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New Horizons in
Standardized Work
Business Process Improvement
© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

New Horizons in
Standardized Work
Business Process Improvement
Timothy D. Martin & Jeffrey T. Bell

Productivity Press
Taylor & Francis Group
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New York, NY 10016
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Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data
Martin, Timothy D.
New horizons in standardized work : techniques for manufacturing and business process
Improvement / Timothy D. Martin and Jeffrey T. Bell.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4398-4080-1
1. Workflow. 2. Standardization. 3. Production standards. I. Bell, Jeffrey T. II. Title.
HD62.17.M37 2011
658.5’3--dc22 2010028757
Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at

http://www.taylorandfrancis.com
and the Productivity Press Web site at
http://www.productivitypress.com

Contents
Foreword.......................................................................................... vii
Preface............................................................................................... ix
Acknowledgments........................................................................... xiii
1 What Is Standardized Work?........................................................1
A Foundation Based on Stability.................................................................3
The Best Method at the Moment.................................................................5
A Basis for Improvement.............................................................................6
How Do We Get Standardized Work?.........................................................7
The Required Components for Standardized Work....................................8
Types of Standardized Work.....................................................................11
2 Observation................................................................................15
Making Observations and Formulating New Questions..........................19
How to Break Down Element Observations for Standardized Work......20
Establishing Work-Element Standards and Graphical Notations..............23
Methods for Work-Element Data...............................................................25
Evaluation of the Data...............................................................................27
The Importance of Observing the True Situation....................................29
Learning to See Below the Surface...........................................................30
3 Cyclic Standardized Work...........................................................33
Work-Component Types............................................................................34
The Effects of Variation.............................................................................36
How to Document Standardized Work: The Standardized Work Chart....37
Tools for Standardized Work: The Work-Combination Table...................46
The Importance of Geographic Relationship............................................51
Making the Problems Visible.....................................................................52

vi ◾ Contents
4 Long-Cycle Standardized Work...................................................55

Applying Standardized Work Principles to Long-Cycle Applications.......56
The Concept of Parallel Work Steps.........................................................58
Other Cyclic Standardized Work Issues....................................................59
The Concept of Takt..................................................................................60
Looking for Other Ways to Express the Concept of Takt........................61
5 Job Design for the Worker: Understanding the Levels of
Interfacing..................................................................................65
Decoupling—When Is Protection from Interruption Needed?.................66
Protection Expressed by Units of Time..................................................... 67
Effects of Coupled Jobs.............................................................................70
Using the Interface Levels for Design of Good Standardized Work........72
Striking a Balance: Man and Machine......................................................78
Some New Rules and Some New Tools....................................................89
6 Noncyclic Standardized Work.....................................................95
Parallel Work Steps or Tasks on Demand.................................................96
Workers on Patrol......................................................................................97
Merging Takt Time and the Work Period.................................................99
Assisting the Worker: Standardized Work Drives Equipment Needs..... 101
Assisting the Worker: Tools for Complex or Infrequent Tasks...............103
Applying Standardized Work to Transactional Processes....................... 107
In Summary.............................................................................................. 111
Appendix A: Philosophy for Auditing Standardized Work............. 115
Cyclic Standardized Work........................................................................ 116
Noncyclic and Long-Cycle Standardized Work....................................... 118
Appendix B: Documenting Common Issues and Problems
with a WCT......................................................................................121
Summary of the Guidelines.....................................................................127
Examples of Work-Combination Table Issues.........................................128
Appendix C: Taking Measurements with a Stopwatch....................139
Appendix D: Workplace Mock-Ups and Simulation Philosophy...... 145
Appendix E: A Little More on the Kaizen Attitude......................... 151
References....................................................................................... 157
Index............................................................................................... 159

