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Example gallery · 16 examples · Standard work, SOPs and training

Standard work examples: 16 jobs, before and after

A standard work example shows one job done one way, with a time. Three operators doing the same 9 steps in three different orders settle on one sequence, and cycle times that ran from 52 to 71 seconds come in at 54 to 58 against a takt time of 60. Below are 16 examples, from a single station to a supervisor's daily walk, each with the before, the after, what changed and what it cost. The stations and numbers are illustrative. They are made up to show what a good write-up looks like, and are not results from a real plant or customer.

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Each card is one change at one station. Before and After give the same measure, taken the same way. The paragraph says what changed and who keeps it. Cost is materials only unless it says otherwise.

Area
Materials cost

Showing 16 of 16 examples

One operator, one station

The sequence, the time and the standard WIP for a single job.

    • Production
    • Under $100

    Final assembly at station 4

    Three operators did the same 9 steps in three different orders. The team timed 20 cycles each, took the best order from all three and wrote it on a standard work sheet with the key points. Standard WIP is 1 unit. The team leader audits one cycle per operator each week.

    Before:
    Cycle times from 52 to 71 seconds against a takt time of 60 seconds (27,000 seconds available, 450 units).
    After:
    54 to 58 seconds for all three operators.
    Cost:
    $0 in materials. About 6 hours of timing and writing.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Packing station on line 2

    The packer walked around the pallet to reach tape and labels. The new sequence keeps both within arm's reach on a small stand and turns two reaches into one. The sheet is posted at the station. The line lead owns it.

    Before:
    44 seconds a carton against a takt time of 40 seconds (26,400 seconds, 660 cartons). About 3 hours of overtime a week to catch up.
    After:
    36 seconds a carton. No overtime in the next 4 weeks.
    Cost:
    About $45 for the stand and a tape holder.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Quality
    • Under $100

    Inspection path at the final inspection bench

    Inspectors checked the 14 features in whatever order they liked. The standard now fixes one path around the part, drawn on a photo with numbered arrows. A feature cannot be skipped without breaking the path. The quality engineer owns the photo.

    Before:
    2 features missed in a month. About 110 seconds an inspection.
    After:
    No misses in the next month. About 95 seconds.
    Cost:
    About $5 for a print and a sleeve.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Warehouse
    • $100 to $1,000

    Kitting for the assembly line

    Each kit has 18 parts. Kitters picked from memory and a paper list. A cart with 18 labelled pockets now sets the order. The pick route follows the pockets, and an empty pocket shows straight away. The stores lead owns the cart layout.

    Before:
    6 to 11 minutes a kit. About 5 short kits a week reached the line.
    After:
    About 6 minutes a kit. About 1 short kit a week.
    Cost:
    About $240 for the cart and pocket inserts.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.

Cells and lines

Work spread across machines or stations and balanced against takt time.

    • Production
    • Under $100

    Lathe and mill cell on a combination table

    The operator waited at each machine for its cycle to end. A standard work combination table showed 105 seconds of manual and walk time against machine cycles of 140 and 120 seconds. The new sequence loads the mill while the lathe runs, then deburrs and gauges while both run. The cell lead owns the table.

    Before:
    A 210 second cycle and about 128 parts a shift, against a need of 150 (takt time 180 seconds).
    After:
    A 175 second cycle and about 154 parts a shift.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Standard WIP in the weld cell

    Parts piled up between weld and grind with no limit. The team set standard WIP at 3 parts and painted three squares on the transfer table. When all three are full, the welder stops and helps at grind. The cell lead checks the squares on each walk.

    Before:
    Anywhere from 0 to 14 parts waiting. At a 4 minute takt time, a part could wait 56 minutes.
    After:
    3 parts at most, so a part waits 12 minutes at most.
    Cost:
    About $20 for paint and a stencil.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    One operator tending 3 molding machines

    The operator went to whichever machine looked fullest. The standard is a fixed 12 minute loop: machine 1, 2, 3, then the regrind check, with the task and time at each stop on a card. The shift supervisor walks one loop a week with the operator.

    Before:
    About 9 times a shift a machine waited with a full conveyor.
    After:
    About 1 wait a shift.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Rebalancing a 4-station line

    The team listed every work element with its time and found one 9 second element, fitting a clip, that could move from station 2 to station 1. Both standard work sheets were rewritten and the operators retrained. The line lead owns the balance chart.

    Before:
    Station times of 38, 61, 44 and 52 seconds against a takt time of 55 seconds. Station 2 held the line to 59 an hour.
    After:
    47, 52, 44 and 52 seconds. The line can run at takt, 65 an hour.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.

Changeovers, logistics and maintenance

Repeating work away from the line that still has one best sequence.

    • Production
    • Under $100

    Changeover standard work on the labeler

    Each mechanic changed the labeler over in a different order. The team filmed the two fastest, agreed 11 steps and posted them at the machine with a photo for each setting. The maintenance lead times one changeover a month.

    Before:
    18 to 34 minutes across 12 changeovers.
    After:
    16 to 19 minutes across the next 12.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Warehouse
    • Under $100

    Trailer loading sequence at shipping

    Loaders built each trailer their own way, and some loads had to come off again to reach an early stop. A load diagram for each of the 4 common routes now shows which pallet goes where, last stop first. Floor marks in the staging lane match the diagram. The shipping lead owns the diagrams.

    Before:
    35 to 60 minutes a trailer, and about 3 reloads a month.
    After:
    30 to 38 minutes, and no reloads in 2 months.
    Cost:
    About $80 for floor tape and laminated diagrams.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Start-of-shift startup on the filling line

    Startup depended on who was on shift. The team wrote 12 steps in order, with the settings to confirm and the 3 checks before the first bottle is released. The sheet hangs at the filler. The shift supervisor signs it each morning.

