The Four-Step Method
The four steps are the heart of Job Methods. They take the questioning attitude from the demonstration and arrange it into a disciplined plan for finding a better way.
The previous section showed, through the radio-shield demonstration, that a better method is found by questioning the present one. This section gives the plan that turns that questioning into improvement: the four steps of Job Methods. It is the same plan Bill Brown used on the shield job, and — like the Job Instruction card — the whole of it fits on a card small enough to carry to the job.
By the end of this section, you should understand:
- the four steps of Job Methods and what each one accomplishes,
- the six questions of the Question step, and why they are asked in a fixed order,
- the four actions of the Develop step — Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify,
- how the answers to the questions map directly onto those four actions,
- what the Job Methods card is and how it is used at the job.
The four steps are:
Job Methods is a four-step plan for finding a better way to do a job, using the manpower, machines, and materials now available. The four steps are Break down, Question, Develop, and Apply — always in that order.
The four steps run left to right across the top — break the job down, question every detail, develop the new method, apply it. The heart of the method is the move from Question to Develop: the six questions, asked in order, lead to the four develop actions, asked in order.
What to notice: the mapping is fixed. Why? and What? test whether a detail is necessary and lead to Eliminate. Where?, When?, and Who? find the best place, time, and person and lead to Combine and Rearrange. How? is asked last, of what remains, and leads to Simplify — there is no point improving how to do something that should not be done at all.
List every single detail of the present method — every movement, inspection, and delay — in order. The breakdown gives the facts and is the starting point for every improvement.
Ask the six questions of each detail, in order — Why, What, Where, When, Who, How — before moving to the next detail. Test necessity first; ask How last.
Turn the answers into action, in order — Eliminate unnecessary details, Combine and Rearrange the necessary ones, Simplify what remains. Work it out with others and write it up.
Sell the proposal to the boss and the operators, get approvals, put it to work without delay, and give credit. An improvement is worth nothing until it is in use.
The four steps of Job Methods as they appear on the pocket card a supervisor carries to the job.
What to notice: like the Job Instruction card, the whole method fits on a card. It is short on purpose — it is meant to be worked through at the workplace, on a real job, not studied at a desk.
1Step 1 — Break down the job
Every improvement starts from a complete picture of how the job is done now. The breakdown is that picture. The supervisor lists every single detail of the present method — every movement, every inspection, every delay — in the order it happens.
A detail is every single thing that is done: every movement, every inspection, and every delay. Nothing is too small to list.
Listing the details serves a purpose beyond record-keeping. It gives the facts. It brings out parts of the job no one realized were there. And the act of writing each detail down is what makes the questioning in Step 2 possible — you cannot question what you have not noticed.
A breakdown is quick. On the shield job, the first few details came out in moments:
The more detailed and accurate the breakdown, the more complete the improvement. The breakdown sheet itself, and how it differs from a Job Instruction breakdown, is the subject of the next section. Here it is enough to see that Step 1 produces a full list of details for Step 2 to work on.
Make the breakdown on the job, not from memory. Watch the work as it is actually done, and let the operator help — show them the breakdown, tell them what you are doing and why. The breakdown is most accurate when it is made where the work happens.
2Step 2 — Question every detail
With the details listed, the supervisor questions each one. The whole method turns on a questioning attitude: we deliberately question everything that is done, every single detail, instead of accepting it because it has always been done that way.
There are six questions, and they are asked in a definite order:
The order is not optional, and the reason is practical:
Asking How? before Why? and What? would waste effort — there is no point finding a better way to do a detail that turns out to be unnecessary.
So Why? and What? come first, to test necessity. Why is it necessary? distinguishes the necessary details from the unnecessary or doubtful ones; it is the hardest question to answer honestly, and it is where the biggest improvements come from. What is its purpose? is a check on the first question — does the detail actually add quality or serve a real purpose? If not, its necessity is in doubt.
Only if a detail is necessary do we go on to the next four questions. Where? finds the best place — which department, section, machine, or bench. When? finds the best time — should it come first or last, before or after some other detail, and when will the people, machines, and materials be available? Who? finds the best person — by skill, experience, or physical strength. How? is asked last, of the necessary details only, to find a better way to do each one.
All six questions are asked of one detail before moving to the next. The same questions are also asked of the materials, machines, equipment, and tools the job uses, and of layout, safety, and housekeeping — a small change in any of these can open up a large improvement.
