Standard Work Template
for Process Analysis

Standard Work Combination Sheet

for Standardized Work Instructions and Process Analysis

Your Standard Work Template

is 10 tools in one

1. Standard Work Instructions
2. Time Observation
3. Layout diagram spaghetti map
4. Value Add analysis & pie chart
5. Operator Work Load Balancing & bar chart
6. Standard Work Analysis for both the Shift Cycle and Run Cycle
7. Standard Work Combination Sheet
8. Change Over setup reduction
9. TWI Job Breakdown for employee training
10. Standard Cost estimating (has its own training page)

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Why use your Standard Work template?

If you don't have standard work,

then all of your other continuous improvement efforts will be fruitless, because people will simply backslide into old habits.

If you don't truly understand your process on a deep level,

then how are you going to know your true costs?

your capacity? (for different levels of customer demand)

If you don't know how your process is (actually, really) being done now,

then how will you guess what to try next to improve?

How will you know whether your experiments make any difference?

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videos

Standard Work Videos

All of the training on this page is summarized in these videos.

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how

Instructions for how to use your

Standard Work Template

for time observation, standard work instructions, and process analysis

Before getting started

Your leaders should have already personalized your master template:

1. Header fields

   for document data personalized for your company

2. Shapes and icons

   for customized icons to communicate more visually

3. Dropdown lists unique to your company

   Most dropdown lists are defined on the DV sheet.

   There is one more dropdown list near the bottom of the StdWk sheet, where you can define 'Frequency' codes, such as "Every other batch", "Three times per shift", or any other frequencies for your steps.

   Do NOT edit anything about the first 3 pre-defined formulas in that list, for Run Cycle, Batch Cycle, and Shift Cycle.

Complete the New User Training

so that you know how to use features that are common to every Systems2win template.

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defaults

Start entering...

Initial data for your

Standard Work Sheet

Start with this training video

Find and open your Standard Work template

Find and open your StdWork.xlsx template
in the same way that you find and open your other 150+ Systems2win templates.

If English is not your preferred language

Switch to your language, just like every Systems2win Excel template.

Review the Excel Tips

 

Define your Default Units of Measure and Data

Do not skip this step!!!

How can any math be correct
until you have defined your units of measure, work time available, and other defaults?

In the 'Instructions' section of the 'Help' sheet,

Defaults that you define on the 'StdWk' sheet

All other defaults are defined in the pink cells near the bottom of the 'StdWk' sheet

Unit of Measure for Work Time Available

Usually, you will use your Standard Work Template to analyze a 'Shift'.

You can, however, choose any other desired unit of measure for Work Time Available
(such as Day, Week, Batch, Periodic Lean Office Process Cycle...)

All the math still works, as long as you use the same unit of measure for 'Demand'.
(such as Demand/Day, Demand/Week, Demand/Batch, Demand/Weekly Lean Office Process Cycle...)

Unit of Measure - Demand

The unit of measure for both demand and production.

What is being delivered to the customer?

Demand per Work Time Available

How many units need to be produced during the Work Time Available?

Takt Time

Takt Time gets calculated automatically

(and uses the 'Cycle Time Unit of Measure' that was the very first thing that you entered in Step 1 above)

Personal Fatigue and Delay

Quantity per Run Cycle

If you make 1 unit per Run Cycle, then simply hide this row.

If your machine makes multiple units per Run Cycle, you will really appreciate this field.

Tip: If 1 machine makes 12 units at one pace,
and another older machine simultaneously makes the same units at a slower pace...
then use comments and/or the Custom Formula Zone to explain,"How did you come up with that number?"

Fill in the headers at the top of the page

Usually, you simply fill in data for the header fields at the top of the page.

If you want to personalize any of the default headings,
(for just your working document, not the master template, which is edited by your leaders)
then you can easily do that the same way as any other Systems2win template. Learn how

Optional: User-Defined Section

If you unhide the User-Defined section,
then those rows will also appear on the chart sheet when you select 'Systems2win menu > Chart Operators'

And, yes, of course, the Systems2win Personalization Upgrade Utility will automatically find and transfer your entire User-Defined Section to your new master template each time that you upgrade in the future.

