Toyota Way Fieldbook (Part 4)

I need to catch up on some old blogging material. Way back in June, I began posting on the "continuous improvement spiral" from The Toyota Way Fieldbook. Here are the previous posts:

• Overview of the "continuous improvement spiral"
• Description of the "stabilize" phase
• Description of the "create flow" phase

Now, better late than never, is the continuation of the series. This one deals with the 3rd phase of the spiral, "standardize."

Before reading this chapter of the Fieldbook, I had a totally inaccurate perception of standard work. I thought that standard work was for the operator (the installer). I figured that we were supposed to create "job processes" and post them visually in the work area for the installers to use. These charts would essentially be reminders of how to perform the work. Wrong. According to the Fieldbook,

"At Toyota operations, standardized work faces out toward the aisle, where the operator cannot easily see it. It is for the benefit of the team leader and group leader who are responsible for auditing the standard work."

Well that's not what I expected. Turns out that standard work isn't some sort of training substitute for the installers. Training at Toyota is an in-depth process in its own right, and is completely separate from standard work. You can't expect an operator to know how to perform a process simply by looking at a visual. Skilled work requires skills, and skills only come through training and experience.

So, what is the purpose of standardized work? According to the author,

"Quite simply, standardized work and other work standards are the baseline for continuous improvement."

Only by having a starting point can we begin to improve. Standardization provides an official version of how the work should be done. The operator is supposed to find small ways to improve upon the official standard. Then, the improved process becomes the standard. Without standard work, any improvements will be lost as soon as the operator moves to a different position.

Standard work is also a problem-solving tool. If a process is not meeting its production targets or if quality is out of control, we can observe the process and compare it to the standard. This will tell us whether non-compliance is the problem or whether the standard itself needs improvement. Without standard work, the temptation is to immediately blame the person for not getting the job done correctly.

So, what exactly is standard work? Standardization occurs in many forms at Toyota. Examples of different types of standard work include:

• Work Standards: standards for quality, safety, environmental, etc. ("the right way to do things")
• Process Standards: technical information about the process (for us this would be related to our DAPIA or architectural prints)
• Standard Procedures: rules about how the production line should operate (allowed inventory levels, pace of production, agreements between upstream & downstream processes, etc.)

Standard work is fairly complex at Toyota. Initially, we won't be able to standardize our work to the same extent. From what I've seen, work happens sporadically in many different locations in our plants. Our construction methods vary from plant to plant, and from installer to installer. Standardization is minimal.

So, should we assign all of our Lean Advocates to developing job processes? I don't think so. I always go back to the continuous improvement spiral. Before you can create and standardize the work flow, you have to create stability. That's where we're at right now in our initiative. If we can create conditions that are conducive to consistent, reliable work flow, then we can begin to standardize and improve the work.

Toyota Way Fieldbook (Part 3)

In a previous post, I discussed the "continuous improvement spiral" from The Toyota Way Fieldbook, and went into the first step, "stability." In this post, I'll go into the second step, "create flow."

Once processes are stabilized through implementation of the 6S's and elimination of big wastes and obstacles (machinery breakdowns, employee problems, poor quality, disorganization, shortages, etc.), we can look at creating flow.

What is flow? Flow is the ideal of how an order should move from process A to process B. Flow is trying to avoid having an order stored in a rack (inventory), stopped for rework (defects), or delayed because of any of the other 7 wastes.

Why is flow a positive thing? When work flows across processes, orders get to the customer quicker and at lower cost. This is the most tangible result. Another deeper and more valuable reason to have process flow is that it brings problems to the surface. When there is no buffer between processes, any little problem has the potential to shut down the process and eventually the entire production line. This is a great motivator to identify problems and solve them before they bite you in the butt. There's a reason why Toyota refers to TPS as the Thinking Production System; you have to use your head to keep the line rolling.

How do you create flow? First, make sure that you've properly stabilized the processes that are to be linked. If the cycle times of the processes can't make Takt time, then they aren't ready for flow. If they're truly ready, then go about linking the processes together. When doing this, the rule is to "flow where you can, pull where you must." Aligning processes side-by-side in a cellular flow is the ideal, but if that's currently not feasible, install a pull system.

What is a pull system? A pull system is just an agreement on how a downstream process is to notify an upstream process of when they need more of something. Upstream only produces when signaled by downstream. Many variants of pull systems exist: supermarket pull (stock parts, use kanban to signal for replenishment), sequenced pull (pull from a sequenced feeder), and FIFO sequenced flow (just like flow, but with a small buffer). The key is to constantly reduce the buffers and ultimately approach one-piece flow.

Once processes are connected via one-piece flow and pull systems, problems will be surfaced. These problems must be addressed and eliminated through the use of problem-solving skills. When these problems are removed, the processes will be left in a much better condition. The newly improved processes will be more reliable, more efficient, and much flexible. With the extreme variety that we have in our product offering, these are all necessities.

Toyota Way Fieldbook (Part 2)

Previously, I described the "continuous improvement spiral" that I read about in The Toyota Way Fieldbook. The four steps involved with the spiral are: 1) stabilize, 2) create flow, 3) standardize, and 4) level incrementally. Now, I'll delve into the first step a little further.

Stabilizing a process means getting it ready for the rigors of flow. Instability can show up in many forms, including:

• machinery breakdowns ("the foam-seal machine frequently breaks down")


• employee problems ("we always have one guy out every day")


• poor quality ("we've always got one guy on the back line working off gigs")


• disorganization ("my air hose is usually over there, but somebody took it")


• shortages ("we always run out of the right color of formica")

Unstable processes are not ready to be challenged by flow, so the initial focus has to be on stabilizing a process. So, how do we do this? According to the Fieldbook, the first step is to "stand in the circle" and observe the work. From this, you should be able to define the basic steps of the process, record the cycle time for each step, and draw a picture of the work area and the movement of manpower/material within it. This type of analysis puts you in a good position to identify "no-brainer" improvements. Once this initial low-hanging fruit is plucked, you can use workplace organization (basic stuff) and 5S (a little more advanced), and other tools to further eliminate waste. Once multiple operations/processes are stabilized, then you can connect them together to create flow. Flow should not be attempted before processes are stabilized, because the risk of failure would be great.

Are your processes ready for flow?

Toyota Way Fieldbook (Part 1)

I'm reading The Toyota Way Fieldbook. I'm through a few chapters now, and the most interesting concept that I've come across is the "continuous improvement spiral" discussed in chapter 3. Basically, it's a pattern of improvement (described below) that gets repeated over and over again, each time taking you deeper into the spiral (click here for an example of a spiral, have fun). The repeating pattern consists of 4 steps:

1) Stabilize = get the process ready for the intensity of flow by eliminating any process breakdowns (5S is one step towards achieving stability)

2) Create flow = move away from isolated processes to connected/interdependent processes (creating "pull" relationships is one step towards achieving flow)

3) Standardize = document the new process so that it can be improved upon by others, use visuals where possible (not intended to be a how-to-guide for installers)

4) Level incrementally = force the weak link in the process chain to break by "tightening the belt" (increasing production levels, reducing WIP buffers, adding more variety to the product mix, etc.)

Each time you perform step 4, instability will be created (processes will not be able to keep up due to hidden problems) and a new turn into the spiral will be needed. The result of this self-inflicted misery is a Lean process with a lot more capacity and reliability. In future posts, I'll discuss other aspects of the "Lean spiral."