There’s an interesting “S” popping-up in 5S, as noted in this article “How to Avoid Common 5S Mistakes” by Steve Lage with PDG Consultants. It seems the second “5S” (Sweep or Shine) is getting replaced with a new term, “Showcase.”
The standard terms “sweep” or “shine” often seem rather limited in their imagination, especially for home building. Yes, we should sweep-out the home under construction at the end of every day. Every model home should shine. But there’s a much deeper meaning that we’re missing. That jobsite, model home, sales office, and vacant lot are your store fronts. They should be as enticing to your customers as any store front in the local shopping mall. So we want to do more than just “sweep” or “shine;” we want to “SHOWCASE.” Think about it.
SHOWCASE: to exhibit or display; an ideal representation of something
So, if going forward, 5S becomes 1) Sort, 2) SHOWCASE, 3) Set in Order, 4) Standardize, and 5) Sustain, how does that change your perspective?
© December 2010 Homebuilding Partners, Inc. 
Mr. Gatlin:
Congratulations for your blog. I have read since some time and it is so interesting, with a good content.
I like your point of view about “showcase” instead “sweep”. My concern is about the fact you wrote that that is the second S. Most of references have quote “set in order” as the second S. I want to understand better your opinion.
Thanks,
Jefferson Escobar
Business Unit Manager
Kaizen Institute Consulting Group – Brazil
Tel/ Fax: +55 (11) 5052.6681
Email: jescobar@kaizen.com
Internet: http://www.br.kaizen.com
By: Jefferson on December 22, 2010
at 7:23 am
Thank you for reading my blog and taking the time to comment. I too generally see “set in order” listed as the 2nd S and then another source will list “Shine/Sweep” as the 2nd S. Since I was recommending the great article “How to Avoid Common 5S Mistakes” in this post, I followed the order as stated by its author. However, based on my experience, if we sequenced 5S as 1) Sort, 2) Set in Order, 3) Showcase, 4) Standardize and 5) Sustain, it should work just as smoothly.
By: JC Gatlin on December 23, 2010
at 11:27 am
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