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observe

Hide unused columns

In this section your Standard Work template, simply hide unused columns.

In this section of your Standard Work template, simply hide unused columns.

You will usually be doing one or the other: Time Observations or Estimating.
Hide the columns you're not using at the moment.

You will usually hide the section for Estimating

Estimating Standard Work times and costs
is an advanced tool for a mature lean process.

If you have not already gone to the gemba and observed this process many, many times,
then simply hide all of the columns for the Estimating section.

Once your organization (and this process) have reach a high level of maturity,
then standard work estimating may prove extremely useful.

You will usually hide the Video section

Video time observation usually makes most sense for a very long process.

You will observe most processes using a stopwatch or a hand-held device,
so simply hide the columns for the Video section.

Hide unused Time Observation columns

There are columns for up to 10 time observations.

If you are only planning to do 6 observations (as shown in the example above),

then hide the unused columns, so that your form is uncluttered,
and easy to use for the way you plan to use it.

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Go to the gemba, and observe your...

Standard Work Time Observations

Optional: Define your Operators

Enter the Operator Number

Observe Operator Process Time

Option 1) Use a stopwatch

For any row, you can enter as many as 10 time observations.

Tip: Like any Systems2win Excel template, simply hide unused columns

You can either:

1. Enter your time observations directly into your Standard Work template, or...
2. Use a printed Time Observation Worksheet

and then transcribe your pencil & paper time observations into your Standard Work template

Option 2) Import from a hand-held device

1. Export to a temporary Excel file (or CSV, or tab delimited text...)
2. Open that temporary file in Excel, then copy & paste your time observations

Use Paste Special > Values

Time observations only. Let your Systems2win template do the calculations.

Option 3) Use video time observation

When recording your video,

turn on the feature in your camera to display time (in seconds).

Enter the 'Start' time.

See the 'Sample' sheet for an example of the format that time data must be entered into Excel

When observing your video,

pause at each break between Work Elements, and record the 'End' time.

It automatically calculates the duration since the last 'End' time.

If your observation gets interrupted, simply enter a new 'Start' time.

If you Link to your video

Use an icon in the 'Links' column to link to (and automatically launch) your video
which is stored somewhere else on your network.

DO NOT embed a video within an Excel file, or your file size will be enormous.

To print the Time Observations section

Select Systems2win menu > Print Area 3

And you can change the Print Orientation for any of the 3 Print Areas (to choose between Portrait and Landscape) by using the dropdown lists found to the right of the Pictures and Charts section.

Choose which type of time to use for your analysis

In the pink cell just above the 'Time' column header, use the drop down list to select either:

frequency

Enter Frequency Codes

advanced1

Time Observation: Special Situations

External Operators

What is an External Operator?

Anyone who performs a Step, but is not an Operator 100% dedicated to this process.

Perhaps the supervisor, an inspector, materials handler...

For Steps performed by an External Operator, enter the number '-1' (minus 1) in the 'Op' column
(and notice that the cell is specially formatted so that -1 will then visually appear as 'X')

Machines

If any machine time is greater than Takt Time

(or too close for comfort)

Use your Machine Balancing template.

If you still have a problem, you will either:

Option 1) Divide the work between 2 work centers

Each with its own operator(s), and its own machine(s)

If each handles half of Demand,
then Takt Time becomes doubled for each.

Option 2) Have a single operator (or team) operate two machines

If both machines are identical, then double the 'Quantity Per Run Cycle'

If machines are different, use Comments or the Custom Formula Zone
to explain the number that you entered for 'Quantity Per Run Cycle'

Notice how changing 'Quantity Per Run Cycle'
does not change Takt Time,
but dramatically changes 'Takt Time Per Run Cycle'.

If you have one operator (or team)
running multiple machines

Remember: For Standard Work Analysis purposes, Machine Time is relevant only to the extent that it affects the Operator.

and then with either of these alternatives, use comments to explain Machine Time.

