Towards TQM – integrating Japanese 5‐S principles with ISO 9001:2000 requirements

5‐S is the acronym for five Japanese words: seiri, seiton, seiso, seiketsu and shitsuke which, when translated, mean organisation, neatness, cleanliness, standardization and discipline respectively. They have been referred to as the five keys to a total quality environment. There are many similarities between the ISO 9001:2000 requirements for quality management and 5‐S principles, which should be integrated. This paper shows that this integration can be achieved by extending the ISO 9001:2000 template to incorporate relevant 5‐S principles. By piggy‐backing on ISO 9001:2000 quality management systems, 5‐S principles can be introduced more readily into organizations without the need for additional resources. This paper presents the ISO 9001:2000 requirements as well as 5‐S principles and discusses how these two sets of requirements/principles could be integrated to move towards total quality management.