Lean Manufacturing - Standardized Work

Vector Solutions Industrial

20 May 202004:14

Summary

TLDRStandardized work is a systematic approach to efficiency in production, detailing step-by-step processes to eliminate waste and ensure consistency. It involves creating and adhering to Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that outline the best practices for tasks, promoting continuous improvement and knowledge sharing. This method not only maintains consistent product development but also ensures that expertise is preserved within the organization, leading to improved safety, quality, and efficiency.

Takeaways

📘 Standardized work is a systematized approach to tasks, ensuring efficiency and consistency in production processes.
🔍 The primary goal of standardized work is to outline clear procedures for operators to follow, leading to consistent outcomes.
🛠️ Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are key tools for developing, documenting, and using standardized work processes.
🗣️ Effective SOPs require clear communication and information sharing about the most efficient methods for task completion.
🔄 SOPs should be living documents, subject to continuous improvement and evolution over time.
👥 Standardized work promotes collective documentation and consolidation of best practices within an organization.
🚫 It discourages individualized methods that can lead to process variability and inconsistency when personnel change.
🧠 By standardizing work, organizations prevent reliance on memory and ensure that expertise is maintained and passed on.
🏫 Standardized work ensures consistent training results, which is crucial for maintaining quality and efficiency.
🔄 The differentiation between standardization (conforming to industry standards) and standardized work (consistent task performance) is important.
🔗 Standardized work improves safety and quality by eliminating ambiguity and inconsistency in processes.

Q & A

What is standardized work?
-Standardized work is a detailed, documented, and visual system of steps within a process sequenced without waste, aiming to achieve the most efficient level of production. It involves clear procedures for operators, combining methods, tools, and documents to describe the best way to execute a process consistently.
What is the main goal of standardized work?
-The main goal of standardized work is to maintain consistent working practices, which ultimately results in consistent product development by showing how the job is done with clear procedures.
How are standard operating procedures (SOPs) related to standardized work?
-Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are the most common way to develop, document, and use standardized tasks. They establish the most efficient method that can be replicated when completing tasks and are essential for promoting continual improvement to the standards.
Why is it important for SOPs to be living documents?
-SOPs should be considered living documents because they evolve over time, allowing the baseline upon which processes stand as the standard to be improved. This ensures that the standards remain current and adaptable to new best practices.
How does standardized work help in maintaining expertise within an organization?
-Standardized work ensures that expertise is maintained within the organization by documenting information collectively and consolidating practices. This prevents the loss of skills over time and ensures that tasks can be performed consistently, even when personnel change.
What is the difference between standardization and standardized work?
-Standardization is the process of conforming to a standard within a given industry, providing brand recognition and consistency, such as in manufacturing practices or product appearances. Standardized work, on the other hand, involves personnel performing tasks in the same way all the time, eliminating ambiguity and inconsistency within the process.
How does standardized work improve safety and quality?
-Standardized work improves safety and quality by having repeatable processes that eliminate ambiguity and inconsistency. It also encourages the use of documents like safety procedures, which ensure that tasks are performed correctly and safely every time.
What are some examples of standardized work in practice?
-Examples of standardized work include specific tasks and procedures like how to install a bolt, line setup changeover processes, and safety procedures like lockout tagout. These ensure that tasks are performed in a consistent and efficient manner.
How does standardized work increase efficiency?
-Standardized work increases efficiency by eliminating waste through repeatable processes. It ensures that tasks are performed in the most efficient way possible, reducing the need for rework and minimizing errors.
What role do documents play in standardized work?
-Documents play a crucial role in standardized work by providing detailed, documented, and highly visible systems. They include product drawings, work instructions, tooling layout drawings, and calibration instructions, which help in maintaining consistency and ensuring that tasks are performed correctly.
Why is it important to differentiate between individual methods and standardized work?
-Differentiating between individual methods and standardized work is important because while individual methods can lead to great ideas, companies need to document and consolidate practices collectively to ensure consistency and prevent process alteration when personnel change.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 Understanding Standardized Work

Standardized work is a systematic approach to organizing tasks without waste, aiming for efficient production. It involves creating clear procedures for operators, combining methods, tools, and documents to describe the optimal way to execute processes consistently. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are crucial for developing and documenting standardized tasks, ensuring that everyone can replicate the most efficient methods. The document should be a 'living' one, evolving over time as new best practices are identified. Standardized work helps maintain consistent practices, even when personnel change, and ensures that expertise is retained within the organization. It also standardizes training results, differentiating it from standardization, which is about conforming to industry standards for brand recognition and consistency.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Standardized Work

Standardized work refers to a method of organizing and documenting work processes to achieve efficiency and consistency. It is a system that sequences steps without waste, aiming for the most efficient level of production. In the context of the video, standardized work is crucial for maintaining consistent working practices, which results in consistent product development. The video emphasizes the importance of documenting the best way to execute a process and using this as a baseline for continual improvement.

