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You don’t have to read too many books on Lean manufacturing before you come across the indisputable fact that standard work is at the core of your lean transformation. My two favorite quotes from my two favorite people are:

I believe it’s fair to say those two knew what they were talking about when it came to manufacturing.

If you run any sort of manufacturing operation you already know your biggest expense is your people. And we have all heard that people are also our greatest asset. So why then do almost all of us put so little effort into setting them up for success?

Here are the top three reasons you need to stop putting off standard work until tomorrow.

1. Training. We spend more time and money on training than any of us would want to actually calculate. The time between someone starting a job at our factories until the time they are actually useful AKA: making money for the company, is much, much longer than we probably think. How valuable would it be to cut that time in half. Whether it’s something as simple as turning on the compressor, setting up a machine, where to put away tools or how to clean the bathroom. The real superpower here is that when you train to a standard, everyone gets the same training. No steps skipped, and the next day when the new guy forgets what you told them, they don’t have to bug you asking questions, they can refer back to the standard. Clear work instructions will elevate everyone in the building. Less questions, less interruptions, more value-added work.
2. Defects. You may or may not know the exact cost of defects happening in your factory. But one thing I can say with absolute certainty: it’s your single biggest waste of money. Just so happens I know how much we spend on defects, we track every single one. Last year my company spent $500,000 on defective work. Just typing that makes me sick to my stomach. Let me show you how we calculate the cost of a defect, and how each mistake is actually 3x more expensive than we initially think.
   1. you make the bad part.
   2. you remake that part
   3. If the part you were remaking was right in the first place, you would be making a saleable part.

So for every defective part we make, we take the cost of that part and multiply it by 3. This can be mitigated by creating standards wherever you can. I can hear it now "we’re custom, we can’t create standard work," to that I say malarkey! You may not be able to create a standard for every process, but the vast majority of them will be no problem. Stop saying that immediately, soon your people will believe it too. 

Problem solving. Despite the first two points being unbelievably important, problem solving may actually rise to the top when it comes to answering the question "why do we need standard work?" You only have to be in manufacturing for about 15 minutes before you realize that the only thing you will never run out of is problems! And 99% of them arise because there is no standard in place. Without a standard to review you end up with a group of people standing around a problem asking, "what happened?" According to Dale Carnegie in "How to Win Friends and Influence People" no human being on earth will self-condemn. This loosely translates into, people will have a very hard time admitting they did something wrong and will likely go to great lengths to cover it up. But when there is a standard, you only have two options and one question. The question is: was the standard followed? If they say "no," well problem solved, please follow the standard. If they say "yes," then you simply repeat the process according to the standard, when the defect appears again, you know exactly where in the process and how. Very easy to solve at that point, simply update the SOP and everyone goes back to work. The word "problem" also has a negative connotation, but a problem can be a good thing. And the word can quickly be converted to "Improvement." If you need to increase throughput, make something simpler, or improve quality. Having the ability to examine a standard for opportunities comes in handy. We want to encourage all employees to challenge the standard, not all experiments will work, but when they do, update them and the whole organization benefits from the good idea!

One last pro tip when creating your SOPs. Remember: No one reads anymore. So, you want these elements in every SOP.

• Big Pictures
• Brief description
• A video linked to a QR code

You are now empowered to get on the path of making good standards, supporting your people, solving problems, and making improvements!

If you need any help along the way, that’s what we’re here for. If you really like the problem-solving poster in this column, we will happily send you the artwork. Just text "SOP" to (226) 971-2144 with your name, company name and E-mail address. And we will send it right over.