Standardized Work Archives

Lean Conformance vs. TPS Performance

Posted on January 7, 2014January 13, 2014 by Art Smalley

Here is a response to a question about multi-purpose cells I gave to a question over on the Lean Edge. The main question asked here is “have workplaces moved to multi-purpose cells or do we still see isolated operators on the shop floor (現場 / Genba)”? The statement implies that was what “Toyota” was teaching us 20 years ago. Well that last part I sort of doubt it. In re...

Standardized Work Confusion

Posted on August 1, 2012August 1, 2012 by Art Smalley

This month's question over over on the Lean Edge comes from Cécile Roche, Thales LEAN Director - Probasis and she asks about Standardized Work and whether it is an individual effort or collective effort. My response posted over at the Lean Edge: If I had five dollars for every question I ever had to answer about Standardized Work or Standards inside of Toyota I’d be a ver...

Standardized Work

Posted on January 21, 2011February 8, 2011 by Art Smalley

This concept is one of the more famous topics in the Toyota Production System yet I don't see a lot of companies applying it correctly. Often times they struggle for a variety of reasons. All too often I see companies attempting to put the proverbial square peg in a round hole with regards to Standardized Work. One naive assumption is that Standardized Work is the only type of ...