If you have multiple operators performing every step

(perhaps following each other in a circle through a U-shaped work cell)

Don't duplicate the Steps for each Operator.

Just show the Steps for Operator 1, and then make a note in Comments to explain that this process is scalable by simply assigning more operators. (Up to what maximum?)

And then manually override 'Workers - Actual'

In the small cell to the left of that row header, enter your override number.

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instructions

Document your...

Standard Work Instructions

Rule: Most Steps should have (only) 1 row

The general rule:

One row per Work Element

How to provide more details without breaking the rule

Enter Comments and Key Points

Key Points

Long Instructions

Optional ways to provide long instructions:

1. Refer to the Comments text box (on the 'StdWk' page)
2. Use Cell Comments (that can only be viewed in Excel, not PDF or paper)
3. Link to a related document (see instructions below)
4. Refer to a Job Breakdown Sheet (another sheet in this same workbook)

Optional — Refer to a Job Breakdown Sheet

Perhaps the most popular way to provide your users with long instructions,
is to refer them to a Job Breakdown Sheet.

A Work Element that has only one short row on the StdWk sheet might have dozens of rows of details in its own Job Breakdown Sheet.

What is a Job Breakdown Sheet?

A Job Breakdown Sheet is a very popular way to provide "Instructor Notes" with sufficient detail to train a new-hire or a vacation replacement how to do a job well enough to prevent substantial loss of quality or productivity.

Only one Work Element per Job Breakdown Sheet

But you can have unlimited Job Breakdown sheets in a single Standard Work workbook.

Name your Job Breakdown sheets to obviously correspond with your Work Elements.

Examples: "Deburr", "Get tools", or "6" for Step 6.

To open a new Job Breakdown Sheet,
(a new worksheet within your same Standard Work workbook)

select 'Systems2win menu > Open a Blank Sheet'

And then in the dropdown list in the 'Links and Icons' column, select ▼JB

which turns the cell background color purple,
and serves as a visual signal to your users to go look for the Job Breakdown sheet

(see image in the next section for Links to related documents)

For training to use a Job Breakdown sheet —

See the online training for your Job Breakdown Sheet template,

and also see the Sample and Help sheets in your JobBreakdown.xlsx template.

Optional — Links to related documents

In the 'Icons and Links' column,

you can also use the dropdown list to let the user know the 'Types of Related Documents' that they can drill down to

Tip: You can define your own dropdown list

of the types of documents that your users might drill down to

Tip: to minimize the risk of breaking hyperlinks between related documents,

you will ideally store most related documents in the same folder with your Standard Work document —
as explained in our training for Document Storage and Naming Conventions.

Optional — Icons

Optional — Pictures

As we have re-iterated several times...

Standard Work Instructions are not intended to provide a level of detail sufficient to train a new-hire or vacation replacement.

There are situations, however, when a picture can be very helpful
to supplement the words of your Standard Work Instructions.

You can use everything you know about Excel to include:

1. Pictures (Insert > Pictures)
2. Shapes (Insert > Shapes)
3. Text Labels (Insert > Text Box)
4. Pre-defined Charts (Drag them or copy them)
5. User-defined Charts (Any kind of chart. It's Excel.)

To print the 'Pictures and Charts' section, select 'Systems2win menu > Print Area 2'

Optional — Layout Diagram

The most popular 'picture' is a Layout Diagram.

