Run the 5S audits and follow up their findings
Score every month each area’s order and cleanliness with the 5S checklist, post the score and get each finding fixed.
The task in figures
- Gives you back
- 1 h a monthper team; today it takes 1.5 to 3.7 h a month
- Elmira today
- Helps
- Frequency
- Monthly
- Who does it today
- Analyst
- Version
- Elmira Junior
What hurts today.
The order lasts until the next audit.
The score lives in a spreadsheet the area never sees.
The findings repeat month after month.
The 5S (sort, set in order, shine, standardize and sustain) are the base of any improvement on the floor, and the hardest is the last one: sustaining. So the analyst walks each area once a month with the checklist, takes before-and-after photos, works out the score, posts it on the area’s board and chases each finding until it is fixed. When the score lives in a spreadsheet and the findings in a notebook, the order lasts until the next audit.
Done today with
- On the floor
- Paper and whiteboard
- Spreadsheet
- Email and chat
- Slides
Each step, today and with Elmira.
You send Elmira each area’s score on WhatsApp: she records it, sets each finding down as an action with its owner, with the before and after photos you send her in its action’s document, and the area’s board updates on its own.
| Step | Today | With Elmira |
|---|---|---|
| Walk each area with the 5S checklist | On the floor, Paper and whiteboard30 min – 1.5 h | Still by hand |
| Take the before-and-after photos | On the floor10 min – 20 min | |
| Record each area’s score | Spreadsheet10 min – 20 min | |
| Turn each finding into an action with an owner | Spreadsheet, Email and chat10 min – 30 min | |
| Post the score on the area’s board | Paper and whiteboard, Slides15 min – 30 min | Automatic |
| Follow the findings until they are closed | Spreadsheet15 min – 30 min | Automatic |
The conversation
- Valentina, continuous improvement analyst
Elmira, the Warehouse’s 5S audit scored 72 points this month. There are pallets in the emergency aisle: Felipe Díaz should clear them today.
I did this:
Recorded 72 in “Warehouse 5S score” for October 2026.
If something is not right, press “Undo” within 24 hours.
Create the action “Clear the Warehouse’s emergency aisle”
Goal: Bring the Warehouse to 85 5S points
Team: Warehouse
Responsible: Felipe Díaz
Due on October 15, 2026
- Valentina, continuous improvement analyst
Approve
Done: I created the action “Clear the Warehouse’s emergency aisle”.
Does this happen to your team?
Book a demo and we will show you Elmira doing this task.
More cases of processes and standards
- Audit compliance with the standard (layered audits)The results stay on paper nobody adds up.
- Map a process end to end (SIPOC)“The process” means something different to each person.
- Diagram a process’s detailed flow (flowchart or swimlane)The procedure says one thing, and the work is done another way.