Journal of Tea Science Research. 2015, Vol. 5, No. 6, 1-14
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circumstance and most of the tea factories
employed one technician who has many different
functions to attend daily than checking each and
every machine inside the factory where large
number of different machines as well as similar
machines was employed based on the capacity.
However, the real practice observed was that
quality assurance officers or someone carrying
out documentation works tick the checklist even
without looking at the machines. Thus it was
appropriate to setup new recording checklist
which requires running once a month preventive
maintenance check and verification by the
technician together with quality officer. However,
each and every machine was checked for the
running conditions everyday by operators and if
there is any repair or maintenance to be carried
out, it will be recorded in specific machine’s
recording sheet with relevant data. In addition to
that checklist indicates replacements required as
well as planed dates for execution of the planned
replacements.
Furthermore to the above, training programs
were enriched with additional 5S lessons which
followed by red tagging exercises and
implementation of 5S as well as standardization of
the factory for 5S practices had shown number of
benefits to the organization.
The developed system was implemented in one
of the tea factories which had abandoned
recertifying for ISO 22000, after the
development of 5S synchronized ISO
22000:2005 generic model as a trail, where 5S
were also implemented and both documentation
systems were in operation. As to the results, the
factory had 85 files in operation for records
which was cutoff to 45 files that was related to
both systems. On the other hand, most of the
documents were belong to preventive maintenance
of the machineries where each documents had to
be filled everyday by the quality assurance
(QA) personnel. However, these documents
requested to check each and every machine for
certain technical functionalities which was
beyond the QA officer’s expertise and it was
more in line with technician’s job description.
Thus it was never practiced actually and they
tick it and signed even without looking at the
machine where it was changed to once month
complete examination by the technician with the
verification of QA Officer. In addition, all the
routine maintenance and breakdowns were
recorded in the recording sheet while stating the
ongoing condition of the machine or equipment as
well as repairs or replacements required and the
planned dates to avoid any disturbances to the
ongoing production. The changes in the mode of
recording on preventive maintenance reduce the
huge time required for unnecessary data entries
while saving the time of the recording person to
attend other works too.
Nevertheless, cleanliness and orderliness of
machines as well as equipments and utensils were
added to the cleaning checklist instead of
mentioning areas without proper specifications
which gave an additional advantage of verifying
the individual hygiene and cleaning of each
machine in the factory. The cleaning work
instructions were further enriched with individual
standards for each and every work carried out
where it was easier for the QA officer to verify
the cleaning and sanitation program on visual
observation and verify it or rectify any errors or
mistakes spotted.
Conclusion
Tea industry has adapted 5S as an important
concept in improving productivity, quality and
neatness of the organization while cutting down
the waste. This was further influenced by Sri
Lanka Tea Board and it was disseminated into
almost all the factories were used for the study
where all the factories had some kind of 5S
implementation. Over 75% of the employees
interviewed had some kind of 5S training in their
past where it was easier for educating factory
workers to implement cleaning and sanitation
programs through 5S.
ISO 22000:2005 can be harmonize with existing
5S systems in tea industry, where work
instruction, preventive maintenance, general
housekeeping, training and standardizing
were synchronizing where it was used from
existing 5S systems with modifications to
synchronize and comply with ISO 22000 as well