Foreword
The statement, “Without Standards, there can be no improvements,” is one

that I became well aware of during my tenure at Toyota. During my time
as a manager in the assembly plant at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing
Kentucky facility, I became very reliant on standard work to not only effec-
tively produce cars, but to continually improve the process that we used to
produce those cars.
A common misconception about standardized work is that it is only for
the person doing the standardized work. The person that does the standard-
ized work every day knows standardized work. Standardized work is for
management. Standardized work allows the management of an organization
to verify that the process is being done correctly and provides opportuni-
ties for improving the process. Standardized work is vital to the continuous
improvement efforts in a Lean Enterprise System.
In this book, Tim and Jeff walk you through a methodology that they
have developed to effectively create and develop standardized work. You
will find as you read this book that to effectively create standardized work,
you will have to go to the floor and “sweat the details” of your process. If
(and I do mean If) you are dedicated to creating good standardized work,
you will certainly gain detailed knowledge of your processes, which is a
knowledge that most of us have not had in the past.
Process knowledge in many organizations is held by a select number of
people who are involved in the process, and each of them likely has a little
different bit of knowledge. In other words, valuable process knowledge is
only provided on a “need to know” basis. When process knowledge is held
in this manner, improving the process and removing waste is very difficult,
because knowledge is hard to gain and there is no true standard to improve.
By going through the process of creating standardized work that Tim
and Jeff have outlined in this book, you can go from having process knowl-
edge that is only held by the two or three people, to being able to post the
vii

viii ◾ Foreword
correct standard work for doing the work every day. When a facility has this
type of standard work, they are equipped with a necessary variable to con-
tinually improve their Lean Enterprise System.
There can be no doubt that standardized work is a base for a solid Lean
Enterprise System. To continually improve your operating systems, there has
to be a base to begin, and standardized work is that base.
I sincerely wish you the best on your Lean journey.
Best wishes,
Rick Harris
President, Harris Lean Systems

Preface
Why write a book just on standardized work? My main reason for writing
this book is to share what my coauthor and I have learned and observed
in an effort to help others. You may not agree with the approach taken, but
please bear with us, as this is how we have come to understand standard-
ized work and thus must convey the points we feel are significant in a way
that we feel most comfortable with. There are also several appendices where
we have tried to provide some additional information in order to offer more
support for certain issues that will arise as you expand your thinking about
standardized work. We hope that you find them helpful as well.
One of the main points that we hope to make with this work is that it is
imperative that you have a solid understanding of standardized work from a
cyclic perspective before you try to adapt it to other applications. The reason
for this is that understanding the fundamentals, which are derived from the
application of standardized work to simple cyclic work situations, is the key
to adapting them to other, sometimes very different, situations. Once this
firm understanding is established, it can be used as the anchor point or foun-
dational basis for applying standardized work to other work situations that
may never have seemed possible before. Examples include health care, con-
struction, business processes, and even food services. We have used a lot of
examples that are based on manufacturing, but it is only because this appli-
cation is so prevalent and is the basis of the origin of standardized work as
we know it today. In other words, if you have a solid understanding of stan-
dardized work principles and the thinking behind their development, you
can successfully extend and adapt them to totally different work situations
and take standardized work into other areas: It is not just for manufacturing!
My journey to try and understand standardized work began many years
ago. The company I was working for at the time was in the process of try-
ing to implement “Lean” manufacturing. It was quite a large corporation, and
throughout the company they utilized outside consultants to try and teach us
ix

x ◾ Preface
about this philosophy and how to adapt it to our businesses. I was working
in manufacturing engineering and had been struggling with how we could
be more competitive with all the foreign companies causing great pressure for
us to compete or get out of the market. I was very interested in Dr. Goldratt’s
Theory of Constraints (TOC) and spent a considerable amount of time and
effort, both at work and at home, learning and reading all that I could find on
the subject and applying the principles to our manufacturing operations.
We were having good results (at least they were very promising), and we
were expanding our implementation in the manufacturing area where I was
assigned. About this time was when I was first exposed to the concepts of
Lean. Because I was somewhat of a proactive maverick (many of my col-
leagues over the years might use much more colorful descriptions), I was
transferred to a department where manufacturing engineering was going to
adapt Lean into the process where we designed production systems for new
projects around the world. The idea was to try and develop a Lean system
before the equipment was ever purchased so that we could place Lean sys-
tems into production from the start. At this point, I should mention that the
company was linked to the automotive industry, and the products tended to
be complex, high volume, and very unique, making this activity very impor-
tant, since the capital equipment costs for our industry were substantial.
I was eventually assigned the responsibility to help our teams integrate
Lean into the production equipment. After several years trying to cham-
pion this idea with limited success, I was fortunate enough to gain learning
opportunities from some very knowledgeable sources. One of my earliest
and best teachers was Rick Harris. Rick had a very unique background: Not
only had he worked for Toyota for many years, he had actually worked in
our industry prior to working for Toyota and therefore could see both sides
of the problems we were facing. I learned a great deal while working with
Rick and attribute my passion for the subject to his great coaching style and
infinite patience. Rick showed me that although we were not Toyota, and
never would be, we could still learn why they did the things the way they
did in the Toyota Production System (TPS) and adapt them to our business.
This is in contrast to the approach that many companies seemed to be tak-
ing at the time, which was: Imitate Toyota and hope to receive the same
results. With Rick’s help, I was able to begin looking at things from a vastly
different perspective, and this is when my journey truly began. I worked
with and learned from Rick for several years.
As time passed, and I learned more through various projects, I eventu-
ally had the opportunity to work on a product for Toyota. This was probably

