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2022/05/24 | Time to read: 9 min
Diana Fierro is a customer experience adviser with Drishti. She is responsible for regional operations in Mexico and is based in Jalisco.
We at Drishti have seen many different lean manufacturing implementations. Usually, standardized work is the foundation of the system. Our products help to bring production to the next level by giving insights on the manufacturing process. Despite the widespread importance of standardized work though, a lot of information is interpreted differently depending on the organization. What’s more—a lot of information can be taken for granted and often times standardized work and work instructions are confused for one another. While they are certainly related, they are not the same thing.
The Lean Enterprise Institute defines standardized work in the following way:
Establishing precise procedures for each operator’s work in a production process, based on three elements:
Takt time, which is the rate at which products must be made in a process to meet customer demand.
The precise work sequence in which an operator performs tasks within takt time.
The standard inventory, including units in machines, required to keep the process operating smoothly.
- Lean Enterprise Institute (source)
Standardized work provides a system by which steps in a process are recorded and trained so that the work is done repeatedly, consistently every time, with the actions being done the same way, regardless of the worker or shift. It is implemented throughout the manufacturing operation in a deliberate manner in the form of a cyclical process:
Identifying the process to be standardized
Implementing the standardization
Tracking and measuring the adherence
Determining whether an improvement is seen
Ensuring the improvement can be and is sustained
Beginning the process anew
Standardized work is different from work instructions, which outline how work should be done, often at a lesser level of detail than standardized work, and don’t address by whom and when the work should be completed. Even if an organization has a written set of work instructions for every process and the product comes out within specification as a result of those instructions, it does not mean that standardized work has been established.
There are some cases where standardized work seems unnecessary: during the prototyping stage, for example, or if current operations are meeting customer needs without standardized work in place. That said, there are many forcing event that could bring the need for standardized work into focus, including but not limited to:
Retirements or turnover that result in the loss of tribal process knowledge
Revised customer contracts that demand higher volume or lower defect rates
Moving from prototype to production phase
Identifying a bottleneck station that needs more granular direction for workers
Work instructions are certainly a part of standardized work packages, but the two are not equivalent. Proper standardized work aids in the removal of information taken for granted (such as materials placement or broadly defined steps) and keys in on important details.
Establishing standardized work from work instructions
To start, select the process that needs standardized work defined. Gather the materials available and go to the place (genba) where the work is done. Some processes will have well-defined work instructions; others will not. Take the material and watch the workers do the steps. Follow along and determine whether or not they are doing the same actions. Note the differences:
Does one worker use an overhand grip to tighten a nut while others use underhand?
Does one worker have his tools in a different place than the others on the workbench?
Does one worker adjust the lighting to be brighter than other stations?
Is there a preferential use of tooling that varies among workers?
The purpose at this stage is not to establish right or wrong, but simply to note the differences between what the work instructions say and what is actually being done. Note this may take several passes to get correct. It’s important to ask questions of the worker and establish the why.
Remember, the people who design the process are often not the ones who have to sit and do the process thousands of times a day; it’s a core Drishti tenet that workers often develop better assembly processes. It is critical that the process is seen as naturally as possible to determine the validity of current work instructions (or even as a method of developing them in the first place).
Drishti: A real-time standardized work audit
Once standardized work has been developed for a process, review it and confirm its validity through observation. Drishti is helpful here, as it can automatically detect standardized work deviations and flag cycle and action anomalies for further scrutiny. It also allows engineers to observe the process from afar, eliminating any performance adjustment on the part of the worker and removing bias from the process. It is important to establish periodic reviews to ensure that the process is being followed and still valid.
It is important to approach each process the same way so that standardized work documentation remains consistent throughout the organization. Properly implementing standardized work applies the fundamentals of scientific management by establishing controls and reducing variability in a process.
Remember, while standardized work may not be necessary for everything, a mature organization will have incorporated it into its standard product development processes so that standardized work is created systematically when required. It’s important to remember that a fully developed set of standardized work instructions is different from simple work instructions.
