5S—A Tool for Culture Change in Shipyards

Abstract

5S is a successful education/change management program that has been used in many industries to institute a culture of orderliness in the workplace. 5S programs are common in the automotive, aerospace and many other industries. The U.S. shipbuilding and repair industry has recently embraced 5S objectives despite the fact that shipyards view their operations as unique from other industries. A possible reason for this decision is the culture change leverage that a 5S program can provide. The elements of 5S that make it a powerful change program that is effective in a wide variety of industries are: simplicity of concept, commonsense approach, creation of a common purpose, employee driven changes, principle-based ideas, focused events, a structure for sustaining and structured continuous improvement. The author provides examples of specific 5S applications in ship repair as well as a discussion of the elements that make 5S an effective culture change tool.