日本5S管理在英国企业的实践研究【外文翻译】10.doc

外 文 翻 译 原文： An investigation into Japanese 5-S practice in UK industry Introduction Osada (1991) developed the original concept of 5-S in the early 1980s. 5-S is the acronym for five Japanese words seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke. When translated these words literally mean organisation, neatness, cleanliness, standardisation and discipline, respectively. Osada refers to the 5-Ss as the five keys to a total quality environment. The Japanese have been widely practising 5-S technique and believe it can help in all aspects of life. In 1995, an intensive questionnaire survey was performed in the UK and Japan (Ho et al., 1995). The findings were that 80 per cent of the surveyed UK companies had not come across the 5-S concept. About 80 per cent of the Japanese companies had practiced 5-S as opposed to 40 per cent in the UK. However, the majority of the UK companies had actually built the concept into their day-to-day activities without realising that it was a well established quality technique. The main overall finding was that Japanese 5-S practice was an important base for implementing total quality management (TQM) successfully. Since the arrival of TQM in the 1980s there have been varying degrees of 5-S implementation in the UK. The aims of this research are to assess the popularity of 5-S as an essential baseline for TQM and its suitability as a performance improvement technique for the future in UK industry. Why use Japanese 5-S Practice? Imai (1997) attributes 5-S as an integral part of the house of Gemba management and critical to the kaizen process. Furthermore, he states that a lack of 5-S in kaizen leads to inefficiency, waste, low morale, poor quality, high costs and an inability to meet delivery terms. In his TQMEX model, Ho (1999) states 5-S as the primary driver for TQM. The questions that warrant further investigation here are: What importance is given to 5-S within a typical UK quality improvement drive? and How do you measure its effectivenes