Here’s the motto you’ll need to keep in mind while understanding the concept of ‘shine’:
“Cleaning with meaning.”

Before you start reading this article, be sure to check out the second step of the 5S approach – to ‘set in order’.

To implement shine, ask yourself these questions: How often do you clean your desk before starting the day’s work? Do you clean your desk before you leave work?

You will need a goal and a plan to make your workplace shine and remain sparkling clean. “Cleaning with meaning” implies that you shouldn’t just aimlessly clean your workplace. Rather, you should clean it meaningfully and with purpose.

Meaningful cleaning indicates that you should use suitable work procedures and cleaning agents that are customized to work in scope.

Steps to Shine

Figure 1 – Steps to implement ‘shine’

Preparing a ‘shine’ calendar

To prepare your shine calendar, here are the key questions that you must answer:

  • Name of the equipment/ place that needs cleaning
  • Who will clean?
  • How to clean? (This includes the work instructions)
  • How often? (This comprises of the frequency of cleaning)

An important note on carrying out ‘shine’

Above all, ensure that SAFETY is well covered in all standard working procedures!

Table 1 – A shine calendar

Here’s what a workplace looks like after the ‘shine’ step is successfully implemented!

A work-place after implementation of ‘shine’

The 4th ‘S’ of the 5S approach is to ‘standardize’.