within reach, weekly nearby, seasonal remote.
    • Give every item one home and only one home, positioned in the order the work runs.
    • Label the home, not just the item — outlines, bins, hooks, and picture labels for children.
    • Set quantities: how many is enough, and what tells you it is time to reorder.

    Proof it is done — Everything in the space has one labeled home, and someone new could find it.

  4. Move 0415% of your time

    Shine — clean as an inspection

    • Clean surfaces, equipment, and floor with your hands on it, top to bottom.
    • Write down every abnormal thing you find: leak, fray, crack, missing part, expired item.
    • Fix at the source where you can, and put a date and an owner on the rest.

    Proof it is done — A written list of abnormalities found, each with an owner and a date.

  5. Move 0515 minutes

    Standardize — make the right condition visible

    • Photograph the finished space. That photo is the standard.
    • Post the photo and a short reset routine where the work happens.
    • Write the one rule that protects it: nothing new in without something out, or the surface is clear at the end of the day.

    Proof it is done — A posted photo, a reset routine, and one protective rule.

  6. Move 06Ongoing

    Sustain — put the reset on a calendar

    • Build the reset into an existing rhythm — shift end, bedtime, end of period, end of project.
    • Set a weekly two-minute walk against the photo, and a monthly or seasonal deeper check.
    • Score it honestly against the photo, then close every gap with a name and a date.
    • Reassess quarterly and raise the standard as the space and the people get better.

    Proof it is done — The space still matches the photo four weeks later, with no outside pressure.

What makes it fail — identically in a plant and a bedroom

  • Starting with cleaning instead of with the work sentence — you end up with a tidy version of the wrong layout.
  • Buying containers before sorting. Storage bought early just preserves clutter in nicer boxes.
  • Doing it for someone instead of with them — the person who did not decide will not sustain it.
  • Taking on the whole garage, drive, or department at once and stopping halfway.
  • Letting the decide-later pile live without a date. Undated piles are permanent.
  • No photo of the finished condition, so 'right' becomes an argument within a month.

The same five steps that free floor space in a plant free a Saturday morning in a garage and five minutes of every school transition. Define the work, remove what does not serve it, give the rest a home, make the standard visible, and audit yourself on a rhythm. That is a discipline, not a chore — and it is portable to every space you are responsible for.

Training venue

Assess your 5S situation right now, then plan and prove the improvement

The full working session lives on its own page so this one stays readable: a five-level rubric for each S, a target one level up, the first-pass plan, the Red Tag event, and the before-and-after measures — printed as your training material and as the evidence of what changed.

Open the 5S training sessionDownload the 5S PowerPoint

Who owns what

Role
Owns
Executive sponsor
Removes barriers, funds the work, walks the area quarterly.
5S leader
Coordinates training, rubric, schedule, and the rollout sequence.
Area champion
Owns the standard in the area and the daily discipline behind it.
Operators
Perform daily 5S, surface abnormalities, and improve the standard.
Supervisors
Audit weekly, coach the gap, and close findings with dates.
Maintenance
Fixes at the source and partners on clean-to-inspect findings.

Audit rubric

  1. Level 1Area cleared and red-tag log closed.
  2. Level 2Locations labeled; everything has one obvious home.
  3. Level 3Clean-to-inspect running; abnormality log active with owners.
  4. Level 4Standard work posted and followed across all shifts.
  5. Level 5Audit cadence held for a full quarter with a rising score.

Score weekly, post the trend, and give every gap an owner and a date.

Why 5S programs fail

  • 01Launching everywhere at once instead of proving it in one area first.
  • 02Treating Shine as cleaning instead of inspection — abnormalities never get logged.
  • 03No published audit cadence, so the standard decays as soon as attention moves.
  • 04Scores posted with no owner or date attached to the gaps.
  • 05Adding 5S on top of a full schedule rather than designing the minutes into the shift.
  • 06Leaders who inspect the area but never work the standard with the team in it.

Executive takeaway

5S creates the everyday discipline required for safety, flow, ownership, equipment reliability, and scalable growth. Architecture determines performance — 5S is where that architecture becomes visible on the floor.

Download the 5S PowerPointOpen the implementation checklistCharter the pilot with the ARC™ instruments

The next step

Make the standard visible, then hold it.

If the floor cannot show its own standard, no improvement will hold. We partner with leadership teams to design the cadence, the rubric, and the ownership that keep 5S alive after the launch.

Schedule a conversationSee how SIMPLIFY™ releases capacity

Not sure where to start?

Three questions, and we point you to the right instrument.

Under a minute. From this page, most leaders begin with The organization.

Not sure? Answer three questions Or browse every instrument