Lean Manufacturing

Dr. Ravi Reosekar

BITS Pilani Associate Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

1
 BITS Pilani
Pilani|Dubai|Goa|Hyderabad

Lecture 4 - Elements of Lean

Manufacturing : Standardized
Work
 Standardized Work
 Standardized work is —the safest, easiest, and most effective
way of doing the job that we currently know.
 Many of our processes are rife with muda. Therefore,
standardized work constantly changes.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Standardized Work

 F W Taylor, who sought to improve industrial efficiency,

introduced the "single best way" concept a century ago.
 Frank and Lillian Gilbreth refined the concept that industrial
engineers.
 These ideas were important breakthroughs a century ago but
have outlived their usefulness.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 What Do We Have to Manage?
• Let us take a systems view(Ref. Fig). Our goal is to provide a
required level of output (goods or services) that meets our
expectations and those of our customer for PQCDSM:
– Productivity.
– Quality.
– Cost.
– Delivery time.
– Safety and environment.
– Morale.
 What Do We Have to Manage?
 Our tools are the 4 Ms:
– Man/woman: our team members.
– Machine: our equipment, jigs, conveyors, and so on.
– Material: the raw materials and parts our suppliers provide.
– Method: our processes.

 Method is the mix of man/woman, machine, and material.

 Standardized work is a tool for developing, confirming, and improving

our method (processes).
 A process is simply a set of steps or actions with a clearly defined goal.
 The process tells the team member what to do, when to do it, and in
what order.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Why Standardized Work?
 Standardized work provides great benefits
1. Process stability. Stability means repeatability. We
need to meet our productivity, quality, cost, lead time,
safety, and environmental targets every time.
2. Clear stop and start points for each process. These
and knowledge of our takt, that is, our pace of
production rationalised with our rate of sales and cycle
times allow us to see our production condition at a
glance. Are we ahead or behind? Is there a problem?
3. Organizational learning. Standardized work preserves
know-how and expertise. If a veteran employee leaves,
we won't lose his or her experience.
 Why Standardized Work?

4. Audit and problem solving. Standardized work allows us to assess our

current condition and identify problems. Checkpoints and vital process steps
are easy to track. We are able to ask important questions:
– Are team members able to do the process smoothly or are they falling behind?
– If they are falling behind, by how much and in what job elements?
– How can we improve these elements?
5. Employee involvement and poka-yoke. In the lean system team members
develop standardized work, supported by supervisors and engineers.
Moreover, team members identify opportunities for simple, inexpensive
error-proofing or poka-yoke devices.
6. Kaizen. Our processes have muda. Once we have achieved process stability,
we are ready to improve. Standardized work provides the baseline against
which we measure improvement
7. Training: Standardized work provides a basis for employee training. Once
operators are familiar with standardized work formats, it becomes second
nature for them to do the job according to standards. Vital steps and
checkpoints serve as constant reminders.
 Prerequisites for Standardized Work

 We cannot work to standards when there are continuous line

stoppages and slowdowns. Here are common sources of
instability:
 Quality problems with incoming parts.
 Problems with machinery, jigs, or tools.
 Parts shortages.
 A less than full condition (which means that the team member may have to wait for a part
to work on).
 Safety problems such as poor ergonomic layouts, slip, trip, and falling hazards, exposed
pinch points, and so on.
 Lean activities support stability. Machine stability requires 5S
and TPM. Quality is strengthened with jidoka. Just-in-time
techniques attack parts shortage problems. 5S, TPM, and
standardized work improve safety.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 The Elements of Standardized Work
 Standardized work comprises three elements:
– Takt time.
– Work sequence—what is the best way to do the process?
– In-process stock—how much inventory should there be?
 Takt Time
– Takt time tells us our demand frequency, or how frequently
we must produce a product, and can be calculated as
follows:
• Takt time= Daily operating time ÷ Required quantity per day
– For example, if our daily order is 890 units and we operate
two 445-minute shifts, our takt time would be:
• Takt = ( 2 X 445) min ÷ 890 = 1 minute
– We would have to produce one product every minute.
 Takt time
 If there is a total of 8 hours (or 480 minutes) in a shift (gross
time) less 30 minutes lunch, 30 minutes for breaks (2 × 15
mins), 10 minutes for a team briefing and 10 minutes for
basic maintenance checks, then the
net Available Time to Work = 480 - 30 - 30 - 10 - 10 = 400
minutes.
If customer demand was, say, 400 units a day and one shift was
being run, then the line would be required to spend a maximum
of one minute to make a part in order to be able to keep up with
Customer Demand.
In reality, people and machines can never maintain 100%
efficiency and there may also be stoppages for other reasons.
Allowances should be made for these instances and thus the line
will need to be set up to run at a faster rate to account for this.
 Example:
A car manufacturer sells 1170 units of particular model of
car every month. Calculate Takt time, assuming assembly
shops works in single shift of eight hours with one break of
30 minutes. Normal working days are 26 per month.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Benefits of Takt time

 The product moves along a line, so bottlenecks (stations that

need more time than planned) are easily identified when the
product does not move on in time.
 Correspondingly, stations that don't operate reliably (suffer
frequent breakdown, etc.) are easily identified.
 The takt leaves only a certain amount of time to perform the
actual value added work. Therefore there is a strong
motivation to get rid of all non value-adding tasks (like
reducing machine set-up, gathering of tools, transporting
products, etc.)

