1. Understanding
Standard Work
Reducing Variation, Eliminating Waste,
and Creating a Firm Foundation for
Planned, Predictable Performance
Jerry Linnins, Director – Performance Improvement

2. STANDARD WORK – Building YOUR
Organization on A Firm Foundation
 Standard Work is the
“one best way” to
accomplish a specific
task or operation. It is
the current best, safest,
most compliant method
identified. It is the
“standard” or model for
how something gets
done.

3. Standard Work
IS IS NOT
1. Written for Operators or 1. Not ISO, cGMP, CMS, or other
the frontline performers regulatory standards or other
2. Kept visible in the the policy statements
work area (usually on or 2. Static – once and for all –
near an operator’s documentation of how to do a
machine, work station, on job
computer) 3. Restrictive – like a soldier’s
3. Documented using lots of “rules of engagement,”
visuals and pictures Standard Work sets the
instead of narrative text boundaries for accomplishing
4. A reference for use in the a task, making decisions, and
real workplace outlining a clearly defined path for
the actions to be escalating issues or asking for
performed, the layout, any help
needed tools, materials, 4. Developed by operators on the
work flow, and work pace floor and those actually doing
expected at that position the work

4. Standard Work - Purpose/Benefits
 Work Combination is the mixture of people, processes,
materials, and technology working together to enable the
completion of a work process. Standard Work is the most
efficient work combination that a company or workgroup can
put together at the present time.
 Employees use Standard Work as a guide to consistently
accomplish planned, predictable performance in their work
tasks.
 Standard Work serves as the basis for training, performance
measurement-monitoring, and continuous improvement
 Standard work helps reduces variation and makes the seven
wastes of Lean visible so that they can be addressed
 Standard work helps ensure Safety, Compliance, reduces
Risk, and increases Quality and Workplace Morale!
 Provides a structure to work that enables higher productivity,
a more positive work environment, and the ability to quickly
identify when standards are not being followed, and
facilitates root cause analysis

5. Creating Standard Work
 Establish an improvement (Standard Work) team
 Determine the TAKT time for your process (customer demand)
 Determine your Cycle Time
 Determine your work sequence
 Determine your SWIP (standard quantity of Work in Progress)
 Prepare a standard workflow diagram (swim lane, spaghetti chart, etc)
 Prepare a standard operations sheet (This is chart that identifies the
What, When, Where, Who, Why, and How of a specific work
task/operation)*
 Measure – Monitor – Improve the “standard”
REMEMBER
Standard Work should be developed BY the people doing the work, FOR the
people doing the work. Use supervisors, SME’s as needed. But, let the
language, the visuals, the format be “user friendly.”
 *Examples can be found in the Lean Enterprise Memory Jogger

6. Four Kinds of Standard Work
1. Standardized Work – Charts the steps carried out by an operator in a
process, making a product, or providing a service. Includes all the
information needed to document work completion as defined by the
approved standard sequenced to ensure planned, predictable performance
by a given operator
2. Standardized Production Capacity – Maps out standard work times into
the daily standard capacity. This is measured against TAKT time (the
customer demand). Basically, how much CAN we produce/deliver?
3. Standardized Work Combination – A chart showing an operator the time
to load, unload, walk between machines, and machine cycles. An operator
MUST be able to complete their work cycle within the TAKT time. Outlines
the work, the turnover, turnaround time, etc. Reinforces safety AND Quality
in all work activities. Be safe, be accurate, only then get fast!
4. Managerial/Operational Standards – This includes expectations for
meetings, safety, the escalation processes, expected shift activities for
manager/supervisors, etc.*
*An excellent example of this is found in CREATING A LEAN CULTURE

7. Standard Work – Good News/Bad News
 Standard work is simply the best way to do the job; it is the easiest, safest,
most efficient (i.e., waste-free), most effective method currently known.
Unfortunately, standard work is also the most difficult, time-
consuming stage in making work flow. Learning how to improve new
processes and reduce them to standard work is not a quickly
developed skill.
 Standard work allows you to sustain your gains, serving as a baseline for
continuous improvement. Standard work demands documenting the steps
carried out by people and machines to preserve know-how and expertise.
It is not static or unchanging, but rather a platform from which
operators can redesign their own work, achieving the next level of
advance. The idea is to perform the work according to standard but
to be constantly challenging that standard to rise to higher and
higher levels of performance.
 Without standardizing work, variations in performance will hide the cause
and effect link between how the work is done and the desired results,
rendering attempts at improvement unsustainable.

8. Thought to Grow On…
 People will perform with excellence IF they:
 Have well-defined jobs
 Are capable of doing the job
 Know what is expected of them
 Have the necessary skills and knowledge
 Receive feedback on how well they perform
 Perceive and receive rewards for performing
as desired
 Bob Powers, INSTRUCTOR EXCELLENCE