5S audit: how to run, implement and control it

Most plants have been through a “5S clean-up”: a big tidy, colourful tape, photos for a presentation. Three months later the shop floor looks like it did before. The reason is almost always the same: nobody checks the standard in a repeatable way. This article shows how to run a 5S audit, roll out the system in 90 days and keep it going.

What a 5S audit is and why do it

A 5S audit is a cyclical, standardised assessment of an area against five pillars: Sort, Set in Order, Shine, Standardize and Sustain. It gives you three things that “walking the floor and looking” cannot: a comparable score over time, a list of concrete actions, and a conversation about the standard instead of opinions.

How to run a 5S audit step by step

1. Define the area and the team. Two people audit: the area leader and someone from outside. An outside eye sees what the crew has stopped noticing.
2. Prepare the audit card. A fixed list of questions, the same every time. Changing questions during the year destroys comparability of results.
3. Score on a 0–4 scale. 4 means exemplary, 0 means absent. Mark questions that do not apply to the area as “NA”: they do not count towards the score.
4. Take photos and note evidence. A score of “2” without a note of what exactly is wrong does not lead to action.
5. Calculate the score. A pillar score is the sum of points divided by the maximum. The overall score is the average of the five pillars.
6. Hold a debrief on the spot. Ten minutes with the team: what is good, what to improve, who does it and by when.
7. Enter the actions in the plan. Each with an owner and a deadline. Without this, an audit is just an inspection.

Example: pillar 1S Sort

No.	Audit question
1.1	There are no items in the area that are not needed for current work.
1.2	Items of unclear purpose carry a red tag with a decision deadline.
1.3	The quarantine zone is marked, labelled and emptied regularly.
1.4	Materials and semi-finished goods are in the necessary quantities (min/max).
1.5	Damaged tools are removed or clearly marked.
1.6	Documents and instructions at the workstation are up to date.
1.7	Personal items are only in designated places.
1.8	There are no hidden stockpiles in cabinets and drawers.

The full list of 40 questions, with a description of what to check and what a “4” looks like, is in the kit below.

How to implement 5S in 90 days

Days 1–30: foundation

Choose one pilot area, not the whole plant. Run a zero audit, appoint a 5S leader, run a sorting action with red tags and set up a quarantine zone. Take “before” photos.

Days 31–60: system

Define locations (tool shadows, floor markings, min/max levels), set a cleaning and inspection plan, and hang standard photos at the workstations. First follow-up audit after three weeks.

Days 61–90: sustaining

Introduce a short daily check, a weekly review of the action plan and a monthly audit. Post the results on a board. Only now expand to further areas.

How to control and sustain the result

• Target and warning threshold. E.g. target 80%, threshold 60%. Below the threshold an area gets a recovery plan.
• Trend, not a single result. A drop of a few points in two consecutive audits is a signal that the standard is loosening.
• Action plan with deadlines. Overdue = escalation to the area manager.
• Gemba with management. Having supervisors on the shop floor is the best motivator. The following helps: Gemba Walk checklist.
• Root cause analysis. When a problem keeps coming back, use 5 Why analysis.

The most common mistakes

• An audit “just for the paperwork”, with no actions after it.
• Starting too wide: the whole plant at once.
• No area owner and no deadlines.
• Changing the scoring criteria from audit to audit.
• Results seen only by management, not by the crew.

You can run a quick, one-off test online: 5S audit checklist.

More ready-made tools: Templates.