For more information on standardized work, how to implement it and how to upgrade it read our eBook.
We at Drishti have seen many different lean manufacturing implementations. Usually, standardized work is the foundation of the system. Our products help to bring production to the next level by giving insights on the manufacturing process. Despite the widespread importance of standardized work though, a lot of information is interpreted differently depending on the organization. What’s more—a lot of information can be taken for granted and often times standardized work and work instructions are confused for one another. While they are certainly related, they are not the same thing.
The Lean Enterprise Institute defines standardized work in the following way:
Establishing precise procedures for each operator’s work in a production process, based on three elements:
Takt time, which is the rate at which products must be made in a process to meet customer demand.
The precise work sequence in which an operator performs tasks within takt time.
The standard inventory, including units in machines, required to keep the process operating smoothly.
- Lean Enterprise Institute (source)
Standardized work provides a system by which steps in a process are recorded and trained so that the work is done repeatedly, consistently every time, with the actions being done the same way, regardless of the worker or shift. It is implemented throughout the manufacturing operation in a deliberate manner in the form of a cyclical process:
Identifying the process to be standardized
Implementing the standardization
Tracking and measuring the adherence
Determining whether an improvement is seen
Ensuring the improvement can be and is sustained
Beginning the process anew
Standardized work is different from work instructions, which outline how work should be done, often at a lesser level of detail than standardized work, and don’t address by whom and when the work should be completed. Even if an organization has a written set of work instructions for every process and the product comes out within specification as a result of those instructions, it does not mean that standardized work has been established.
There are some cases where standardized work seems unnecessary: during the prototyping stage, for example, or if current operations are meeting customer needs without standardized work in place. That said, there are many forcing event that could bring the need for standardized work into focus, including but not limited to:
Retirements or turnover that result in the loss of tribal process knowledge
Revised customer contracts that demand higher volume or lower defect rates
Moving from prototype to production phase
Identifying a bottleneck station that needs more granular direction for workers
Work instructions are certainly a part of standardized work packages, but the two are not equivalent. Proper standardized work aids in the removal of information taken for granted (such as materials placement or broadly defined steps) and keys in on important details.
Establishing standardized work from work instructions
To start, select the process that needs standardized work defined. Gather the materials available and go to the place (genba) where the work is done. Some processes will have well-defined work instructions; others will not. Take the material and watch the workers do the steps. Follow along and determine whether or not they are doing the same actions. Note the differences:
Does one worker use an overhand grip to tighten a nut while others use underhand?
Does one worker have his tools in a different place than the others on the workbench?
Does one worker adjust the lighting to be brighter than other stations?
Is there a preferential use of tooling that varies among workers?
The purpose at this stage is not to establish right or wrong, but simply to note the differences between what the work instructions say and what is actually being done. Note this may take several passes to get correct. It’s important to ask questions of the worker and establish the why.
Remember, the people who design the process are often not the ones who have to sit and do the process thousands of times a day; it’s a core Drishti tenet that workers often develop better assembly processes. It is critical that the process is seen as naturally as possible to determine the validity of current work instructions (or even as a method of developing them in the first place).
Drishti: A real-time standardized work audit
Once standardized work has been developed for a process, review it and confirm its validity through observation. Drishti is helpful here, as it can automatically detect standardized work deviations and flag cycle and action anomalies for further scrutiny. It also allows engineers to observe the process from afar, eliminating any performance adjustment on the part of the worker and removing bias from the process. It is important to establish periodic reviews to ensure that the process is being followed and still valid.
It is important to approach each process the same way so that standardized work documentation remains consistent throughout the organization. Properly implementing standardized work applies the fundamentals of scientific management by establishing controls and reducing variability in a process.
Remember, while standardized work may not be necessary for everything, a mature organization will have incorporated it into its standard product development processes so that standardized work is created systematically when required. It’s important to remember that a fully developed set of standardized work instructions is different from simple work instructions.
For more information on standardized work, how to implement it and how to upgrade it read our eBook.
