Standard Work


A Case Study in Geting Started By Michael Stoker, Lean Champion, ABCO


Standard Work is a Lean principle started by Toyota and it is the most effective combination of people, materials, and equipment. Standard Work increases produc- tivity, stabilizes delivery times, eliminates waste, and simplifies processes. Our basic need was to


The Magazine 12 3.2017


have everyone doing their job in the best and most efficient way possible. To accomplish that, we chose to standardize our work.


Taiichi Ohno, founder of the Toyota Production System, said, “Without standards, there can be no Kiazen.” Kaizen simply means “change for better.” Standard Work is one of the foundations of Lean. Here at ABCO, we see Standard Work as our docu- mented best practices. It’s not a law that handcuffs people to doing work a certain way but an ever evolving, living document. Standards should never stay the same. We always encourage people to find new and better ways to do things. We always strive to avoid the blame game and instead find an oppor- tunity to improve the processes we follow.


Our first Standard Work Kaizen began like any other Kaizen at ABCO. We chose the people who actually do the work for our dedicated team, which consisted of two HP Indigo operators and the prepress/ pressroom manager. We started with training videos from Gemba Academy (several days of one- to two- hour sessions). At the conclusion of the training vid- eos the team members agreed we had a good grasp of what Standard Work is and how we can achieve it. We set out on our planned journey.


Key Steps and Tools First, we filled in our Process Capacity Tool with the steps taken by the operators to complete an average job. We videotaped several sessions with our oper- ators, then sat back down in the conference room to break each step down into seconds on the Process Capacity Tool. This is used to determine the capacity of each process and identify bottlenecks. It allows you to visually see where you should apply more of one of the “M”s—manpower, machine, or material— to decrease the bottlenecks in that process.


Next, we moved on to the Standard Work Combination Sheets. You will have to fill out one of these for each operator in the process. The combination sheet is where you really track your manual, auto, and walk- ing time. This gave us another opportunity to watch the videos of our operators. This time we broke down each step, including walking distances. This sheet adds up every step in the process to make sure the sum of all steps are under Takt time (the rate at which work must be performed in order to satisfy customer demand). This worksheet will really open your eyes to such things as the placement of mate- rials and tools and how much time is wasted in motion of your operators traveling back and forth from your warehouse to the press for paper or to grab needed tools.


The next form is the Standard Work Sheet. This sheet looks like a floor plan or an overhead view of the workspace. It shows the work sequence with every station or process. In each one it will identify safety notices, places that require a quality check, and how many—if any—work-in-process pieces are needed. This is a great visual communications tool for team leaders and management to verify that Standard Work is being followed, as well as giving people who


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