Food safety and quality systems do not have to be cumbersome and difficult to follow. Too often, it is assumed that a food safety or quality mitigation strategy must add complexities that are not beneficial, cost significant time and money, and are implemented only to tick off a "check box." I can assure you that quality managers and supervisors do not get up in the morning and think, "How can I make things difficult for the operations or maintenance or warehouse (or insert any other functional group in the facility) department today?"
This article discusses a system that can be impactful to food safety and quality programs and benefit operational efficiency. This system is denoted by the number of steps and the letter S. This system, when launched and properly maintained, can be extremely beneficial across any department and work area. In 5S, each step header begins with a Japanese word that starts with the letter 'S.' The 5S system can be summarized with a simple adage: Everything has a place, and everything is in its place.