Key takeaways
  • Standard work defines the current best known sequence, timing and work-in-process for a task, and is the baseline improvement is measured against.
  • It is written for the person doing the job, at the station, not for an auditor in an office.
  • If it does not match what the best operator actually does, it will be ignored and the ignoring will be invisible.
The distinction that matters
Standard work is a baseline, not a rule

Its purpose is to make deviation visible so improvement can be measured. A standard nobody is allowed to challenge stops being a baseline and becomes a constraint, and people work around it silently.

The three elements of standard work

  • Takt time. The rate the work must be performed at to meet demand.
  • Work sequence. The order of elements the operator performs.
  • Standard work in process. The minimum parts needed within the cell for the sequence to run without waiting.

Writing the instruction

  • Observe the job several times, performed by someone who does it well. The instruction documents the best current method, which must be found rather than invented.
  • Break it into steps, one action each, in the order performed.
  • For each step, state the key point: what makes the difference between doing it and doing it right.
  • State the reason for each key point. People follow instructions they understand and shortcut ones they do not.
  • Photograph the actual station, with the actual parts. Generic diagrams get ignored.

Formatting for the station

  • One page where possible. If it needs three, the job may need splitting.
  • Images doing the explaining, text supporting them.
  • Large enough to read at arm's length, in the lighting that exists there.
  • Laminated or protected for the environment, and mounted where the work happens.
  • A version and a date visible, so an out-of-date copy is identifiable at a glance.

Keeping it current

Make it easy for an operator to propose a change and see it acted on. If updating an instruction requires a document control process taking three weeks, the instruction will drift out of date and the real method will live in people's heads, which is precisely the situation standard work exists to prevent.

Standard work and improvement

Without a standard, an improvement cannot be demonstrated, because there is nothing to compare against. Establish the standard, improve it deliberately, then re-standardise at the better method. That cycle is the mechanism, and skipping the first step is why many improvement efforts cannot show a result.