Assessment of application of 5S practices in ceramic industry

Abstract

Results of research connected with determining the degree of implementation of 5S practices in ceramics industry are discussed in this paper. Direct survey with employees of companies plus expert interview was used in the research. A 21 point scale was used to assess the degree of implementation the 5S practices at individual stages of the manufacturing process. The specificity of production in ceramics industry enforces maintaining the regime of cleanliness during production. The research revealed that the level of conscious implementation of the 5S practices in companies depends on the culture of organization and the degree of involvement of employees in the improvement actions in their company. The presented results are a part of the research aimed at determining reference requirements for companies in terms of implementation and making use of the Lean Management (LM) instruments.

Implementation of Lean Instruments in Ceramics Industries

“…Therefore, entrepreneurs need appropriate knowledge for the solutions they implement to bring the expected results. Each industry is characterized by individual conditions in terms of production technology, organization and work techniques [17,18,19,20]. It is practically impossible to develop a uniform improvement methodology for all production companies.…”

Lean Manufacturing in the ceramic industry

“…2006) usually refer to general information related to the elimination of waste and increased work efficiency. Whereas, in the case of Polish ceramic plants, one can find a description of implementations of individual Lean tools, for example 5S or standardization (Kleszcz, D. 2017, Chomicz, J. et al 2006. When implementing particular Lean Manufacturing tools, companies attach considerable importance to performing all the preparatory and implementation activities included in the procedures, so that a given tool can start functioning as soon as possible.…”

Value Streams Mapping in the Implementation of Process Innovations – in the Case of Single–Unit Production

“…The revolution in the methods, techniques and concepts of management was the introduction of the word Lean in the manager's dictionary. It took place in the late 80's and is still the most valued strategy for the development of enterprises in both the production and service industries (Womack P. J. et al, 1990;Kleszcz, 2017). The basis for this concept was the graphically illustrated Toyota Production System (TPS), which is a compilation of tools, activities and dependencies aimed at improving production (in the Lean concept, improvement is perceived as a leaning of production) (Sieckmann et al, 2018;Rosso and Saurin, 2018).…”