Imagine a dealership obtains their ASEC certification, and a few months later their shop conditions return to their previous state before implementing ASEC. This story is very common for many dealerships, and it was the story for the Ft. Worth branch of Shoppa’s Material Handling. However, the Shoppa’s story continued on, and now their branch is sustaining a high level of 5S with a heavily engaged team. “Our team is more engaged now than ever, and they work together to maintain the condition of our shop”, Brady Muller, Service Process Improvement Manager and ASEC & TLM Champion. What changed? Kamishibai (Kah – mee – shee – bye), translated as “paper play” or “paper drama”, is an ancient Japanese storytelling method from the 1200’s that uses beautiful illustrations on large cards to teach moral lessons. This traditional technique that helped maintain a moral standard was the inspiration for a Toyota Lean method that helps maintain a workplace standard. Kamishibai, uses visual management and audit cards to help a team maintain the workplace condition together. The Toyota Material Handling factory uses the Kamishibai method as part of the preventative maintenance system for auditing our equipment. Cards with instructions on how to maintain the machine are kept in the Kamishibai box by the work area. These inspection audit cards are used by the associates to check their equipment on a daily basis. Completed audit cards are stored in the completed section of the Kamishibai box, so anyone can see how the audit process is going. Any issues found during the audit are recorded on the problem follow-up card posted by the Kamishibai box. Management reviews the Kamishibai box to see how well audits are going and help maintain the equipment. Kamishibai for Preventative Maintenance at the Factory: Machines have an audit card for each day of the week. In this example audits for Mon. – Thurs. are complete. Friday audits are still open. Kamishibai adds a visual aspect to audits, and it includes multiple layers of the team to help maintain the standard condition together. The Kamishibai technique is very flexible and can be used in many different environments, and the ASEC team adapted this method to help sustain 5S at a dealership. Kamishibai at Shoppa’s Shoppa’s 5S Sustainment Kamishibai Board: The shop was divided into zones (zone map in the upper right corner) and each zone has an audit card (left side). The history of shop audits is graphically displayed for the team to see their progress and learn from it. The team meets at this board daily. The Kamishibai board has helped sustain 5S at about a dozen dealerships, including the Lexington and Indianapolis branches of ProLift. When the Shoppa’s team heard about the Kamishibai method for sustaining 5S in the shop, they were open to trying it. Shoppa’s methodically introduced the Kamishibai audit process into their branch, starting with 5S training and training auditors. Then the Kamishibai board was introduced along with the audit cards, where auditors review what to audit and record their findings. A daily meeting started at the board for the auditors to review their findings together. Someone from management is present in this meeting in order to remove roadblocks that prevent the team from maintaining an organized workplace. “Kamishibai has created daily accountability and communication amongst the team. Not only do they consistently perform their assigned audits, but they fill in when another auditor is unable to perform theirs or be present for the daily report out. Furthermore, when Shoppa’s ASEC/TLM team isn’t present (at the meeting), audit team members step up to lead the daily meetings,” said Travis Bradley, Shoppa’s Business Operations Associate. The team graphed their audit findings and watched their condition steadily improve over the last several months. In addition to improving the 5S condition, the team also improves their business processes and every day work through discussions during audits and their team meeting. Shoppa’s Audit Card: The card shows pictures of a good condition, and what to check for. This form is used for a week. Auditors review their findings and their top improvement actions in the daily meeting. Sustaining 5S is always a combination of several factors including a company culture based on respect for people, management involvement, training, and more. Kamishibai is one tool, in addition to these other factors, that can improve 5S sustainment by helping the team see their audit process every day. “The (Kamishibai) board keeps 5S in everyone’s mind on a daily basis, and it lets the team self-manage.” Dave Toneges, ProLift Regional Operations Manager.
Achieving 5S Success with Kamishibai
