Why do many companies fail to implement 5S management effectively?

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　　When many people talk about 5S management, they say that it’s a good system, but it’s very difficult to implement. In fact, many people understand 5S management only in a literal sense. When implementing 5S management, senior management must get involved personally; middle management should be the first group of experts to master 5S management, while frontline staff should follow the standards while striving for persistence and improvement. 　　If 5S is not implemented effectively, on the surface it seems to be a problem with methods and execution, but at a deeper level it is due to issues with management mindsets. We should abandon simplistic, directive management approaches and learn to adopt coaching- and service-oriented management styles. 　　The value of 5S for on-site management is beyond doubt. However, it is difficult for some companies to maintain 5S; the results achieved through sorting, organizing, and cleaning are not easy to sustain, and it’s very easy for things to revert to their previous state of disorder and mess. Many managers still think in a “command-oriented” manner rather than a “service-oriented” one. If managers consider their employees’ difficulties as their own, and if they take the initiative to help resolve the issues that employees face, approaching them with a mindset of support, assistance, and service, then their actions will change. From this perspective, we will think about how to reduce the workload associated with 5S tasks, make 5S easier to implement, and create conditions that enable 5S to become part of employees’ regular work habits. 　　1. Measures to save labor and effort. 　　Toothpicks for household use require a fluffy texture with wrinkles, and the formation of wrinkles tends to produce paper dust; paper dust also easily forms during rewinding and post-processing steps. Crane systems are used in the papermaking workshop, and paper dust easily accumulates on the crane tracks. The sliding rails and tracks of the cranes can generate sparks, and paper dust, being like cotton fluff, is highly flammable. Therefore, cleaning paper dust has become an important part of ensuring safe production and implementing 5S among the employees in the papermaking workshop. This type of cleaning requires working at heights, which is extremely inconvenient and unsafe. 　　2. Change mindsets through action. 　　*Managers who are accustomed to a \"command-style\" management approach *tend to use preaching to reason with their employees*, *use orders to urge them to carry out tasks*, and *relay on assessments to influence employee behavior*; such an approach often yields poor results, leading to a vicious cycle in which \"employees feel annoyed and frontline managers are at a loss.\" Providing direct standards for “organization and sorting” makes it difficult for employees to understand, resulting in a lack of initiative in carrying them out. 　　3. Control of pollution sources. 　　It is easy for us to identify and list the sources of contamination: leakage points, splashes from processing, etc. When we make an effort to address each of these sources of contamination, we find that the amount of cleaning work required decreases significantly, and it becomes much easier to maintain a 5S workplace. 　　4. Treatment of sources causing cleaning difficulties. 　　In some corners, areas with many pipes, and high places, cleaning is very time-consuming and labor-intensive; we can use sealing methods or create specialized tools to make the cleaning process simpler and easier. 　　When senior managers go to the site in person, they work together with the employees on sorting, organizing, and cleaning, guiding them to think as they work, leading discussions with them, and establishing and implementing standards for sorting and organizing. If the plans are not appropriate, they evaluate and review them together with the employees, and then make modifications and improvements until the staff on site approve of them. Having internal standards of agreement makes it much easier to carry things out later on. In practice, a shared understanding of standards and the resulting changes on the ground reinforce each other, enabling employees to have no resistance and to value the outcomes. The process of changing the workplace together with employees is very important. During cleaning operations, by simultaneously guiding employees to address sources of cleaning difficulties, pollution, and to implement measures to save time and effort, their enthusiasm for participation increases significantly, as they themselves improve the working environment, making the work easier and the site safer. Over time, 5S will not only require no assessment or supervision, but it will also become as routine as brushing teeth and washing one’s face, becoming an integral part of daily life. At this point, your site has taken a very important step toward becoming an excellent one.