Preface ◾ xi
the defining point in my journey to learn Lean. At this point I had origi-
nally intended to express my appreciation to several of my friends at Toyota
because I had learned so much from them. However, upon reflection, I
decided it was best just to express my appreciation to Toyota for their will-
ingness to share freely with the world what they have learned and devel-
oped over the years in their relentless pursuit to eliminate waste.
Finally, back to why we are writing this book. We cannot “tell” you how
to learn about standardized work. We can only try to share with you what
we have learned and hope that as you try to apply the philosophy and prin-
ciples on the shop floor or in the office or other place of business (wherever
the real work happens), you will learn by doing. However, as we have
adapted TPS thinking to other business processes, it has opened new doors
as to how to apply the concepts that TPS is based upon. We do not claim to
have all the answers, and we continue to learn with every opportunity. But
we have heard so many people say that these concepts cannot work in their
industry or with their processes—especially for standardized work, one of
the foundations of the TPS house—that we just had to try to find a way to
share what we have learned. Hopefully you will find this book helpful in
your journey.
Timothy D. Martin
I have been very fortunate as well with the people that I have met in my
journey learning about and implementing standardized work. I have had
a number of opportunities to work with Rick Harris, both as an industrial
engineer and as an industrial engineering supervisor. Rick was consulting
with our company in various forms, both in current production and what we
call “pre-production.” Having trained and worked in industry as a “classical”
industrial engineer for 25+ years, I began to really “see” the problems with
Rick’s help. In the early stages, we looked at the high level through value-
stream mapping. This gave me a better insight into understanding human,
machine, and material interactions from a “why” perspective. He further
enhanced my ability to “see” at the detailed level or standardized work level
of human, machine, and material. Rick had really helped us with the effec-
tive use of workplace mock-ups for both the production and pre-production
settings to help troubleshoot problems and train individuals about standard-
ized work. Many thanks to Rick for his patience and insight into tackling
large company structures.

xii ◾ Preface
I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my coauthor, Tim

Martin. He has been a great colleague, teacher, and friend in many different
ways. He helped me bring out the preconceived notions and bias that I had
about standardized work. Without Tim, this book would not have even been
a dream.
Tim and I have spent several hundred hours over the years between
ourselves and our colleagues in the discussion, agreement, and debate about
standardized work. I, like Tim, truly hope that this book will help you to
learn how to see the real issues in the workplace and how standardized
work can help you be successful in your endeavors. Oh, and hopefully you
will have some fun at the same time.
Jeffrey T. Bell

Acknowledgments
We would also like to say a very special thank you to several friends and
family members whose support, suggestions, and feedback were essential
in the completion of this project. Without them this book would never have
been a reality.
Carla Martin Professor Henry Kraebber

Amber Jordan Rick Harris
Mike Reprogle Chris Harris
Harold Redlin Professor James Barany
Trevor Harris Jimmy Martin
George Bell Margene Martin
Marjorie Bell Kimberly Martin
Brian Summerton
xiii

