Five S is defined as a methodology that results in a workplace that is clean, uncluttered, safe, and well organized to help reduce waste and optimize productivity. It's designed to help build a quality work environment, both physically and mentally. 

Many organization think & take Five S as a house-keeping program which is done only by people on the shop-floor. But the fact is Five S is beyond house-keeping. The Five S philosophy applies to any work area -Plant or Office or any public place or at home.

The Five S is derived from five Japanese terms beginning with the letter "S"
Seiri (Sort), Seiton (Set in order), Seiso (Shine), Seiketsu (Standardize) and Shitsuke (Sustain)

Five S is the starting point of any improvement journey. It is the foundation on which the Operational Excellence journey starts. Five S is a systematic way to improve workplace organization and functioning by establishing the basic conditions that are essential for improvements.  It's difficult to make improvements or approach world-class levels of operations with work areas that are poorly organized, unclean, unsafe, and not standardized.  Apart from this, Five S is often a good way to familiarize people with continuous improvement by involving and engaging them to improve workplace conditions and organization.