Standard Work-Meaning, Benefits, Elements & More

Manufacturers are wise to embrace lean manufacturing.

Robert Niemiec.

Standard work is one of the best-known methods of the Toyota Production System & lean manufacturing. It is also known as standardized work. It is the easiest & safest way of completing a process and making that method the standard. Standard work is a key to continuous, ongoing improvements and it should included in all work areas. Standard work defines the DNA of what a company does and is best achieved by getting your key people together, defining a starting point, and get started.

By documenting the current best practice, standardized work forms the paradigm for kaizen. ‘Best’ means consistent, meeting consumer needs, efficiency & safety. 

It is developed as well as owned by team leaders, operators & supervisors working cooperatively. Standard work template is key to maintaining stability, solving problems efficiently and scientifically, and kaizen. It is working smarter – not harder or quicker. An essential point to remember is that standard work is not static. You can’t develop standard work processes and then leave them in place. Enhancing standard work process is a never-ending procedure. 

Standardized work defines who performs the task, when they perform it, and how they perform it. So, Every step in the process should defined & performed frequently in a similar way. Variations in the process will amplify cycle time & cause quality issues.

Standardization is needed in services. It is the basis for meeting the needs of consumers & other stakeholders such as regulators, the community, etc. It not only brings about consistency in consumer outcomes but also makes sure better productivity in organization transformation.

Three Components of Standard Work

So, Three necessary components in standard work are (1) Takt Time, (2) Work Sequence, and (3) Standard Inventory-

1. Takt Time

Takt Time refers to the speed at which a completed product is finished to fulfill consumer demand. Further, It is an important tool to find if goods flowing from each station to the next in an efficient manner. Moreover, Takt Time provides you the means to measure processes to make sure continuous flow & the optimum utilization of machines and processes.

How to calculate Takt Time?

So, Mathematically We calculate takt time as follows:

Takt time= Time Available/ Demand

The time available for production should highlight the number of time employees spends operating on the product, subtracting variables Which include conference breaks & different associated activities. Further, Customer demand is determining what number of products a buyer expects to buy in VUCA.

Both of these variables ought to be steady over an identical time frame, like 1 day or a week. Takt Time isn’t the number of man-hours put into developing a product. Moreover, It refers to the complete period to create a product, from start to finish, ensuring that continuous flow is achieved & customer demand is satisfied.

Also See- What is 5S and 7S in Lean Transformation?

For Example:

• Total Time: 8 Hours X 60 Minutes = 480 Minutes
• Breaks: 50 Minutes
• Time Available: 430 Minutes
• Customer Demand in 8 Hours: 100 units
• Takt Time: 430 / 100 = 4.3 Minutes = 258 Seconds

In this example, the customer will need 1 unit every 258 seconds. However, you might like to produce a single unit in a little less than 258 seconds to aid any variation in process steps, before implementing takt, it is essential to ensure that your processes are reliable & can deliver good quality.

Benefits:

We can attain a consistent flow of production.

Leader’s Tip
To guarantee acceptance and successful implementation, involve frontline staff in the development and documentation of standard work.

2. Work Sequence

This is the required sequence of steps taken to complete the work. These are the set of steps you need to best perform a process. This is the only element that organizations determine when developing standard work during transformation. Further, It separates the worker from the machine & provides flexibility to change workload to meet changing demand. While generating the sequence, you have two basic options:

• Do lots of analysis work to find out the most efficient method.
• Set a baseline with the present method and interact with staff to find out possible enhancements.

The first option can motivate an inflexible attitude to improvement. So, You’ll find that the 2nd approach is quicker & gets better results.

3. Standard Inventory

The inventory in standard work document template including units in machines, is in need to keep the process operating smoothly. This helps to coordinate all operators & machines involved in the work and also limit overproduction.

Inventory is the material that is in need to complete this process. So, This may consist of parts, raw materials, or in the case of a software-based project, even server time & resources. Thus, Inventory is a form of waste. So, the goal is to reduce your inventory.

Benefits of Standard Work

• It adds discipline to the culture.
• Record of the current process, reductions in variability.
• If used appropriately, standard work helps in removing waste, improve quality as well as increase efficiency.
• Reductions in injuries & strain, easier training of new operators, and a baseline for improvement activities.
• It is a learning tool that supports audits, fosters problem-solving, and involves team members in developing poka-yokes.

Elements of Standard Work

The main component of standard work is the work sequence, which has 5 main elements.

1. Content– The initial step is to define the content in types of standard work. So, Determine the steps required to complete a product or service. Initially, these steps may be hazy or wide. The aim is continuous improvement of the standard, so it is fine to start hazy or wide.
2. Sequence– As the steps have determined, now determine the current best sequence to perform those steps. This makes sure all operators are performing the process in the same way – the cornerstone for both standardization & simplification of the standard work.
3. Location– Location defines where the work completes. It denotes which steps in the process are perform. Thus, when demand changes & the tasks (or content) are separated between two or more operators instead of a single operator, it is obvious where each operator performs that task.
4. Timing– Timing is an analytic component of standardized work. It is in need for operators to be able to run self-diagnostics & seek help on their own.
5. Outcome– Outcome defines the expected quality of the product, securely, within the expected amount of total time to finish one piece.

Check out the Video

When to use Standard Work?

This concept was designed for the manufacturing industry. But we can use it in almost any environment. In general, use standard work where:

• Constancy is Essential- Does it bother if everyone does a job the similar way? If so, standard work will likely be ideal.
• You have Procedures that need to Repeat Regularly– If the work & procedures that your company does change from week to week, trying to put standard work into place will likely be an exercise in uselessness leading to effective business transformation.
• You want to Continually Improve- You can twirl as well as modify procedures to provide improvements in quality and efficiency.

Leader’s Tip
Review and revise standard work frequently to account for changes and spot possibilities for improvement.

How to measure Success of Standard Work?

Standardization and simplification of work is successful when:

• It leads the organization to Kaizen. As the current best way, it permits an organization to capture small changes between operators, so all can learn & benefit.
• Having standard work template permits operators to evaluate their work, identifying which steps they are not able to perform at the current standard.
• It eliminates waste & problems in a transformation process. Without a standard, everyone performs the task distinctly, making problem-solving difficult. As Taiichi Ohno, the founder of the Toyota Production System said: There would be no Kaizen, without standards.

Final Word

Developing Standard Work is one of the more difficult Lean Six Sigma disciplines; however, if efficiently developed, it should allow virtually anyone to perform the work without any variance in the desired output.

4 Best Lean Principles Books

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1. A Factory of One: Applying Lean Principles to Banish Waste and Improve Your Personal Performance
2. The 12 Principles of Manufacturing Excellence: A Lean Leader’s Guide to Achieving and Sustaining Excellence, Second Edition
3. The Lean Six Sigma Pocket Toolbook: A Quick Reference Guide to 100 Tools for Improving Quality and Speed
4. The Lean Turnaround: How Business Leaders Use Lean Principles to Create Value and Transform Their Company

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1. Lean IT – Principles to Practice: Toyota Way to Create Value for the Customer & Wealth for IT Organization
2. Creating a Lean R&D System: Lean Principles and Approaches for Pharmaceutical and Research-Based Organizations
3. Lean Principles and Application in BPO
4. The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development

FAQs

Key Takeaways

• Three things make up standard work: the work sequence, the takt time, and the standard in-process inventory.
• By putting standard work into place, processes may be improved continuously while also promoting consistency and reducing variability.
• In order to achieve operational excellence during the Lean transformation, standard work acts as a benchmark for training, problem-solving, and performance evaluation.