This month, we honed in on Standard Work as part of our regular Lean Mentality focus. I trust each of you made time this month to review the attached Leadership Talking Points with your teams. We will achieve continuous improvement culture when all of us are engaged in the effort to work towards a standard. When we have strong standards, attaining success gets easier. I encourage you think more about improvement as we transition to summer in a few months. Below are some additional considerations from our Lean Director, Lisset Lopez.

 “Without standards, there can be no improvement.” 

– Taiichi Ohno

 Standard work is the best documented way of completing a process effectively and without waste.  It is through standard work that we produce the best levels of Safety, Quality, Delivery, and Cost (SQDC). With standard work as the baseline, improvement work can begin, as it isn’t meant to be rigid.  It is good practice to reflect on current standards frequently and ask: Did I meet the goal? If not, raise the concern and explore how to make the standard better. This thinking will sharpen your lean mindset and strengthen our standards through continuous improvement.

 Below are some cues that tell us when a standard may need to change. 

• Deadlines are missed?

• Target performance measures are not met?

• People are frustrated?

• New technology is available?

• New ideas are being shared?

 Finally, consider how you access and use standards. If they’re not visible, they’re not valuable. Here is a great 10-minute article on the importance of visualizing standard work.

 I will leave you with 3 questions to consider:

• Do you have standards for your critical tasks? 

• Are your standards visually displayed to ensure adherence?

Is there a standard you need to improve within the next 60 days… what data or support is needed?