Your Systems2win Standard Work Template
provides two convenient ways to draw a Layout Diagram:

1. Draw on the 'Layout' sheet, then use Copy As Picture
   to paste your Layout Diagram to your 'StdWk' sheet
2. Draw your Layout Diagram right there
   in the 'Pictures and Charts' section of your StdWk sheet

Advantages of Option 1:

1. Your picture won't distort if you hide, unhide, move, add, or delete rows.
2. You can easily resize the picture to zoom in on details
3. The grid makes it easy to draw precise dimensions.

steps

Enter Step Numbers (Last)

Wait to enter Step numbers —
until after all Time Observations are completed

Wait to enter Sub-step numbers (if any) —
until all details for your Work Instructions have been fleshed out

Optional ways to do Step numbering

1. If Step numbers won't change
   even if you rearrange Work Elements
   (perhaps for different customer demand scenarios)
   then your Step numbers can keep increasing even as the Operators change
   (as shown in the example on the 'Sample' page of your template)
2. If Step numbers might change
   when you rearrange Work Elements
   (perhaps because Operators need to work together to complete some tasks)
   then you can start a new sequence of Step numbers for each Operator
   (and those Step numbers will be different for each workbook that you create for each demand scenario)

Only Work Elements performed every Run Cycle get a Step number

Sub-steps

Optional ways to use the # field

1. Work Sequence — for sub-steps (and Walk and Wait)
2. Work Station — the physical place where work is performed
3. Leave it blank — (hide the unused column)
   

External Steps

Steps performed by an External Operator don't get either a Step or Sub-step number.

Steps performed by an internal Operator, but with a Frequency other than blank or Run usually don't have a Step or Sub-step number.

Remember, all 'Run Cycle' steps performed by each Operator need to be grouped together in order for the Standard Work Combination Chart to work correctly.

Therefore, any Out of Cycle Work steps performed by an Operator need to be listed either before or after the entire sequence of 'Run' steps for that operator — even if some of those steps happen somewhere in the middle of the Run cycle (on the occasional frequency cycle that they happen).

For this reason, it is usually best not to assign Step or Sub-step numbers to any step that has a Frequency other than the Run Cycle.

Having said that, however, it is your tool to use any way that works best for YOUR unique process.

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analysis

Process Analysis

 

Operator Work Load Balancing

Perhaps also use your Yamazumi Board

Value Add Analysis

In the Value Add ('VA') column,
use the dropdown list to choose the most appropriate code for each Work Element.

For unlimited user-defined types of waste

you can optionally Filter for your own user-defined 'Cat' codes

Optional —
Category Filters & User-Defined Columns

allowing you to use everything you know about familiar Microsoft Excel
to personalize your template to include any and all standard work analysis that is important to you

 

Process Analysis

for a Shift Cycle or a Batch Cycle

Purpose

Takt Time

Your planning drumbeat.

How often completed units NEED to come out the end of the pipe — as established by customer demand.

Takt Time = Work Time Available divided by Demand

Smallest Possible Staff

Smallest Possible Staff =
Process Time/Unit divided by Takt Time

Workers - Actual

This formula auto-populates with the Total Number of Operators.

If you want to override that default number...
(perhaps because an operator divides their time between this process and some other responsibilities?)

then don't overwrite the formula

Instead, enter your override value in the small cell to the left of the row header.

Process Time per Worker

Process Time per Worker cannot be greater than Takt Time, and therefore...

Process Time per Worker will turn bold italic red if greater than or equal to
Takt Time * the % that you enter in the 'Process Time Andon' field
(just to the left of the row header)

The number that you enter for 'Process Time Andon' should usually be 85-100%

Utilization %

Utilization = ((Process Time/Worker) * Demand) / Time Available

Utilization too close to 100% might require countermeasures to meet your schedule, and therefore...

This number will turn bold italic red if greater than or equal to
the % that you enter in the 'Utilization Andon' field
(just to the left of the row header)

The number that you enter for 'Utilization Andon' should usually be 80-100%

run

Standard Work Run Cycle Analysis

Purpose

The purpose of the next section is to analyze only those Work Elements that happen EVERY Run Cycle

stripping out the 'Out of Cycle Work' elements that have any other Frequency

(for example: shift changeover setup, inspection twice a shift, maintenance every other batch...)

The most popular reason for doing Run Cycle Analysis

is for SMED Quick Changeover Setup Reduction

which has its own training page

Process Time - Run Cycle

Batch Size

Quantity Per Run Cycle

'Quantity/Run Cycle' is also a pink double-border field (where you entered your initial default data).

