Standardized Work

Standardized work
Kevin Clement | 10/27/15 | AE 570
Overview
Standardized work is a lean concept that has been minimally used in the construction industry within the United States. However, it is one of the most powerful lean tools to apply in the construction industry. The goal of standardized work is to optimize productivity, safety and quality. The amount of detail that is put into developing a standardized work plan and directions is based on the type of project. If the project is very detailed and safety is of concern a very detailed work plan and directions will be established to minimize risks and potential safety accidents. Once, the plan has been developed it serves as the baseline of the type of project. One example is having a standardized
work plan for roof mounted photovoltaic solar arrays using a Unirac mounting system. The work plan will be adjusted throughout the project and on future projects to continuously improve the installation process. This continuous improvement is essential and can incorporate other lean tools. However, for standardized work to be successfully used in a company the leadership of the company must be supportive and willing to delegate the proper resources to implement it.
Standardized work consists of three main elements.
They are takt time, the precise work sequence, and the standard inventory. Takt time is the time demanded by the customer. In the construction industry takt time is related to the specific tasks of a project schedule. The work sequence is a step by step list which explains the sequence of work to perform a task within the takt time. Finally the standard inventory is the equipment and material need to keep the work being performed. While these are the three elements, there is also cycle time which is important. Cycle time is the processing capability or how long the task can realistically take to complete. All of these are important to consider and understand prior to implementing standardized work. However, it is also necessary to use standardized work in parallel with continuous improvement, also known as
kaizen.
When standardized work is not used along with kaizen problems arise and make it ineffective.
The employee’s motivation to improve and complete the work better is lost. The employee’s creativity is then in turn wasted because the process isn’t going to change even if the employee has a better idea to complete the work safer, quicker, and/or with higher quality. Without this change and improvement, the problems are repeated, unidentified, unsolved, and unabated. In the end employees won’t take initiative and the improvement process is stopped. This clearly shows some of the ramifications if standardized work is implemented without kaizen. Negative outcomes are also seen if kaizen is used within a company, but standardized work is not
used.
Continuous improvement of a company is often used without standardized work in place, which creates issues. Change can be very chaotic and not well organized across a company. This creates a saw-tooth effect of progress and regress. Problems then begin to repeat and the plan, do, check, and act (PDCA) process is not followed to fix problems that have been repeating. A root cause analysis is not completed to find the true source of the problem, which may not be easily seen. This chaotic and messy change is very difficult to identify the steps necessary to improve. As one can see this is not a desirable outcome for a company who is striving to improve the work they perform.