Standardized Work, and the need for continuous improvement

Recently I have been coaching a Manager on the use of standardized work. He has picked a work cell that is affecting the output of the entire line because of the fluctuation in cycle time to complete the work.

After the manager and the team member had been working for a few weeks to determine the best process, document it and train all the team members that rotate through the station, I was asked to come perform a standardized work audit.

I picked up the standardized work chart and began to watch the team member. The walk path on the standardized work chart had the team member walking between the tooling and the parts bins 4 times. I counted as he started his work, and he only walked to 3 of the bins. I thought I missed something, so I watched again. Again only 3 trips back and forth between the parts and the tooling.

So I approached closer to the work area, and found that the team member was getting 4 parts in the first trip instead of the two parts as per the standard. So I asked why he picked 4 parts. The response was I think it is faster to pick 4 parts.

Ok, the team member has an improvement suggestion and we need to find out if it is an improvement.

Having a standard gives us the opportunity to test the improvement idea.

So the PDCA improvement cycle starts. Having the team member follow the standard, and time it and then have the team member follow their improvement idea.

Plan: Pick up four parts front he first bin. Expected out come: cycle time to be faster.

Do: Time the team member performing the work booth ways

Check: The result of the experiment was that the standard of picking the parts 2 at a time was 1 second faster than the trail of picking the first 4 parts.

Even with the walk distance being shorter by 6 feet when picking 4 at a time.

Act: Continue to follow existing standard

Everyone was shocked with the result. Now we have data to support the standard and the team member started following the standard again.

Without the ability to test improvement ideas quickly and allowing data to speak to the improvement, team members would each follow what they think is better without testing.

So what is the lesson learned today. Act quickly to test ideas from the team and share the results openly. If the idea is an improvement change the standard and move forward. If the idea is not an improvement then keep the standard you have. Every day every cycle is a PDCA, Keep trying every new idea.

Paul Hill

The Lean Geek

#standardwork #leanmanufacturing