To practice is to repeat something over and over to become proficient.
Sometime in 1937–1938, my boss at Toyoda Spinning and Weaving told me to prepare standard work methods for textile work. It was a difficult project. 1
A proper work procedure cannot be written from a desk. It must be tried and revised many times in the production plant. Furthermore, it must be a procedure that anybody can understand. 2
My first move as the manager of the machining shop was to introduce standardized work. 3
Taiichi Ohno arrived at Toyota Motors from the loom business, where he had experience with standard work. He developed his method in the loom business beginning with a book that he bought. Having worked through this “difficult project” with only a textbook, he was well aware of the benefits derived from standard work. He was told to do it. It wasn’t done, as far as we know, for any reason other than that he was told to do it.
At Toyota, the standard work sheet contains three elements:
1.Cycle time
2.Work sequence
3.Standard inventory
It’s an overview of the work process. Ohno said that standard work “plays an important role in Toyota’s visual management system.” 4 The standard work is placed at the work station as a visual management tool. This is the way the process is to be done currently, and anyone can see what should be happening. There are many advantages.
The basic premise of standard work is that when the work is performed the same way each time, the result will be consistent. The work cycle will be completed consistently, in the allotted time, discounting other issues, because the work content is the same for each cycle. And the business impact can be large, depending on the number of processes you may have. Consider a simple example. Let’s say you make 100 of a product each day, you employ 50 people, and by implementing standard work you can reduce your cycle times by 6 s. 100 products × 50 people × 6 s = 30,000 s. That’s over 8 hours per day, 1 person, or the equivalent of 2% of your workforce.
In addition to a consistent cycle time, the quality of the product being made will be consistent. Common sense tells us that doing something the same way every time will yield the same results. There are many examples that could be cited from our personal lives. We brush our teeth or shave the same way every time. The results may not be good, but they’re the same. By determining the “least waste way” to do something, quality is improved. It also prevents operational errors, again, for the same reason. When the work is routine, accidents become less likely. Ohno enumerates several benefits due to standard work:
We have eliminated waste by examining available resources, rearranging machines, improving machining processes, installing autonomous systems, improving tools, analyzing transportation methods, and optimizing the amount of materials on hand for machining. High production efficiency has also been maintained by preventing recurrence of defective products, operational mistakes, and accidents, and by incorporating worker’s ideas. All of this is possible because of the inconspicuous standard work sheet. 5
Standard work is a critical part of the Toyota Production System (TPS). Its application is common throughout all areas of Toyota, on the floor and in the office. However, it’s important, at this point, to address standard work in the order of events as it relates to the Toyota Template. This was the first order of business for Ohno at Toyota. He’d been charged with catching up with the American auto industry in 3 years. He realized the benefits and had experience with standard work from his loom days. He has said that one cannot improve without first having a standard. All that being said, standard work is not the first step in the template, for a couple of reasons.
Keep in mind that today, we have the advantage of the full picture of the TPS. And we know that standard work was implemented early at Toyota. However, when producing in a push system, standard work can be challenging. Having lots of what’s not needed and none of what’s needed, which happens regularly in push systems, creates a difficult environment for implementing and consistently following standard work. It can be written, but it may not be followed. In push systems, products don’t sync up when they should. Sometimes, overstaffing is a consequence due to the tendency to staff areas to handle the extreme shifts in production volume. With more people than are really needed, the work content for each worker will be very different than in a pull system.
The point is that if standard work is done prior to implementing a pull system, it will likely result in rewriting much of the standard work. More importantly, even in a push system, there already exists a certain way that products are made. It may not be the best way, but at least there’s a currently established method of making products. For these two reasons, (1) there’s currently a way products are made, and (2) standard work will change after pull implementation, standard work should be implemented after pull production.
An additional benefit to implementing standard work after implementing pull is that pulling will highlight the bottleneck areas in production. The need for standard work will become apparent when pulling production through the plant. In fact, when pulling first, the bottleneck areas can serve to prioritize the standard work efforts. There will likely be much workload balancing to be done after pulling. This would be the time to routinize the process.
