<h1>Standard Work</h1>
Packaging digest Article page 1
can reduce required effort
If people are supposed to be doing the same job, then why are the techniques different?
By Ron Heiskell
--Packaging Digest,11/01/2008
Packaging managers focused on lean operations frequently come across the term, “standard work.” If you consider the four M’s—manpower, machine, material and method—involved in producing quality products highly valued by customers, standard work primarily encompasses the last of the M’s: Method.
And if standard work equates to the method, or ways, in which workers get the job done, why is there such difficulty throughout the manufacturing industry in getting operators to use the same methods when performing the same tasks?
And why would anyone want them to?
The Japanese have successfully implemented and used standard work for years; Americans, however, are known for our renegade mentality.
An innovative people, we fight against the idea of there being only one way to do a job. To see this for yourself, go to the plant floor and talk with several operators who do change overs, for example, on the same machines. Ask each if they believe they are doing the changeover the fastest possible way. Responses you're most likely to hear will be along these lines: “This is the way I was taught to do it,” “This is the way I have always done it” and “Yes. I'm doing it the best way.” Now watch these individuals perform changeovers; you will notice they accomplish their tasks differently. If each believes one best way to do the changeover exists, then why do all operators say they are doing it the best way? In addition, they don't care or know that the other operators do it differently because they rarely, if ever, watch anyone do changeovers.
Companies hire good people to perform the same work, yet most individuals devise their own way of doing a task, even when taught by the same person. Despite having a changeover procedures list, these people perform the tasks differently and in varying orders. All get the job done, yet the longer they do it their way, the greater the variation among operators. How, then, can you determine who is doing it the most efficient way? You could simply time them and see who finishes in the quickest amount of time. It's a reasonable approach, but not the best. If you learn that one operator does the change over faster than another, can you conclude that those procedures are better? Is it that the person works faster, harder or that his/her task sequence is better? Or is simply a case of having more energy? It's difficult to know.
Still, the good news is, achieving standard work is possible. (continued on Page 2)
©2007 - 2011 Reduced Effort Inc. All rights reserved
Phone: 1-209-814-9198 Email: ron@reducedeffort.com
