5S methodology: the 5 S principles applied to the fleet

The 5S methodology is present in many companies today, with the aim of improving professional quality and achieving more effective results. But what is it? How can you use it in your fleet?

Through the principles of utilization, organization, cleanliness, health and standardization, and discipline, the work environment tends to become safer and more productive. Looking at these principles, you may wonder: where does the name “5S” come from?

This is because the terms were coined in Japan, in a methodology created for the country's economic restructuring after World War II.

In this post, you will see what these words are, what they mean and also:

• What the 5S methodology is;
• How to apply it in fleet management;
• What the benefits are;
• How to analyze the results.

What is the 5S methodology?

Its concept is quite simple, and its goal is to develop high performance in organizations. The 5S principles focus on three main aspects: productivity, quality and waste reduction.

Each of them seeks to encourage the importance of responsibility, through employees' ethics and morals and management tools that help in the process. They are:

• Seiri: principle of utilization;
• Seiton: principle of organization;
• Seiso: principle of cleanliness;
• Seiketsu: principle of health;
• Shitsuke: principle of discipline.

How do you apply the 5S methodology in fleet management?

1. Seiri: principle of utilization

Its purpose is to identify work materials and define what is essential to the environment, thus allowing them to be reorganized and whatever is not necessary to be disposed of.

Generally, this principle is more associated with complete logistics management than exclusively with fleets. That is because it is a crucial principle for organizing the warehouses and distribution centers of trucking companies.

After all, these need to be functional, aiming at productivity in the handling of cargo and goods.

2. Seiton: principle of organization

The goal of this principle is to define the right place for each material, aiming at speed in day-to-day processes and time savings. In a fleet, you can think of tire inventory as an example.

You need to identify which tires are new, which were removed from the vehicles to be sent for retreading and which should be disposed of. In this case, investing in a tire management system is very beneficial for the company, making it easier to keep track of the tires' services, maintenance and disposal.

3. Seiso: principle of cleanliness

Employees commit to investigating sources of dirt in the workplace. Any physical or visual component must be cleaned and/or eliminated.

Since cleanliness is everyone's responsibility, the manager should guide employees on good practices, whether in the restroom, in the office or in the trucks. Small stickers about wasting water and electricity, for example, can be useful.

In addition, reinforce these practices by providing the appropriate means for them, such as placing trash bins in several areas of the operation.

4. Seiketsu: principle of health (or standardization)

Under this concept, the company's processes must be standardized to preserve the mental and physical health of the company's employees.

So, to apply the 5S methodology in your operation, you need driving conduct to be established and communicated to all the drivers in the fleet, respecting their working hours. For this, tracking and telemetry systems are quite useful.

Processes such as vehicle inspection should also be implemented and standardized as much as possible. Here, the digital checklist is a fundamental tool.

Generally, the fleet manager creates a document setting out the trucking company's fleet policy.

In other words, it describes all the protocols, tasks and how to act in certain situations, resulting in better performance across the whole operation.

5. Shitsuke: principle of discipline

Discipline relates to the employees' new standard of behavior and attitudes so that the changes are consolidated. These are the ethical and moral standards to be followed.

Training employees, both drivers and other staff, is important so that they are aligned with the company culture.

When everyone acts according to the proposed guidelines, they make trips safer and avoid problems such as premature wear of the operation's assets.

What are the benefits of the 5S methodology?

In the long term, using the 5S methodology allows the company to reorganize its physical spaces, as well as its management processes and also the attitude of its employees.

Its benefits include:

• Cost reduction;
• Improved service quality;
• Increased productivity;
• Fewer incidents;
• Employee satisfaction.

How do you analyze the results of the 5S methodology?

When assessing results, it is important to remember that each company develops its own method of analysis, and the assessment can be done in different ways.

A trucking company may opt, for example, for an audit, which carries out an in-depth investigation capable of identifying whether there are irregularities that can be corrected.

The important thing to consider when assessing is that the methodology's success depends on all of the 5 S's. That is why the program must work in each principle individually and as a whole.

One alternative is to define the criteria for assessing each principle individually and then add up all the results. This means that one principle may perform better than another, but that you should also assess the final result as a whole before making any improvement decisions.

In general, the best way to measure your results is to have complete and efficient fleet management. To understand how to do that, download our complete, free e-book (in Portuguese).