TOTAL PRODUCTIVE MAINTENANCE (TPM) AND MACHINE BACK-UP: TENSION IN THE LINE
Operational availability is the rate that you can run the machine … operational availability requires good PM. 6
People confuse operational availability and rate of operation …. I think this confusion is a result of people feeling that it is a loss to leave the machines idle when they are in an operable condition. 7
Earlier, in the discussion of waste, the fact that overproduction tends to hide problems was addressed. One of the issues hidden, or made less urgent by inventory, is machine downtime. When machines go down in a push system, the existence of excessive inventory throughout the system covers up many of the machine problems. The downtime may be known, but it may not rise to a level requiring immediate action. Intermittent equipment stops, and sometimes extended stoppages, are covered up by the inventory. This situation tends to cause a more relaxed attitude toward machine downtime on the part of both production and maintenance.
Just-in-time (JIT) production, or pulling, through the plant introduces “tension in the line.” Each process feels the tug from its customer for JIT delivery. This is radically different from a push system. When a machine goes down, the impact is felt sooner, and the urgency is greater. Because of this, it becomes more critical for equipment to perform when needed. This tension leads to a heightened sense of urgency with both production and maintenance. A strong partnership between production and maintenance committed to a comprehensive TPM system is critical.
The right approach to maintenance is to keep your machines and equipment in perfect condition and make repairmen unnecessary. 8
There is much production can do to contribute to the upkeep of equipment: activities such as regular cleaning and inspection of the equipment, lubrication and fluid checks, loose cables and hoses, routine tightening or simple parts changes, and simply observing machine operations. Like a car that is familiar, the machines become familiar to the users. When they notice a change, or see something abnormal, they should work closely with maintenance by making them aware and helping to assess the situation. Maintenance activities include items such as inspection of areas that are more difficult to see or that may require special equipment, cable and hose changes, and scheduled part replacement or adjustment. An agreed, standardized delineation of responsibilities between production and maintenance is important. There’s a lot of information on TPM that can be used to build a great system, such as training programs, equipment building or purchase procedure, managing the spare parts inventory, and so on.
Even with a great maintenance program, all equipment goes down from time to time. Sometimes, the downtime can last for an extended period of time. For this reason, the ability to perform a back-up procedure to keep production going and the line moving is critical. We had a lot of equipment in Body Weld. On just one robot line, with 4 robots per station and 15 stations, there were 60 pieces of equipment that could quit working at any time. With several lines, all the sub-assembly equipment, manual equipment, conveyors, and the like, something was bound to stop running from time to time.
We began early on to develop back-up procedures for as much of the equipment as possible. For each robot, we had a written, detailed back-up. It included information such as the type of welding gun, illustrated weld locations, the number of people required to perform the back-up, and where to do it. Each was developed to perform in TAKT (The time that should be taken to produce something.) time. Since we were using different equipment to do the welding, quality was an important consideration. The back-up procedure must produce an acceptable level of quality as close to the original condition as possible.
TEAMWORK: THE MULTI-SKILLED EMPLOYEE
As an experiment, I arranged the various machines in the sequence of the machining process. This was a radical change from the conventional system …. We encountered strong resistance among the production workers, however, even though there was no increase in work or hours. Our craftsmen did not like the new arrangement requiring them to function as multi-skilled operators. 9
Ohno encountered resistance when he did his experiment because it threatened the status quo of workers who’d always been craftsmen, operating one machine only. His desire was that workers would operate more than one machine, as had been accomplished in the loom business. This was made possible with autonomation, giving human judgment to machines. This use of autonomation brought about the multi-skilled worker at Toyota.
[T]raining and assigning operators to handle multiple jobs was essential to the flexibility required on flow-based production lines. 10
Along with the multi-skilled worker came the need for more intensive training. Now, the operators had responsibility for several machines. Standard work became even more important. In addition, this multi-skilled notion spread to several processes, each with several machines. Workers began to learn to operate multiple pieces of equipment and later to rotate from process to process during the workday. This highlighted the need for more and better training.
