Disciplined functionaries of Work standard

SHARING THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF "WHAT IS DISCIPLINED FUNCTIONARIES OF WORK STANDARDS" THAT MAKES ALL THE MANUFACTURING SECTOR TO FUNCTION IN A MUCH MORE DISCIPLINED WAY OF REAL MAP TO THE ROAD OF PROFESSIONALISM & BRINGS THE CULTURE OF ACHIEVING THE GOAL SET BY AN ORGANIZATION.

Definition of Standard Work:

Number of man hours allocated for the completion of a specific task.

Detailed definition of the most efficient method to produce a product (or perform a service) at a balanced flow to achieve a desired output rate. It breaks down the work into elements, which are sequenced, organized and repeatedly followed.

Each step in the process should be defined and must be performed repeatedly in the same manner. Any variations in the process will most likely increase cycle time and cause quality issues. It typically describes how a process should consistently be executed and documents current ‘best practices.’ It provides a baseline from which a better approach can be developed, allowing continuous improvement methods to leverage learning. Three necessary components in standard work are (1) takt time, (2) cycle time and (3) SWIP (Standard Work-in-Progress).

Developing Standard Work is one of the more difficult Lean Six Sigma disciplines; however, if efficiently developed, it should allow virtually anyone to perform the work without any variance in the desired output.

A work standard is a written description of how a process should be done. It guides consistent execution. At its best, it documents a current "best practice" and ensures that it is implemented throughout a company. At a minimum, it provides a baseline from which a better approach can be developed.

Standards are an essential requirement for any company seeking to continuously improve. All continuous improvement methods leverage learning to get better results from their business efforts. Standards provide the baseline references that are necessary for learning. A standard operating procedure supplies a stable platform for collecting performance measurements. The standard and its profile of performance yields the information people need to uncover improvement opportunities, make and measure improvements, and extract learning.

Frequently, small companies or large companies that grew rapidly have no official documented work standards. Also, observed that office and service work settings, whether small or large, lack documented work standards and metrics & cannot be preceded with any continuous improvement effort until by remedying this gap.

Before proceeding however, be sure tp know why do not have standardized work processes in business. It is not always an issue of need or "know how." The cause for the absence of standards may be rooted in one company's culture. Standards may be absent because company leadership chooses to defer to individual preferences or the privilege of rank over the achievement of a common goal. Leadership may not wish to challenge managers who are uncomfortable dealing with abstractions like standards or the discipline they require. Such managers prefer a hands-on approach with the maximum latitude to direct operations as they see fit when they see fit and their companies choose to accommodate these preferences. Such "people issues" require a different solution then the acquisition of "know how" and this article does not address those solutions.

How to Create & Build a Standard

Important Guide lines

Anchor all efforts to build a work standard with an output (a product or service outcome) & an output guides in deciding what operations to include in all work processes description. Essentially, include only those activities that people do to produce that output.

Work standards target sub processes within a total value stream and sub processes produce components of the final product or service outcome. Next, capture the customers' key requirements relative to this output and identify metrics that measure whether the output satisfies the customers' requirements. Use the customers' key requirements to determine whether the output of the work process produces is value adding from a customer's perspective. Needs to verify that the output selected merits having a standard.

Once documented the customers' requirements and verified that output should have a standard, use skill in describing a work process to document the work process overview describes the purpose the work process accomplishes, the conditions under which it operates, and the metrics used to measure its performance. The overview also documents the inputs the process begins with including the information that triggers its start. It includes a listing of all locations where the work process is implemented and all the organizations and groups who participate in implementing it.

The sequence of operations map must accomplish the purpose defined in the overview. Gather the information for work process map from the people who do the process using interviews, team discussions, and a walk through. Begin with the most common way the work process is done ("typical process"). Once this is documented, collect the alternate ways people produce the output and post these variations on the map of the typical approach. Apply your skills in detecting waste to the various alternative ways so that you can select the approach that minimizes waste.