If your process makes 1 unit at a time, then simply enter '1' in this field, and hide this row.

If you have any processes that involve machines that make more than 1 unit at a time,
then you will truly appreciate this field.

Takt Time per Run Cycle

Takt Time per Run Cycle = (Run Time Available / Demand) * Quantity per Run Cycle

Takt Time is your planning drumbeat.
How often completed Run Cycle batches NEED to come out the end of the pipe.

In layman's terms, 'Takt time per Run Cycle' is Takt Time adjusted for:

1) Adjusted for 'Out of Cycle Work'

Things that happen on any frequency other that 'Run Cycle'
will reduce 'Work Time Available' for the Run Cycle

2) Adjusted for 'Quantity per Run Cycle'

If your machine stamps out 10 units every Run Cycle,
you've got 10 times as much time available per Run Cycle.

Target Cycle Time

'Target Cycle Time' Is usually equal to 'Takt Time per Run Cycle',
but you can also manually adjust it for other factors of Sales & Operations Planning.

Use Comments &/or the Custom Formula Zone to explain any manual adjustments.

See Lean Glossary to learn more about the many types of Time used in lean process analysis.

sheet

Standard Work Combination Sheet

To chart the Run Cycle for your "As Is" process...

Do all of your editing on the 'StdWk' sheet

When you select 'Systems2win menu > Chart Operators',
the new chart sheet will have the same name as the originating sheet — appended with "-C".

Any editing that you do on a Combination Table (-C) sheet
will be overwritten the next time that a combination sheet is generated.

Tip: To avoid overwriting a standard work chart sheet,
you can rename it before generating a new chart sheet.

Sample Standard Work Combination Sheet Example

Things to know about your

Standard Work Combination Sheet

To precisely align the chart with corresponding rows

watch the video, and to learn more, you can also see chart training.

External Steps

External Operator:

A step performed by someone other than
one of the Operators dedicated to this process.

Operator Number is entered as 'minus 1' (-1),
which then appears as 'X'.

In the illustration above... row 15 is an example of a step performed by an External Operator.

External Operators and External Steps show up on the Chart sheet as rows, but their data is excluded.

Why? Because your Standard Work Combination Chart is used for 'Run Cycle Analysis'.

In other words, it analyzes only those things that happen EVERY run cycle.

Once you understand this, you will appreciate how useful this tool can be
for SMED Quick Changeover Setup Reduction.

For example, you might do "what if" analysis...
What if we did a kaizen event to do this step as part of setup, rather than in the middle of the run cycle?

Keep External Operators and External Steps separated from Run Cycle Steps

Your chart requires all Run Cycle Steps per Operator to be grouped together.

External steps performed by an operator can be listed before and/or after that operator's Run steps.

long

Your Standard Work Combination Chart can display 2 to 500 rows of work instructions

(200 rows on older versions)

For very long processes with more rows, you have several options:

1. Don't use chart sheets

   The StdWk sheet can handle unlimited rows. Only chart sheets have limited rows.

2. Chart Selected Operators

   Perhaps 1 chart sheet per Operator.
   Or perhaps split into 2 chart sheets for the first and second half of the very long process.

3. Split some sub-processes off into their own Standard Work Instructions workbook or worksheet

   and then use Link Icons to quickly drill down to the related documents

   and Link Cells to automatically roll up data from the related documents

If you have several StdWk sheets in one workbook…

Because the file size can get unwieldy, we usually recommend having only one 'StdWk' sheet per workbook,
but you do have the ability to make one or more copies of your 'StdWk' sheet in the same workbook.

When copying the StdWk sheet, be sure to use the special Systems2win Copy Sheet utility:
Systems2win menu > Copy Sheet

LayoutGroup

How to copy a group of pictures from the Analysis sheet to the '-C' sheet

If you want a group of pictures to be automatically copied to the Standard Work Combination Sheet
when you select 'Systems2win menu > Chart Operators', then here's how to do it...