No goal, regardless of how small, can be achieved without adequate training. 11 11
To this end, Toyota uses the Training Within Industry (TWI) methods. TWI is a detailed training method developed by the U.S. Army at the beginning of World War II. The problem in America was that many able-bodied men who were working in manufacturing were leaving the work force, voluntarily or involuntarily, to fight in the war. At the same time as the experienced work force was leaving, the government was requiring manufacturing to accelerate for the needs of the war effort. Manufacturing was hit from both sides. Experienced workers left as production was increasing. This created a big problem for the United States and industry in particular.
The training program consists of three modules, sometimes called the “Js.” They are Job Instruction (JI), Job Methods (JM), and Job Relations (JR). They’re very detailed, step-by-step instructions for how to train a new worker on a job. A thorough training program was needed, and the Army provided it. This was also a time when many women began to work outside the home to replace their husband’s income. Remember “Rosie the Riveter”? Many single women also entered the labor pool as demand was increasing. There’s a lot of detail that I won’t address here, but suffice it to say that the program worked very well.
After the war, the United States began assisting Japan and Europe in rebuilding their economies, and this training migrated across both ponds. Eventually, Toyota adopted TWI and still uses it to this day, particularly the Job Instruction module. I remember taking classes in JI, JR, and JM and being coached to follow the methods to the letter. The detail is such that it includes things like “set the worker at ease” and asking “what do you know about this process?” I was given small, laminated cards with the steps to each module that I kept in my pocket calendar for a long time to help me remember. TWI is the critical piece in the training of multi-skilled workers at Toyota.
In addition to the TWI training methods, a break-in period was developed for training new or transfer team members on a new process. In Body Weld, we used a 4-week break-in period. Each process was broken down into parts. The member was trained on Part 1 first. And then, within Part 1 training, we’d ramp up a little at a time. For example, Part 1 might consist of picking up the piece, welding three nuts on it, and placing it into a multi-welder. The training might call for the member to do 1-in-3 for the first 2 hours of their training. The next 2-hour period would call for them to do 2-in-3. Then, the third period would call for 3-in-3. The next phase would involve teaching Part 2 of the process in the same manner. After learning Parts 1 and 2, they’d be required to do them together, maybe 1-in-3, and so on. Figure 7.1 shows an example of a training break-in schedule.
FIGURE 1
Break-in training schedule example.
After the 4-week period, the member could perform the entire job in TAKT time, on their own. This method served a couple of purposes. It allowed the member to become accustomed to the pace gradually, which was much safer and resulted in better quality. It also allowed the member to become comfortable handling the parts and learning with minimal stress. Additionally, any quality checks could be more easily learned. The trainer was present to assist and to answer questions or show them any knack they’d learned through experience that might be helpful.
The Practice: Establish standard work in all areas, including production, maintenance, and training.
Culture: The establishment of standard work in all areas builds the culture by demonstrating respect for all employees through acceptance of input from those doing the work, by setting attainable and agreed-on expectations, and by systematically eliminating waste. Standard work is well defined, sets a reasonable work pace, and is safe. The TWI method demonstrates the importance of training. TPM requires teamwork between maintenance and production in keeping machines functional.
1. Ohno, Taiichi. 1988. Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, p. 20. New York, NY: Productivity Press.
2. Ibid.
3. Shimokawa, Koichi, and Fujimoto, Takahiro. 2009. The Birth of Lean, p. 8. Cambridge, MA: The Lean Enterprise Institute.
4. Ohno, Taiichi. 1988. Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, p. 22. New York, NY: Productivity Press.
5. Ibid., p. 21.
6. Ohno, Taiichi. 2013. Taiichi Ohno’s Workplace Management: Special 100th Birthday Edition, p. 121. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
7. Ibid, p. 122.
8. Shimokawa, Koichi, and Fujimoto, Takahiro. 2009. The Birth of Lean, p. 54. Cambridge, MA: The Lean Enterprise Institute.
9. Ohno, Taiichi. 1988. Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, p. 11. New York, NY: Productivity Press.
10. Shimokawa, Koichi, and Fujimoto, Takahiro. 2009. The Birth of Lean, p. 79. Cambridge, MA: The Lean Enterprise Institute.
11. 11.Ohno, Taiichi. 1988. Toyota Production System: Beyond Large-Scale Production, p. 69. New York, NY: Productivity Press.