If there is contention about which process is better, let quantitative information make the decision. Use the measurement data you currently produce to sort out which alternate approach does better. But, be reasonable in the effort you apply to settling on the initial standard. Once the standard is established, it becomes the "current best practice" and apply Kaizen to continuously improve it.. Standards, in a continuous improvement setting, are always "current best practices" and never "forever and always" best practices.

 With new standard, needs to define metrics for its output and operation should establish visible ways to communicate how well the work process is performing with respect to these metrics. In this way, everyone participates in seeing how the standard is working and everyone has a chance to uncover new opportunities for further improving it. The most basic metrics are:

Tact time

Cycle time

Value-added ratio

Throughput (units of output per unit of time)

Unit cost

Defect or conformity rate

Scrap rate

Rework

Machine up-time (if machines are involved)

Percentage of cycle time implemented by machines

Percentage of cycle time implemented by people

Safety (record able, for example).

Tailor other metrics to measure performance on any other factors that help or harm business success.

When roll out the standard, be sure to educate everyone to the new standard and to prepare them with any new skills they require so that everyone knows and can do the improved method correctly.

 Summary of Steps

Identify the work process the company seeks to improve.

 a.   List the outputs of group produces.

 b.   Select the output for which, want to define a work standard.

 c.   Gather information about the metrics used to measure this output and the process that produces it.

 d.   Gather any available information about the group's current performance on each metric.

 2. Document customer requirements.

 Tip:  Needs to capture the customers' key requirements relative to this output and identify metrics that measure whether the output satisfies the customers' requirements. Customers' values will refer to the output itself and represent features for which the customer is willing to pay (e.g., elements of its form, fit, finish, function or their parallels for service outcomes). Other values will address the manner in which the output is supplied (speed, timeliness, price, accompanying support).

3. Verify that the output merits a work process standard.

 Tip: Use the customers' key requirements to detect unwanted output features and uncover ways to incorporate wanted features. With this step, may uncover some simple improvements can make to the output's features that would make it even more value adding to its customers. Standardize the process for producing this improved version of the output, not its current version. Remember, it is as important to ensure that continually improve what you produce as it is how you produce it.

 4. Build a description of the target work process.

 Tip: . Build a Description of the Target Work Process, with detailed guidance, in building the work process overview using information from all managers and performers of the work process. Resolve differences in the overview information, especially with respect to the purpose of the work process. Be sure to involve representatives from all interfacing work processes, and make sure that their expectations of the work process are incorporated in its purpose statement.

5. Document the various ways the work process is performed.

 Tip: Map the different ways performers accomplish the work process to produce the same output. Have the sources of the information verify that the maps produce for their approaches correctly represent what they do. Place the variations on the same map, as long as doing so does not make the map difficult to understand.

 6. Evaluate the work process variations.

 Tip: Work with the performers of the work process to do the evaluation. Establish two criteria for decision-making: (1) the selected work standard must define a procedure that accomplishes the purpose of the work process and (2) the selected work standard must minimize waste.

 7. Establish the selected work process variation as the initial work standard.

 Tip: Using the results of the evaluation, have the performers decide on a work process map to serve as the source for the initial work standard. Complete a procedural knowledge document for the work process as mapped. Work with determine when the work standard will be implemented, how performers will be prepared to use the standard successfully, and how compliance with the standard will be supported.

8. Document metrics and a method of measurement for each.

 Tip: The metrics should calibrate how well the process and output satisfy customer requirements and operate with maximum efficiency and benefit to the business.

 9. Make performance information transparent to all.

 Tip: Find ways to visually represent how the work process should be performed and how much and how well the work process is operating against its metrics. Allow every participant in the process to track its success and use this information to stimulate his or her thinking about how it could operate even better.

 10. Define a change management procedure.

 Tip: Make sure that everything should have a written procedure that guides in deciding whether the standard should be modified and when. Must make sure that only "better ideas" are introduced and that every new version of the standard has an opportunity to show what it can achieve.

SUNDARAMURTHY VELMURUGAN, LEATHER PROFESSIONAL CONSULTANT from PONDICHERRY, a2z Leather Professional Consultancy, [email protected] & [email protected] & whasapp +91 8973231705