Good old Toyota set us out on this path…again. The Toyota Way recognises that the best placed people to ‘create’ the standards are the ones ‘actually doing the work’. That means that a manager is not telling you how to do your job without knowing how to do it or who has done it before. Personally I hate to see managers looking at data sheets to make decisions without going to the Gemba to see life in the real world.
We of course need standardisation. We want things to be the same with next to no ‘variation’. That’s the Lean Way.
So, how do we do this then? Well it will depend on the process. If for example you’re working on a manufacturing line making widgets, then you’ll go through various steps or stages – hopefully in one continuous flow.
Standards are the best, safest and easiest way, to achieve and maintain a defined quality level.
Start with finding out the Takt Time. Know how long it takes to ‘do something’ to meet the customer demand. Formula: available production time / units required.
During the mapping of the process – or rather doing – the worker will look to eliminate or reduce one of the many, many, many different types of wastes that are non-valued added worked. Stuff that shouldn’t be done. As well as looking to eliminate or reduce value added work. Stuff that needs to be done.
The fun parts starts! Get recording! The person doing the actual work or an observer will start recoding how long each step in the process takes. So if you have 5 steps then record each cycle from start to finish. The overall ‘cycle time’ will include all 5 steps (value added work) plus all the things you did between those steps that may or may not added value. Add those up to get the cycle time. Then repeat and repeat the process for x recordings and eventually you’ll have enough data to get the average time and indeed analyse the variations.
Throughout this process of discovery for the search of perfection…you’ll be enacting the tenants of the PDCA. Start by practicing the standardised work and then start making improvements through rapid PDCA cycles. Aim for the new Target Condition, experimenting with different methods for doing the work. Document the process and teach it. This will become consistent behaviour which will develop in to new habits through repetition. Repeat. Aim for the next level of performance.
Where there is no standard, there can be no kaizen.
Taichii Ohno