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Takt Time

 Takt time also allows us to grasp our production condition at a

glance.
 For example, if takt time is 1 minute, we should see a product
moving past us every minute. If a product moved past every
two minutes, we would know that there was a problem
downstream. This shared understanding motivates quick
countermeasures, to get the line moving again, and a kaizen, to
eliminate the root cause of the problem.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

 Work Sequence
 The work sequence defines the order in which the work is done in a given
process. For example, the team member might have to:
– Pick up the part.
– Walk to the machine.
– Place the part in the machine and process the part.
– Take the part to the next machine.
 We have to clearly define the best way to do each job action and the proper
sequence. wherever possible pictures and drawings are used to show:
– Proper posture.
– How the hands and feet should move.
– How to hold the tools.
– Accumulated know-how or the nicks and knacks of the job.
– Critical quality or safety items.
 At Toyota, the people-focus and visual nature of standardized work make it
a powerful tool for safety and ergonomics. A clear picture of the proper
posture or hand position, for example, is a constant reminder as well as a
subtle challenge to eliminate awkward postures and other ergonomic risk
factors.
 In-Process Stock
 In-process stock is the minimum number of unfinished
work pieces required for the operator to complete the
process without standing in front of a machine.
 The determining factor is that work cannot progress
without a certain number of pieces on hand.
 If required, we should increase in-process stock in the
following circumstances:
– Quality checks require additional work pieces.
– Temperatures must fall before the next operation can
commence.
• Defining in-process stock establishes work-in-process
(WIP) standards per process, and again, makes
abnormalities obvious.
 Charts Used to Define Standardized Work

 As a part of Lean implementation, team

members develop Standardized work supported
by engineers and other experts as required.
Three charts are used:
– Production capacity chart.
– Standardized work combination table.
– Standardized work analysis chart.
 Each is a tool for analyzing and defining a
process and for identifying improvement
points.
 Production Capacity Chart
 This chart determines the capacity of the machines in a process.
 It documents machine and manual times and allows us to
identify bottlenecks at a glance.
 Production capacity for a given machine is calculated using the
following formula:
Capacity = Operational time per shift ÷ (Process
time + Setup time/interval)
 Setup time refers to the time required to change from one
machine setting to another.
 E.g. setup for a punch press might include changing the die,
adjusting the machine settings and loading a new coil of steel.
The interval refers to the frequency of setup in terms of number
of parts.
Production Capacity Chart
 Production Capacity Chart
 Figure shows an actual chart. The production
capacity of the drilling machine used in
process 2 may be calculated as follows:
 Operational time = 460 minutes per shift
(27,600 seconds).
 Process time = 24 seconds per part.
 Time needed to replace drill bit = 30 seconds.
 Interval = every 1,000 parts.
 Solution: Capacity = 27,600 seconds ÷ (24 +
30/1000)
The capacity of=
the1,148.5 partsis 1,148 parts per shift.
drilling machine
 Standardized Work Combination Table
 This chart shows:
– Work elements and their sequence.
– Time per work element.
– Operator and machine time.
– The interaction between operators and machines or
between different operators.
 The chart makes kaizen easier by breaking
down the movements of the operator and
relating them to machine time.
Standardized Work Combination Table
Standardized Work Analysis Chart
This chart helps to rationalize layout and
to train workers. It comprises:
– The work layout.
– Process steps and times.
– Critical quality and safety items.
– Standardized WIP stock.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Standardized Work Analysis Chart
 Job Element Sheets
 A job element is the minimum action or group of actions required
to advance a process.

 For example, picking up a bolt is an action but does not advance

the process. Picking up a bolt and installing it on a work piece is a
group of actions, which advances the process.
 Job element sheets (JES) are one-pagers that define
– Actions making up the job element.
– Rationale.
– Pictures and photos highlighting key points.
– Revision record.