💡Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)

SOPs are a set of written instructions that outline the steps and responsibilities for routine operations. They are a common way to develop, document, and use standardized tasks. The video highlights that establishing an SOP is essential for clarifying and sharing information about the most efficient method for completing tasks, which can be replicated. SOPs serve as living documents that evolve over time, setting the baseline for process improvements.

💡Continual Improvement

Continual improvement is the ongoing effort to enhance products, services, or processes. In the video, it is mentioned that everyone should keep promoting continual improvement to the standards and share new best practices as they are defined. This concept is integral to the theme of the video, as it drives the evolution of SOPs and the overall efficiency of standardized work.

💡Efficiency

Efficiency in the context of the video relates to the ability to produce the maximum output with the minimum input, thus minimizing waste. Standardized work is aimed at achieving the most efficient level of production by following clear procedures and methods. The video suggests that by eliminating waste and following standardized processes, companies can increase their operational efficiency.

💡Waste

Waste, in the context of the video, refers to any activity that consumes resources but does not add value to the final product or service. Standardized work aims to eliminate waste by following documented and optimized processes. The video stresses that the elimination of waste is always considered in standardized work to improve efficiency.

💡Best Practices

Best practices are methods or techniques that have been proven to produce superior results and are widely recognized as being superior to other alternatives. The video mentions that companies should document and consolidate best practices to maintain consistency in their processes. Sharing and implementing best practices is key to the continual improvement of standardized work.

💡Living Documents

Living documents are documents that are continually updated and revised to reflect the most current and accurate information. In the video, SOPs are described as living documents that evolve over time. This concept is important because it emphasizes the dynamic nature of standardized work, which should adapt and improve as new information and best practices emerge.

💡Consistency

Consistency in the video refers to the uniformity and predictability in the execution of tasks and processes. Standardized work ensures consistent working practices, which is vital for maintaining product quality and reliability. The video argues that without standardized work, every time a person is absent or a task is performed differently, the process will be altered, leading to inconsistencies.

💡Product Development

Product development in the video is the process of creating new or improving existing products. Standardized work plays a critical role in product development by ensuring that processes are consistent and efficient. This leads to a higher quality and more predictable outcome in the development of products.

💡Standardization

Standardization, as discussed in the video, is the process of conforming to a standard within a given industry. It provides a level of uniformity and predictability, which is essential for brand recognition and quality assurance. Examples given in the video include manufacturing practices, product designs, and service standards like chain restaurants and traffic signs.

💡Lockout Tagout

Lockout tagout is a safety procedure used to ensure that machinery or equipment is isolated from its energy source before maintenance or repair work is performed. It is mentioned in the video as an example of a standardized work procedure that improves safety by eliminating the risk of accidental machine start-up during maintenance.

Highlights

Standardized work is a detailed system of steps within a process sequenced without waste.

The main goal is to achieve the most efficient level of production.

Standardized work shows how the job is done with clear procedures.

It combines methods, tools, and documents to describe the best way to execute a process.

Standardized work maintains consistent working practices and product development.

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are commonly used to develop and document standardized tasks.

SOPs clarify and share information about the most efficient method for completing tasks.

Continual improvement to the standards is promoted, and new best practices are shared.

SOPs are living documents that evolve over time.

Standardized work sets a baseline for process improvement.

Individuals often choose their own methods and sequences, but companies need to document information collectively.

Standardized work eliminates the habit of personnel working from memory.

Expertise needs to be maintained within the organization to prevent loss of skills over time.

Standardized work ensures consistent training results.

Standardization is the process of conforming to a standard within an industry.

Standardization provides brand recognition and consistency across products and services.

Standardized work is defined as having personnel perform tasks in the same way all the time.

Standardized work improves safety and quality by having repeatable processes.

It increases efficiency by considering the elimination of waste.

Documents like product drawings and work instructions are encouraged in standardized work.

Standardized work is a packaged system that is detailed, documented, and highly visible.