← Notes ·
Why 5S dies in month two — and the single rule that keeps it alive
Every 5S programme I've inherited died at the same point for the same reason. The fix is a one-page rule on the noticeboard.
Every 5S programme I’ve inherited died at the same point. Month one looks great — kit’s tagged, photos on the wall, audit scores trending up. Month two, the scores plateau. Month three, the magnets start going missing. Month four, the board is being used to pin the football sweepstake.
The reason is always the same. The programme had no cadence rule.
What the cadence rule is
Pick one number. Write it on the board. Defend it.
Mine is the audit happens on Tuesday at 10:00 and the score is on the board by Tuesday at 11:00. Not “weekly”. Not “monthly”. A specific time, with a specific person responsible.
When the cadence rule is in place, the programme runs itself. When it’s not, every other priority on a manufacturing site will eat the 5S slot first — they all look more urgent.
The three tests
You can stress-test any 5S programme with three questions:
- Who runs the audit if Sarah’s on leave? If the answer is “we’ll catch up next week”, you don’t have a cadence — you have a dependency.
- What’s the most recent score on the board, in days? If it’s more than 7, the programme is dying. You may not feel it yet, but it is.
- Who closes the actions from the last audit? If the answer is “we’ll get to them”, they’re not actions. They’re suggestions.
The one-page rule
Print this on A4 and pin it next to the board:
The Cadence · Audit every Tuesday at 10:00. · Score on the board by 11:00. · Actions assigned with names and dates by 12:00. · Last week’s actions reviewed at next Tuesday’s audit. · If we skip a week, we don’t catch up. We restart the count.
That last line is the one that keeps it alive. Without it, “we’ll catch up next week” becomes “we’ll restart in the new year” becomes “the programme died”.
The audit tool
The free 5S audit is one way to start. It generates a branded PDF, which gives you the score on the board by 11:00 with zero work. If you want the full template — score histories, action register, photographs — that lives on the £97 Toolkit on tab 03.