 JES are invaluable for recording the nicks and knacks of the job—
the learning points gathered over years by team members. The JES
is a useful intermediate step on the journey to standardized work.
Job Element Sheets
 Time Measurement
 Time measurement entails breaking a process into its elements and
measuring the instant each element starts and stops. Here are the
required steps:
– Become familiar with the process area and its surroundings.
– Draw the process area layout.
– Show the work sequence.
– Write the work elements.
– Measure total cycle time (at least ten times).
– Measure the time for each work element (at least ten times).
– Identify and measure irregular work (e.g., clearing blockages).
– Write the standardized work analysis chart and standardized work
combination table.
 Simple time measurement can reveal much about the current
condition of a workplace. Are we ahead? Are we behind? How
repeatable is our process? Do we have too many machines? How
much value-added work is in our process?
 Manpower calculation
 The tools of standardized work help us improve
efficiency by identifying value and waste in a
process.
 Efficiency may be defined as follows:
Efficiency = Output/Manpower
 Because output is fixed by the customer, the only
way for us to improve efficiency was to reduce
manpower.
 Workers released thereby were reassigned.
 Improvements are based on a deep understanding
of what is actually happening in each process.
Fig 4.6
Fig 4.7

Fig 4.8
Figure 4.9 shows how we might redistribute work to reduce
manpower.
Note that processes 1 to 4 are "full" in the sense that cycle times
equal takt time. Process 5, by contrast, constitutes about 50
percent of our takt time.
We will seek further kaizen to eliminate this process. In the
interim, by rebalancing in this manner we make visible the
muda of waiting and motivate kaizen.

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956

Fig 4.9
 Standardized Work and Kaizen
 Standardized work is a process whose goal is kaizen.
 The leader's responsibility is to maintain a good condition and to
improve. These include obvious muda such as recurring defects,
machine breakdowns, or excessive WIP.
 Hard-to-do work (muri) or unevenness (mura) are other obvious
targets. The following sections describe design guidelines that can
help us find kaizen opportunities.
 Guidelines for Economy of Motion
– Hand movements should be symmetrical and concurrent.
– Two-handed motions should be as compact as possible.
– Light work should be done with the hands and forearms, rather than the
upper arms and shoulders.
– Motion should flow freely.
– Work should be done in the "strong circle" a yard in diameter and directly
in front of the worker. Maintain appropriate body posture.
– Keep hands free as much as possible.
 Understanding: Mura and Muri

 Mura
– Mura refers to unevenness or fluctuation in work, usually
caused by fluctuating production plans.
– A simple example might be a production line that is producing
difficult models for half the shift and simple models for the
second half, so that workers strain for half the day and coast
the other half.
– The lean system seeks to reduce mura through heijunka, or
production levelling, by mixing models, for example.
 Muri
– Muri means "hard to do" and can be caused by variations in
production, poor job design or ergonomics, poor part fit,
inadequate tools or jigs, unclear specifications, and so on.
 Example
How to move 6000 kg load with a forklift having a
capacity of 2000 kg?
 Standardized Work and Kaizen
 Guidelines for Layout and Equipment
– Identify home positions for tools and materials.
– Build flexibility into the layout to accommodate demand
changes and taller or shorter operators.
– Move parts horizontally. Avoid vertical part movement.
– Use gravity to move parts (e.g., with sloping parts
racks).
– Place tools and materials conveniently.
– Ensure adequate lighting.
– Use colors.
– Use U-shaped layouts so that process start and end
points are side by side.
 Standardized Work and Kaizen
 Guidelines for Tools and Jigs
– Develop jigs to eliminate manual holding of
materials.
– Use ergonomic tools (i.e., tools that are easy to grip,
encourage good hand/wrist posture, and minimize
forces and vibration).
– Combine tools where possible (e.g., use a T-wrench
instead of a socket wrench and screwdriver).
– Where possible, use balancers that automatically
withdraw the tool from point of use.
 Common Layouts
We typically encounter four layouts:
 Islands (isolated processes)
– Island processes are isolated from one another. Forklifts move piles of
inventory between islands. Often workers in each island build as fast as they
can regardless of actual demand.
 Connected Islands
– Conveyors or chutes connect islands. There is no mechanism to control the
amount of inventory on conveyors. Workers typically build as fast as they
can.
 Connected Islands with Full-Work Control
– Conveyors or chutes connect islands. A visual device controls the amount of
inventory between processes. The upstream process stops producing when
the downstream process is full.
 Cells
– Machines are side by side. There is minimal inventory between machines.
Ideally, one piece is made at a time. As soon as a piece is processed, it
moves to the next process.
Common Layouts
 Common Layouts
Lead Other
Type Efficiency Quality Comments
Time aste
Islands Poor Poor Poor Poor Conveyance muda,
scheduling hassles, high
WIP, minimal quality
feedback.
Connected islands Somewhat Somewhat Somewhat Somewhat Still difficult to adjust to
(connected by better better better better demand changes.
conveyors, no full-work Somewhat less WIP (as
control) much as conveyor can
hold).

Connected islands— Somewhat Better Better Better Less WIP and

(full-work control) better conveyance muda.
Cells (continuous flow) Good Good Good Good Least WIP, conveyance
and motion muda.
Continuous quality
feedback.
Thank You

BITS Pilani, Deemed to be University under Section 3 of UGC Act, 1956