5S - "Some Stupid Supervisor Said So”

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🧰 When 5S Goes Too Far

That post hit a nerve in the MACHINIST Facebook group this week — thousands of likes, hundreds of comments, and a whole lot of machinists venting about the chaos that comes when corporate “organization” meets real-world manufacturing.

Turns out, most of us have a story about 5S gone wrong — and they’re usually expensive, frustrating, or hilarious (sometimes all three).

Here are a few of our favorites:

• 🏗️ “They put all the fixtures outside for 5S on a Friday… by Monday the homeless camp had cleaned us out. Needed them again a month later.”

• 💸 “We had to spend thousands remaking custom cutters that the 5S team threw away — for parts we already owned.”

• ⚙️ “5S is good for factories. Not tool shops.”

• 🧾 “Office: ‘Remember that job we did?’ Me: ‘Remember that tooling you threw out?’”

• 😤 “They made me label every drawer even though no one else runs my machine. Two hours of meetings later, we’re supposed to make up the time.”

• 💰 “We’ve thrown away over $250K in tools and material because of corporate 5S nonsense.”

• 🗑️ “5S means throw it out so you can buy it again.”

• 🧠 “Some Stupid Sht Somebody Said.”*

• 🫡 “Some Stupid Supervisor Said So.”

Seems like the only thing more consistent than a bad 5S rollout… is machinists having to fix the mess afterward.

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