Although PDCA is a problem-solving tool, this methodology is excellent for any improvement activity. We followed PDCA while walking through the kaizen steps, and today we will use it to create standard work. In general, the following are the steps to create work standards. The figure below shows how they translate into the PDCA steps.
- Understand the process, break down the job & question every detail
- Develop a new method for performing the job
- Run the process and observe results
- If it is necessary, adapt the process and go back to step 4.
- When you find the best method, create the standard
PDCA should be a team exercise, always recruit team members to analyze and create standards. The most important part of the PDCA cycle, understanding the problem is critical for its success. This statement remains true when we use PDCA to create standard work. Even if you know the process, ask what it is about, and what is supposed to accomplish. What is its purpose? If you can eliminate or combine the process, do it! If you cannot, then continue to understand the job sequence, breakdown the job, and question each step. Always observe the process and talk with the people who do the work.
The next step is to develop a new method. Engage the team in a brainstorming session for improvement ideas. Prioritize and select the best solutions to design a new way to perform the job. Use those ideas to design the safest, highest quality, and most efficient way to do the work. Test the new design, observe the process, and measure the results. All this is part of the step Do, the second of the PDCA cycle.
The third PDCA step is Check, which is what you will do while analyzing the results from your test drive. Does the new process achieve the objectives? Is this the best way to do the job? If it is, start to create the standard, which is the last PDCA step, Act. If it is not, modify or adapt the process.
If your test drive proves that you need to improve the new process further to accomplish the goals, modify it, and test it again as part of the PDCA step Act. You keep changing, testing, and analyzing until you reach the desired condition. When this happens, it is time to create the standard.
PDCA provides a framework that is easy to follow and repeat. In the same way that you can use it to standardize Kaizen, you can use it for your standard work creation also. Standard work is the baseline for future improvements. You create the standard, let the operation stabilize, and then improve the standard.
