Serious Games for Lean Manufacturing: The 5S Game

The global economic crisis makes it necessary to increase business competitiveness. Lean is a manufacturing philosophy that deserves the attention of employers and their employees, since its objectives are to increase productivity, reduce waste, and optimize available resources. The 5S method is a lean tool that can improve productivity by improving the organization of the workplace. A brief survey of the market showed that there are several organizations dedicated to training and sharing this type of knowledge but only a few of them have digital tools available. Therefore, the use of a digital serious game that helps to understand the 5S method can effectively support an alternative form of learning. This article proposes a serious game that aims to respond to this need. This practical approach encourages the player to learn by trial and error. Information displayed throughout the game enhances learning, without a cognitive overload for the player. The game´s evaluation has shown that our approach is efficient and results in the learning of 5S concepts.