Chapter 1
What Is Standardized Work?
Before jumping into standardized work, it is probably a good idea to men-

tion the Toyota Production System (TPS) and Lean manufacturing (some-
times just referred to as Lean). These topics can fill entire volumes, so there
is no way we can hope to successfully cover all the principles and the phi-
losophies behind them in this book. Therefore, the assumption is made that
you are already learning about them and have at least a basic understanding
of the concepts. If you have not started learning about Lean, we highly rec-
ommend that you do this before venturing further into this book.
The first thing that we would like to discuss is that standardized work
is not just a format for documentation of work. It is a basic TPS philosophy
that is intertwined with that of kaizen, which creates a continuous improve-
ment environment by providing a constant “pull” to make things better,
though in very small increments. With this relationship, it becomes quite
obvious that standardized work is not permanent, even if the current pro-
cess seems optimum. There must be a constant drive for improvement, but
to minimize risks, the improvements should be in very small steps so that
they can be quickly evaluated so that the gains can be established as the
next norm or the changes abandoned with the least disruption. In this book,
we will refer to this as kaizen rather than continuous improvement because
we believe that there is much more to the concept than periodic improve-
ments (large or small). The concept is that the normal condition is not a per-
manent situation but only a stable environment during the constant design,
evaluation, and implementation of small increments of positive change for
the situation that moves it to better support the company’s goals. We came
to understand this as the kaizen attitude—the attitude of constantly looking
for ways to improve. It works best in a culture where everyone is working
1

2 ◾ New Horizons in Standardized Work
towards a common goal by moving the company in the same basic direc-
tion. When this occurs, it can help to establish an environment that assists
everyone in the company in making decisions that help support the overall
company direction. In this context, we will consider the kaizen attitude to
be a basic premise that helps complete the philosophy of standardized work
and continue on to developing the definition.
Standardized work can be defined as the currently best-known method
for accomplishing the work. This assumes that it is the safest and most
efficient method to do the work that meets the required level of quality. It is
very important to understand that these assumptions are critical to learning
about standardized work. Although they may seem to be self-explanatory,
they also have a great effect upon the way that we think about and develop
standardized work. For example, consider the assumption about the
required level of quality. It is always sound thinking to strive for the high-
est quality products, but there is a point where this crosses the customer’s
perceived value of the product when it drives the cost too high to be profit-
able at the market price and we try to raise the selling price to offset this.
Examples of this might include greater accuracy or functionality than is
required by the customer, much better surface finish, or more expensive
materials than are needed to meet the minimum customer requirements.
There are always trade-offs in the decisions that we make. If the cost to
achieve a level of quality is too high, there can be no profit, since the market
determines the selling price (market price – cost = profit). However, if the cus-
tomer perceives our quality to be lower than that of our competitors, this can
also negatively impact our business. Therefore the level of quality needs to be
as high as we can get it and still remain competitive. We must constantly strive
to increase our quality or we risk losing market share to our competitors.
Over the years we have heard many versions of an old joke about two
hikers and a bear. Basically, a pair of hikers is walking along a trail in the
woods when they see a large grizzly bear running toward them several hun-
dred yards ahead. The first hiker starts running in the opposite direction,
then notices that his companion is not running along with him. He turns to
look back and sees that the second hiker has stripped his hiking boots off
and is quickly donning a pair of running shoes from his backpack, which
is now on the ground. He yells to his companion, “You don’t think you can
outrun a grizzly bear do you?” His companion replies, “I don’t have to out-
run the bear, I only have to outrun you!”
There is a bit of common sense to the second hiker’s philosophy. If we
compare this story with the concept of perceived quality, we see that we do

What Is Standardized Work? ◾ 3
not have to have the highest quality levels physically achievable. We only
need to be higher than our competitors. The point to realize is that quality
is not just a number that can be measured but rather a perception. This per-
ception also extends to the concept of customer value. TPS and Lean manu-
facturing teach us about the various forms of waste. One of these forms of
waste is sometimes referred to as the waste of processing. If the customers
do not perceive the value in the extra processing, then how can we expect
them to pay for it? This is why we cannot normally pass on our costs to our
customers. If we recall the concept of value, then one way of describing
value is: what the customer is willing to pay for. It follows then that anything
that is left is what we pay for as a supplier of the good or service and really
just represents waste that adds unnecessary cost to the product or service,
which reduces our profit opportunity.
A Foundation Based on Stability

