Why Use Standard Work?

 What is Standard Work?

 

Standard Work is a tool for making quality products.

• Centered around human movements, it combines the elements of a job into the most effective sequence without waste.

• Helps achieve the most efficient level of production.

• It details the actions of the employee, the motion of the parts and machine processing sequence.

 

14 Organizational Problems Standard Work Solves

 

1. Labor imbalances

2. Poorly defined work sequence

3. Poor workplace organization

4. Inadequate tools

5. Difficult work methods

6. Little or no support

7. Loose or no specs

8. Irregular workflow

9. Poorly defined responsibilities

10. Incapable processes

11. Cycle time / Takt time unclear

12. Variability in the work steps

13. Poor communication

14. Lack of core skills

 

 

Henry Ford's Thoughts on Standardization 

 

•To standardize a method is to choose out of many methods the best one, and use it... What is the best way to do a thing? It is the sum of all the good ways we have discovered up to the present. It, therefore, becomes the standard.

•Today’s standardization .... is the necessary foundation on which tomorrow’s improvement will be based. If you think of “standardization” as the best you know today, but which is to be improved tomorrow - you get somewhere. But if you think of standards as confining, then progress stops. 

 

The 11 Benefits of Using Standard Work 

 

1. Maintains the level of quality

2. Stabilizes working conditions

3. Increases the level of safety

4. Allows easy judgment of normal from abnormal conditions

5. Cost reduction

6. Stability of operating time (Takt Time)

7. Tool for training

8. Improved productivity

9. Reduced scrap

10. Employee involvement

11. Eliminates waste

 

 

Kaizen Collab's Approach

 

We always start with standard work in each process improvement journey. It gives organizations a baseline

for improvement. We take three steps to ensure high-quality documentation of your best practices.

 

1. Observations & Time Studies - We will spend time with your team to understand how each employee performs the task at hand. Often, we will record these processes for review with your team. 

2. Best Practice Voting - After tasks have been identified, measured, and captured, we will review this with your team. Your team will be responsible for voting on the best practice for the team. 

3. Final Documentation - Once the best practice has been agreed upon, we'll use your top employees to document and record the official standards in detail. 

 

Post documentation, we will provide a skill matrix, a training schedule, and an audit schedule for each standard. This is to ensure that your team is properly trained on the standard work. We will also offer auditing services to ensure the standard is being properly followed and improved upon.