Acting on a flash idea. As you question and get clear answers, ideas for improvements will come to mind quickly. Do not act on them yet. Note them in the breakdown's notes column and keep questioning — a better, more complete idea almost always develops once the whole job has been questioned. Deciding too early locks in a small improvement and hides a larger one.
3Step 3 — Develop the new method
The answers from Step 2 are the raw material for Step 3. Here the supervisor turns those answers into a new method by taking four actions, in order:
The order matters here for the same reason it matters in the questions: eliminating a detail after you have already simplified it would waste the effort spent simplifying. So we eliminate first and simplify last.
What makes Job Methods work is that the four actions follow directly from the six questions. The mapping is the heart of the method:
- The answers to Why? and What? lead us to Eliminate unnecessary details — to avoid wasting manpower, machines, and materials on work that adds nothing.
- The answers to Where?, When?, and Who? give the leads for Combine and Rearrange the necessary details — combining to cut inspections and handlings between operations, rearranging to reduce moving, back-tracking, and unnecessary picking up and putting down.
- The answers to How? give the leads for Simplify what remains — making the necessary details easier and safer to do.
Why? / What? → Eliminate. Where? / When? / Who? → Combine and Rearrange. How? → Simplify. The questions test and sort the details; the develop actions act on what the questions found.
On the shield job this is exactly what happened. Bill Brown's Why? answers showed that all the walking to and from the supply boxes was unnecessary if the sheets were delivered to the bench, and that laying out and stacking the sheets added no quality once they were at the bench — so he eliminated those details, along with a stamping step that engineering confirmed was not needed and a carry-and-weigh step that served no purpose because the shields were sold by count. His Where?, When?, and Who? answers let him combine the packing details by bringing the cases to the bench, and rearrange the picking-up and inspection details to suit the new supply location. What remained, he simplified — and the deep simplify principles, and how the proposal is then sold and applied, are the subject of the later sections.
Develop the new method with others, then write it up. The best leads come from the boss (who knows what is changing and where more output is needed), from fellow supervisors, and from the operators who do the job. Working the idea out with the operator is as important as the idea itself — it earns acceptance. Then write the new method down, or it may die before it is ever tried.
4Step 4 — Apply the new method
An improvement is worth nothing until it is put to work. Step 4 is what gets the new method into use and keeps it there. In the past, the lack of this step is what stopped many good improvements — they were developed, and then they stalled.
Applying the new method follows a short sequence:
Sell the proposal to the boss with a short, complete story — facts only — backed by the breakdown sheets, samples, and sketches, and put it up at the right time. Sell it to the operators too, and instruct them in the new method carefully, using Job Instruction. Get the approvals that prevent trouble later, on safety, quality, quantity, and cost. Then put the method to work quickly — waiting kills more ideas than lack of brains — and check that the operators do not slip back to the old, familiar way. Finally, give credit where it is due: one stolen idea will stop all others, and the more credit we give, the more ideas we get back.
The proposal sheet, the simplify principles, and the practical work of selling and applying are developed in the sections that follow. Here, Step 4 completes the plan: a method is broken down, questioned, developed, and put to work.
Letting the improvement die at the "developed" stage. The idea is worked out, written up, and then left waiting for the perfect moment. Waiting is where ideas die. Get a trial going, keep the operators from drifting back, and keep searching — there is always a better way still to come.
Section summary
Job Methods is a four-step plan: break down the job, question every detail, develop the new method, apply the new method — always in that order. The breakdown lists every detail of the present method so there is something concrete to question. The Question step asks six questions of each detail in a fixed order — Why? What? Where? When? Who? How? — testing necessity first with Why? and What? and asking How? last, because there is no point improving how to do something that should not be done at all. The Develop step turns those answers into four actions, also in order — Eliminate, Combine, Rearrange, Simplify — eliminating first and simplifying last.
The mapping between the two steps is the core of the method: Why? and What? lead to Eliminate; Where?, When?, and Who? lead to Combine and Rearrange; How? leads to Simplify. The Apply step then sells the proposal, gets approvals, puts the method to work without delay, and gives credit so the next idea comes. The whole plan fits on a pocket card, made to be used on a real job. The sections that follow develop each part — the breakdown and proposal sheets, the simplify principles and the work of selling, and the human situations that get in the way.