“Secret” successfully applied 5S at the Power Company

The good practice of 5S has helped Electricity Companies minimize waste, improve productivity and improve service quality.

5S (5S methodology) concept originated in Japan in the early 1980s in the twentieth century. By defining 5S as Shari (Screening of unnecessary things at work and leaving), Seiton (Arrange things to be easy to find, easy to see, easy to take), Seiso (Clean the equipment clean) , tools and workplaces), Seiketsu (Caring for the workplace by always doing the 3S above) and Shitsuke (Ready to educate the trainers to make people do 4S on a voluntary basis).

Good Practice 5S is a fundamental tool to help organizations and businesses improve productivity and reduce waste. The implementation of 5S application is simple but brings many benefits such as creating a scientific, clean and neat working environment, thereby improving productivity, work efficiency and facilitating the identification of waste to take measures to minimize waste.

In Vietnam today, many businesses still face difficulties in applying this method, but many businesses have successfully applied this method, typically Electricity Companies. Below is the process of deploying and successfully applying 5S at some Northern Power Companies.

In Lao Cai Power Company, in order to implement 5S Program, the Lao Cai Power Company established a Steering Committee to implement 5S Program, Executive Board and established Red Flags to implement 5S Program at the subordinate district.

After that, the Company sent a team of surveyors to study and exchange experiences in the successful application of 5S Program at Son La Electricity Company to raise awareness and practical skills of applying 5S to employees in company.

After the study tour, the 5S Program Steering Committee saw the importance of improving productivity, quality of work and production and business efficiency through applying 5S, actively researching and officially put the 5S Program into application throughout the Company.

After nearly a year of researching, learning, exchanging experiences and implementing 5S, the Steering Committee of 5S Program and Red Flag Teams regularly urged, reminded, periodically and unexpectedly checked the real work, presenting 5S Program at all units under the Company. Simultaneously, 5S is considered as an evaluation criteria for emulation and completion of the tasks of departments and units.

Or at Dien Bien Electricity Company, the entire office system is changed on the principle of: “Easy to find, easy to see, easy to get and easy to return”. All systems are rearranged for clean, compact, scientific, from materials to production tools.

To further promote the achieved results, at the same time, build a systematic 5S Program and standardize the regulations on 5S application throughout the Company. In September 2016, Dien Bien Electricity Company conducted an assessment of the implementation of 5S Program.

At Son La Electricity, firstly, Son La Electricity hired a reputable consulting company to survey each position of the company so that they could give specific tasks to be done when implementing “5S”. Establishment of the Executive Board and set the time for the company to be 6 months from the date of launch. In particular, 4 months for S1 and S2 in the office area, from the company to the electricity. In the office area, the Executive Board prepares the content related to the promotion and awareness education for employees.

After the company’s office has been completed, the other Power Offices are up and “apply the prototype” to study and apply at their units. Thorough grasp the policy so that all employees are aware of the requirements and content of the “5S program”, which is the responsibility, responsibility and also the rights of each individual.

The representative of Son La electricity leader said that the leaders must be the ones who start with the tasks to be done, then the subordinates will strictly abide by them. Unlike many units, when launching, the letters stand outside and consider the task to be done by the staff level, thus, 5S cannot succeed.

It can be seen that, in order to successfully implement the 5S program at the workplace successfully, it is not only the determination of the Board of Directors but also requires each employee in the unit to make their own determination and raise awareness when developing execution.

At the same time, there must be the participation of all people in the whole unit thoroughly, organized through propaganda and specific actions such as regularly maintaining a systematic screening of all items, remove unnecessary items, arrange equipment and document records in a logical sequence and have a clear list to facilitate search and use; hygiene check the operation status of machinery and equipment as well as daily tools in the office to create a beautiful and scientific working environment landscape, easy to find, easy to find and easy to get.

Productivity and Quality Office