When we say “understand the current condition,” what do you do?
I know there are many thoughts on this. But the answer is the following.
Write the standardized work. Period.
In Japanese, we call this 【表準】, pronounced as “Omote-hyoujyun.” Such activity is called “Omote-ka【表化】.” We changed the first symbol of “standard” from 【標】 to 【表】. (What 【標】means is on this link.) This symbol, 【表】, means front. When this is used as a verb, it means to surface, appear, show, speak, express, and be visible. “Omote” also means public, which the Samurai government took place.
This “Omote-hyoujyun” is writing the three documents of the standardized work and the balance table.
1️⃣ Production capacity sheet
This document aims to highlight the bottleneck machine. If the bottleneck is the machine, we need to Kaizen it. The document also highlights the human and machine cycle times. First, we will challenge the human work side.
2️⃣ Standardzied combination table
This document highlights the impact of the combination of human and machine. It highlights the waiting caused by humans or machines, the relationship against the takt time.
3️⃣ Standardzied work chart
This document highlights the waste of large motions. It describes the movement of human work and the impacts of the layout. This is the document that we should post at the Genba.
4️⃣ Balance Table (Yamazumi-chart)
This document highlights the bottleneck process. Which process has the most fluctuation?
Perhaps the most important thing is breaking the perception that creating a “standard” takes time. Spend as much time as an engineer needs to create a perfect standard that we will never change. This perception is what we need to change. Instead, “standard” is subject to continuous improvement. This might be a “temporary” standard. The idea behind this “Omote-hyoujyun” is to make the four documents as fast as possible to understand the current condition.
The idea of making “Omote-hyoujyun” is common sense. For example, how would we improve the performance of a sports team? Are we going to look at the win-loss record of the last season? Are we going to look at some of the data? Yes, those things are necessary, but not sufficient. What is essential to understand is the play of every player.
At the end of a season, we always see some changes in the coaches. The new coach is the guy on the TV show discussing the team's weaknesses using data and graphics. Excellent analysis, and he is very popular. After this new guy's assignment, the media hype goes up. Sometimes, I forgot that we were in the last place for six consecutive seasons.
Then, the reality kicks in as the season opens. Nothing changed. What frustrates the fans is that we repeat the same mistakes. “Didn’t we see this problem last season?” And we repeat, and we repeat, and we repeat. It is a tradition of a professional baseball team in Japan.
Then, how can we improve? The best tools allow the player to self-reflect on the problems in the plays. Sometimes, practice in front of a mirror or use a video. Just simply seeing yourself reveals the truth. Sometimes, we practice mini-games to simulate how we should play as a team.
Standardized work has a self-reflection function. Writing on a piece of paper makes this reflection more apparent. Of course, we can’t work and write at the same time. Therefore, some have been observed, and others observe. Yet, such a position should be rotatable. The idea is to create a reflection and share that learning among the team. Once such a reflection is shared, Kaizen is easier to implement.
We should call creating this rough temporary “Omote-hyoujyun” and having a shared view of the reflections the "understanding of the current condition.” Please don’t just collect data and think we grasp the current condition like weak sports teams do.
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