Using 5S Lean Management Tool to Assess the Impact of Good Housekeeping on Productivity in Manufacturing Processes

Good housekeeping can be considered as a workplace standard developed to create safe and productive work environment. Its implementation is expected to reduce wastes and defects, increase productivity, safety, and workers’ morale. As there is a lack of sufficient evidence to show the positive impact of good housekeeping on production performance and the importance of the role of continuous improvement in manufacturing industries, this paper is aimed to identify the effectiveness of good housekeeping implementation on manufacturing performance. Three different plastic manufacturing factories were considered in this study. Two of them were facing problems in meeting customer delivery due dates and in running their daily operations, whereas the third factory handled well their production system. To assess the effects of the implementation of good housekeeping, the 5S management tool was used to shed the light on the inconsistencies in implementing good housekeeping in different work areas within the factories. The outcomes of this study obtained from a comparative analysis demonstrated the efficient implementation of good housekeeping led to subsequent improvement in productivity of the factory. These outcomes also suggested that 5S is an effective technique that can be used to improve housekeeping, working environmental, and health and safety standards.