Test: Save your document, (so that you can return to the current state if needed),

then select 'Systems2win menu > Chart All Operators'

Your grouped shapes should appear in the lower right corner of the '-C' sheet,
next to the 'Work Instructions Comments' text box.

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improve

Standard Work Process Improvement

Ponder, think, reflect (hansei)

Establish systems for YOUR lean culture

If the proposed method proves to be better,

you need teachable, repeatable lean management systems to teach the new better way to all other workers and to audit to ensure that everyone is actually doing things the agreed-upon best way.

Coach your people to communicate suggestions and ideas

The document Author is the only one authorized and responsible to edit the document.

Everyone else suggests ideas that are then accepted, rejected, or revised by the Author.

See online training for how to communicate with the document Author.

Use the Ideas text box

The 'Process Improvement Ideas' text box is located below the Print Area,

because you don't want to commingle ideas for possible future improvements
with your (perhaps ISO 9000 controlled) current best practice standard work instructions.

Use Clouds and Bursts

Stabilize the process

A process is stable when

it is capable of safely producing a consistent output
that meets current customer demand on schedule, with consistent quality

If the results of your analysis reveal that your process is not stable
(another way of saying 'not stable' is 'out of control')

then... your number one priority is obvious and urgent...

Do whatever it takes to get your process under control

Learn more about how to stabilize your process.

Make Flow Visible

Using everything you know about lean visual management systems,
come up with creative ways to make flow visible.

Ensure that your process has a visual observation station that passes the Lean Transformation Acid Test:

Acid Test for Visibility of Flow

Invite someone unfamiliar with the work area
to stand at the clearly-marked Process Observation Point,

ideally with no further instruction, but perhaps with a brief explanation for:

1) how to read your at-a-glance visual control chart that makes heijunka flow visible for this process

2) how often it is updated — which usually coincides with your Pitch Pulse Cycle

(which is measured in hours; not days)

and then ask...

Re-Balance Operator Loads

For your revised, proposed 'To Be' condition...

assign each Work Element to an Operator,
ensuring that no Operator has a work load that exceeds Target Cycle Time.

Reduce Change Over Setup Times

(which makes this an extremely powerful tool for SMED Quick Change Over Setup Reduction)

Use the Revision Log

Whenever you make a change to a workbook that has a Revision Log:

1. Make an entry in the 'RevLog' sheet.
2. Save an archive copy of all old versions of your document —
   following your company's Document Storage and Naming conventions.

Keep all related documents in sync

ALL documentation needs to be kept in sync:

These Standard Work Instructions, as well as any other process documentation and training documents such as Work Instructions, TWI Job Instructions, Layout Diagram, Standard Operating Procedures, training videos, visual work aids, etc.

Publish your Standardized Work Instructions

The whole point of analyzing and documenting Standard Work
is to change the way your people actually do their jobs in everyday real life.

Post your printed Work Instructions as near as possible to the place where the work gets performed.

Ideally where the worker can easily refer to it while doing the work.

Train your people to do things the new way

Use your Lean Management Systems

Every aspect of any lean production system should also be supported by
a corresponding Lean Management System, often including Leader Standard Work.

Perform Standard Work Audits

Train & manage your supervisors to perform regular Standard Work Audits

using your Standard Work Audit template, 5S Audit template, Lean Assessment template...

It is one thing to thoroughly analyze and re-design a process on paper,
and it is another thing to ensure that things are actually being done as prescribed in the Standard Work Instructions.

Standard Work Audits also provide a systematic way to solicit and notice your worker's ideas for "doing things even better and faster",
and then formally incorporate those better ways into the Standard Work Instructions.

socialize

Socialize your results

And the documents you created using your Systems2win templates are impressive, legible, and shareable.

Unlike the poorly-lit snap shots of hard-to-read pencil drawings
distributed by some of your peers that might be competing with you for your next desired career move, your deliverables are representative of the professional that you are.

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Standard Work template

with many other (simpler) Lean Tools

 

 

to empower every team member

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