    Before:
    25 to 50 minutes to the first good bottle, with about 40 bottles scrapped.
    After:
    About 25 minutes, with about 12 bottles scrapped.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Maintenance
    • Under $100

    Weekly conveyor PM as standard work

    Two technicians did the same PM in very different times and checked different things. They wrote the 14 steps together, with a route, the tool for each step and a time. Either can now do it, or hand it to a new technician. The maintenance planner owns the sheet.

    Before:
    70 minutes for one technician and 110 for the other.
    After:
    About 75 minutes for either, with all 14 steps done.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.

Leaders, training and audits

The routines that teach the standard and check that it is followed.

    • Production
    • Under $100

    Team leader standard work on line 3

    The team leader spent most of the shift covering stations. A one-page routine now sets fixed times for the board update, a check of each station against its sheet, and problem follow-up. Covering a station is the exception and is logged. The supervisor reviews the page weekly.

    Before:
    About 5 of 8 hours covering stations.
    After:
    About 2 of 8 hours.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Supervisor's 20-minute walk with 6 checkpoints

    The supervisor walks the same route at the same time each day with a card: 6 checkpoints, one question at each. Anything abnormal becomes an action on the board before the walk ends. The area manager joins once a week.

    Before:
    12 of 20 open actions were older than 2 weeks.
    After:
    3 of 18 open actions older than 2 weeks, two months later.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Quality
    • Under $100

    Daily standard work audit from a card deck

    There is one card per station, 12 in all. Each day a leader draws a card, watches three cycles at that station against the sheet and records what differs. A difference means either retraining or a better sheet. The area manager owns the deck.

    Before:
    5 of 12 stations were worked differently from the posted sheet.
    After:
    11 of 12 matched after 8 weeks.
    Cost:
    About $15 for the printed cards.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.
    • Production
    • Under $100

    Training a new operator at the crimping station

    New operators learned by watching. The trainer now uses a job breakdown sheet with 7 important steps, the key points for each and the reason for each key point, and follows the four Job Instruction steps: prepare, present, try out, follow up. The team leader signs off the training record.

    Before:
    About 4 weeks for a new operator to reach rate.
    After:
    About 2 weeks.
    Cost:
    $0.
    Basis:
    Illustrative. Not a real plant or customer.

These examples are illustrative. The stations and numbers are made up and are not results from a real plant or a customer. Measure your own before and after, the same way both times, before you copy one.

Write your own standard work

One job, with the people who do it, in this order.

  1. 1Work out takt time: available seconds in the shift divided by the units the customer needs.
  2. 2Watch the job and time at least 10 cycles per operator. Write down each step in the order it is done.
  3. 3Agree the best sequence with the operators, and note the key points for safety and quality.
  4. 4Set the standard WIP: the fewest parts needed for the sequence to repeat.
  5. 5Put it on a standard work sheet and post it at the station.
  6. 6Train every operator on every shift to the sheet, then audit a few cycles each week.
  7. 7When someone finds a better way, test it, change the sheet and retrain.

The three elements, and one published case

The Lean Enterprise Institute's Lean Lexicon bases standardized work on three elements: takt time, the precise work sequence an operator follows within takt time, and the standard inventory needed to keep the process running, including units in machines. Most examples on this page change the second element and measure against the first.

The Lexicon names three forms used to set it up: the process capacity sheet, the standardized work combination table, which shows manual, walk and machine time for each operator, and the standardized work chart, which shows operator movement and material location. The lathe and mill example is a combination table put into words. Once standardized work is set and displayed, the Lexicon says, it becomes the object of continuous improvement through kaizen.

The training example follows the four steps of Job Instruction from the wartime Training Within Industry program: prepare the worker, present the operation, try out performance and follow up.

For a published case, NIST's Manufacturing Extension Partnership describes Current Applications, a manufacturer in Watertown, New York with about 60 employees. Working with CITEC, it used standard work together with value stream mapping, cell design, 5S and one-piece flow. NIST reports work in process down from 105 units to 5 and output up from 40 to 105 units a day. That result belongs to the whole set of tools, not to standard work alone.

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FAQ

Questions about standard work examples

  1. A final assembly station where three operators did the same 9 steps in three different orders. The team timed each, agreed the best sequence and posted it on a standard work sheet with a standard WIP of 1. In the illustrative example on this page, cycle times that ran from 52 to 71 seconds settled at 54 to 58.

  2. Takt time, work sequence and standard inventory, also called standard WIP. Takt time is the pace the customer needs. Work sequence is the order of steps one operator follows within takt time. Standard WIP is the smallest number of parts, including those in machines, that lets the sequence repeat.

  3. Divide the available working time by the number of units the customer needs in that time. A shift with 27,000 available seconds and a demand of 450 units has a takt time of 60 seconds. Leave breaks and planned stops out of the available time.

  4. Standard work sets the sequence, the time and the standard WIP for a repeating job, measured against takt time. A work instruction explains how to do a task in detail, step by step, often with photos. A station usually has both: the standard work sheet for the rhythm of the job, and work instructions for the steps that need explaining.

  5. The same idea applied to a leader's day: a short list of checks done at fixed times, such as updating the board, walking a set route and following up open actions. In the team leader example on this page, a one-page routine cuts time spent covering stations from about 5 hours a shift to about 2.

  6. Often enough that a drift is caught within days. No rule sets the interval. A common practice is for a team leader to check a few cycles at one station each day and a supervisor to do the same each week. The card deck example on this page covers 12 stations with one draw a day.

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