What is the definition of Standard Work?
Every good business tries to get its employees to use the best methods for achieving successful results. This is a common-sense approach to do things right, the first time. However, what actually happens is that business owners do not follow through to implement these best practices throughout their organization. This leads to inconsistencies and variation in results. Standard Work is the method for defining these best practices and ensuring that every employee is following them to deliver value to their customers. See some examples of standard work documents in the image below:
What steps are involved in implementing Standard Work?
There are five steps to implementing a standard work process:
- Identify and define the best practice that delivers a quality result consistently.
- Document the activities for performing the best practice, and make it visual using a combination of pictures and text.
- Place the standard work document at each work station where this process is being performed.
- Train the employees to do the tasks as defined in the Standard Work document.
- Conduct a periodic audit of the employees performing the standard work to ensure each employee is following the defined procedure.
How does Standard Work improve the business results?
Standard Work has a direct influence on the way an employee performs their job. It will improve the Quality, Cost and Delivery metrics that most lean organizations use to track and trend their business success. Everyone working in the business knows that they all have the same ability to generate the same results as long as they follow the same best practices.
Develop Standard Work Video
In this short video, Chris Turner – Lean Manufacturing Coach gives a brief explanation about the purpose of developing and implementing Standard Work.