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When to Use Standards…and When Not

Christoph Roser — Tue, 22 Aug 2023 11:00:47 +0000

Work standards are a key component to continuous improvement. A standard is a tool that (if used correctly) prevents drifting away from a best-practice approach to do a task. Hence, I sometimes read that everything needs a standard. However, I don’t quite fully agree with this. Let me tell you when standards are helpful, and ... Read more

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The Limits of Work Standards

Christoph Roser — Tue, 31 Jan 2023 11:00:08 +0000

Work standards are the backbone of continuous improvement because you need a standard to maintain what you have already achieved. But standards are not easy. A standard should explain everything in sufficient detail without being too detailed…and that is a fine line to walk. The key to the problem, but also to the solution, is ... Read more

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Work Improvement before Equipment Improvement

Christoph Roser — Tue, 05 Oct 2021 11:00:49 +0000

When improving a system, Western engineers love to take the technical approach and to optimize the machines and tools. However, at Toyota this is seen differently. At Toyota, they try to address a problem by first training the people, followed by improving the standards and the layout, before improving the equipment and finally twiddling with ... Read more

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Standards Part 9: Leader Standard Work

Christoph Roser — Tue, 07 Sep 2021 11:00:35 +0000

Leader standard work. Sometimes also called standard work for leaders. A term that floats around quite a bit in lean manufacturing, but I always find it hard to make it more specific. The idea follows the lean concept to standardize things, and tries to standardize the work of managers or leaders. The idea itself is ... Read more

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Standards Part 8: Example for a Work Standard

Christoph Roser — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 11:00:53 +0000

In this series I have talked a lot about standards in general, work standards, standardized work. Let me now show you an example of a work standard, an actual instruction on how to do a work. Since standards in industry are usually confidential, I present you my own standard on how to make a cup ... Read more

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Standards Part 7: How to Write a Work Standard

Christoph Roser — Tue, 17 Aug 2021 11:00:51 +0000

In my last post I talked about the different steps on how to do standard work. In this post I will go into more detail on how to write the actual work standard that is put up at the workplace. This will include quite a few examples in different styles, before I will go into ... Read more

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Standards Part 6: Standardized Work

Christoph Roser — Tue, 10 Aug 2021 11:00:40 +0000

Standard work, or better called standardized work, is a popular method in lean manufacturing. It is closely related to standards and hence part of this longer series on standards, but with a focus on manufacturing or assembly. The actual creation of the work standard is only one of the last steps, and a lot of ... Read more

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Standards Part 5: How to Use and Improve a Standard

Christoph Roser — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 11:00:27 +0000

This post of this series on standards looks at how to use the standard correctly, and how to improve a standard. Hint: It is all about the people actually using the standard. This series is again getting longer than I thought, as there is much detail to be discussed. The next post will finally look ... Read more

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