Space under the stairs

Student-entrepreneurs in AIM’s Master in Entrepreneurship program discover or, more aptly, sometimes uncover treasures in the conduct of their 5-S project.

In a document entitled, "An Introduction to 5-S", by Atsuo Ishiwara, the five "S" stand for seiri (sort), seiton (systematize), seiso (sweep), seiketsu (sanitize), and shitsuke (self-discipline).

The first "S" involves taking out unnecessary items in the workplace, including their disposition. The workplace can be a desk drawer, the desktop, a room, the processing area, the production area, and/or the storage area. In simple terms, the first "S" is to clean the area.

The second "S" takes the process a step further by putting things in the workplace in some kind of order or arrangement to make it easy to work.

The third "S" is cleanliness. This mandates that the work area be cleaned.

The fourth "S" requires that the place of work be kept clean.

The last "S" is the internalization of the entire process. This means that it is driven from within, not from the outside.

During one of the sharing sessions of student-entrepreneurs of the ME, the discussion centered on the results of their quality, delivery and productivity (QDP) project. Many had opted to apply 5-S in their workplace. The instructions were simple. The student-entrepreneur must take a series of pictures showing the situation before 5-S, during 5-S, and after 5-S. However, an interesting discovery was that many found treasures under another "S"–the space under the stairs.

There were several pictures that showed the amount of unnecessary, unimportant, and undisposed items that were stored under the stairs. Evidently, this was a common practice and many even confessed that some of the items were placed there as early as 10 years earlier.

The discoveries showed a treasure trove of spare parts of equipment that had been sold several years ago. There were small office equipment that could no longer be repaired at a reasonable price. Many old documents surfaced serendipitously after years of searching.

The "after" pictures showed considerably less items and that a semblance of order was in place. One sheepishly admitted that as much as 10 cubic meters of garbage was hauled out of the compound. Many converted their "garbage" into gold by selling their scrap to willing buyers. They started comparing how much they earned from the "garbage" and someone even managed to gain the equivalent of the ME program fees! Another reported that he scrapped plans to construct new storage since new space was created after the 5-S project which met his additional requirements.

But during the application of 5-S, there were five valuable lessons learned by the student-entrepreneurs.

1. Look at the space under the stairs and this may yield treasures. There is a general tendency to shove stuff there and get it out of the way so it is completely out of sight and so nobody trips over them.

2. Missing items were really there and could simply not be located earlier. The 5-S application made it easier for items to be found not only by the one who put it there but by anyone who needs it. It is easy to justify a cluttered table by saying, "In this disorder, there is order. I know exactly where the items are when I need them." But that is the central issue–what if others need them badly and you are not around? 5-S dictates that something should be found by anyone who needs it.

3. The time spent looking for things is not productive. Frequently, this takes longer than the actual time of usage of the needed item. In short, more time has been spent unproductively than productively.

4. The garbage found in the process of cleaning has economic value. One’s garbage may be someone else’s gold.

5. New "old" space is created when the garbage is disposed of and what is left is put in order. This new space may result to not needing new space.

The biggest challenge is found in the last two of the 5-S. The student-entrepreneur had to be reminded by their guru that what they did and were the bases for their harvested five lessons from 5-S were only the first three of the 5-S.

The "after’ picture must continue to be an "after" picture. If the last two of the 5-S are not done, the "after" picture will soon look like the "before" picture. The student-entrepreneurs were asked to put in place a system that will keep the "after" picture from backsliding into a "before" picture. In addition, 5-S must come from within rather than as an imposition. It must be a way of life of the people in the organization. This means that 5-S must encompass the homes and daily lives of practitioners. It is certainly not the spirit of 5-S to clear the space under the stairs just because guests are coming.

(Alejandrino J. Ferreria is the dean of the Asian Center for Entrepreneurship of the Asian Institute of Management. For further comments and inquiries, you may contact him at: [email protected]. Published "Entrepreneur’s Helpline" columns can be viewed on the AIM website at www.aim.edu.ph).