Standard Work and What is the Most Important Question to Ask?

Introduction

How many times you have found yourself teaching a small child on how to avoid hurting himself? Or do you remember a time when you were 4 and received similar warnings from your parents? The list of examples is never ending: avoid touching hot iron, avoid running in front of cars, avoid leaning out the window, etc…

There are more or less two ways to go about this situation. 

The First one is to give an order. “Do NOT touch that hot iron!” No explanations, simply expectation that someone does as you command.

The Second way is to provide reason for asking a specific action to be performed. “The iron is hot and I do not want you to burn your fingers on it. It would really hurt you. This is WHY we should not touch iron’s hot surface.”

The first approach might lead to problems in behavior, lack of discipline, acts of defiance, etc. (despite the fact that the intention was good). The root cause of potential effects lies within the human need to be treated with respect. Giving someone an order is therefore not the best way of showing respect. Without giving respect you cannot expect to receive a positive response.

The second approach will make your kid think. The decision is the final result of the process of thinking. If you provide good reasons, you can expect a good decision. If you have a good decision output will be proper activity.

Consider this: as for you as a young child, developing and fostering thinking process was also critical in standard work implementation. Otherwise you will struggle in getting benefits in safety, quality and efficiency.

Idea of Standard Work (eliminate variations)

The concept of Standard Work is very simple. Brief definitions are available in many different sources such as:

ISIXSIGMA : “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.”

New Horizons in Standardized Work : “Standardized work can be defined as the currently best-known method for accomplishing the work. This assumes that it is the safest and most efficient method to do the work that meets the required level of quality.”

Although you can find the origin of standard work at Ford’s Highland Park - Most likely, the concept is as old as the need for reaching outputs without variations. Imagine the advantages of medieval archers who could use arrows which were made without any variation in shape, material and weight. What impact does it have on precision? Ultimately, it could decide the winner of the battle.

In order to reduce and eliminate variation, work must be performed in the same way every time. Uniformity and consistency require an understanding of output variations. One need understand what could go wrong and which variations are negatively impacting our product. This allows us to focus on the right place and figuring out a better way of completing the task.

Standard Work is therefore not about absolute repetition of the said working steps. It is more about understanding all important product characteristics and how to make such a product according to the desired performances and properties.       

TWI (Training Within Industry)

As a Lean manager, I have encountered many different approaches to standardizing work. So far I have found that TWI is the most comprehensive method of implementing the concept of Standard Work.

It is a structure that consists of 3 segments: Job Instructions, Job Methods, and Job Relations. Much has been written on each of them, but for the purpose of this article I will only write shortly about Job instructions (JI).

JI stabilize process and develop “the best known way” of performing specific tasks. With its implementation your organization will set ground rules to be followed which will improve training process as well.

JI has main steps, key elements and reasons. The most important part is reason. Every single key element needs to be explained and reason(s) have to be provided.

This takes us to the story from beginning of the post. It is important to develop process of thinking in order to reduce variation. Providing reasons why to perform task in a specific way is definitely right direction to go. Providing reasons for any activity is essential to standardize it. This also creates a solid foundation for further improvement.

Furthermore, main steps break down every operation into smaller logical steps. Each main step is described by its key elements which should be related to a safety way to perform job, to important product characteristics and how to achieve them in a most efficient way.         

Start with WHY

 I would highly recommend Simon Sinek’s book "Start with Why." In it, the author shares the idea of a Golden circle. The outer circle contains the “WHAT”. Going inward the “HOW” appears. Lastly, the “WHY” is located within the innermost circle. All acts, thoughts, and communication should start from the inside out. Starting with “WHY” gives you a purpose. “HOW” explains and describes your processes. “WHAT” speaks about the output of such processes.

This refers to a question from the beginning: ”WHY is the most important question.” Therefore, standardization of any operation should not start without considering this paramount question.

Long-term success of any organization needs to be supported with respect to its people. Working together to understand the purpose of the product is a way of involving them in the problem solving process. Treat them as individuals who can contribute to the overall purpose. Involving everyone in this sort of a process brings out highly motivated people within your organization.

It’s that simple. Just ask yourself. Would you prefer working on the production line where you robotically repeat the same activities or do you prefer building and improving products, thus ensuring a better experience to the end customer?