The “Toyota House” has been shown in many different forms over the years.
It is normally expressed as a house, with a foundation and two pillars sup-
porting a roof or ultimate goal. The main point that we want to focus on
is that the foundation is based on stability (Dennis 2002, 18). Before the
house can stand for the long run, the foundation must be firm and stable.
This concept of creating a stable foundation or base is a central theme for
the concepts of standardization and continuous improvement.
Now we return to the original definition: the currently best known
method for accomplishing the work. The word current implies that this is
how the situation is now but may change in the future. This is quite true,
since one of the main principles of TPS is kaizen, or the attitude of con-
stantly looking for waste and eliminating it. But we have learned not to wait
for large (home runs) improvements or even multiple simultaneous improve-
ments, but rather to look for small ways to improve constantly, day-in and
day-out (base hits). It is important to note that often there are many seem-
ingly conflicting principles in TPS. One that appears at this point is the fact
that we standardize as a way of stabilizing and thus reducing unevenness or
variation. However, the concept of kaizen teaches us that we must constantly
strive to improve, which means change, and we are no longer stable, since
the change will result in variation. The main issue in such situations is to
look at things from a different perspective. The end result is not to stabilize
(and achieve the best situation—thus declaring victory and marching on to

Figure 1.1 Production output under significantly different conditions.
our next problem) but to constantly look for more small improvements. We
cannot wait until we are in a crisis before starting to seek improvements.
We should make the kaizen attitude a part of our overall culture. But, if we
first look to stabilize the situation, we can see that the more stable the situa-
tion, the smaller the incremental changes that can be implemented and veri-
fied to see whether they improve the situation or not. Consider Figure 1.1.
Suppose that the two lines, A and B, on the graph represent the output
of a production department under two significantly different operating con-
ditions. One could easily see that the average of A is much higher than B.
However, in the case of A, it is much more difficult, if not impossible, to
tell if a certain action actually improves the output unless the change was
extreme. The reason for this is obvious: variation from cycle to cycle (in this
case day-to-day). With so much variation, only time could tell if a small
change made the situation better or worse. What we are trying to say is that
there is obvious variation under the conditions associated with line A, and
only large changes might get recognized as having an impact in the short
term without looking at the average over a long period of time. This could
easily result in considerable wasted effort and resources.
However, in the case of B, it is much easier to see if a small change has
an impact on the output, since it is stable. Consider the amount of resources
and attention that are required to manage a system with output like A.
Effort and resources are required for monitoring and responding to many
problems and conditions. The output of B, although lower than the average
of A, is then much more receptive to applying the concept of kaizen (small,
constant, incremental improvements). There is a temptation to try to go into
a situation like A and just radically change things. Unfortunately, this is
sometimes what it takes to get things stable in some severe cases. But it is
often very expensive and time consuming—and what if the results are not
better, or even worse? It is not a very pleasant feeling to have to explain to

management that all the resources and money spent to make an improve-
ment did not pan out! So, the old adage of changing for the sake of change
without understanding the impact of the change holds true.
One of the many things we like about the TPS approach is that if changes
are kept small, it is a simple matter to determine what to expect as far as
results. Since the changes are much simpler, often you can actually try them
out on a temporary basis before a permanent change by simulating the
change right at the place where the work happens. If the results are not as
expected, you have not expended a lot of money and resources. Even if the
change cannot be simulated without actually implementing it, usually it can
be undone quickly when it is kept small. However, do not forget that, in the
previous example, the system output of B is still much less than the output
of A. The kaizen attitude, if present, will provide the drive for improvement.
If the changes are simple but constant, we can still make rapid improve-
ments even when doing so in small incremental steps.
The Best Method at the Moment

Returning again to the definition, the currently best known method for
accomplishing the work, we next consider the best known method. It should
go without saying that the best known method implies that there may be a
better method out there somewhere. However, we feel that it is important
to mention it because it is one of the underlying principles that provide the
momentum behind the kaizen attitude. We have observed many applica-
tions where the system was considered by the team to be “Lean,” and after
implementation there was assumed to be nothing more to be done. After all,
there are only so many resources to go around, and the “Lean” experts can
only be in so many places at one time, right? If consensus is that nothing
more needs to be done at the moment, the kaizen attitude is not present,
and the opportunity to continue to improve is being lost. This is probably
one of the most frustrating situations that we have observed. It often hap-
pens when “Lean” activities are looked at as tools or events rather than as
a culture.
Take for example the so-called kaizen blitz approach. There is nothing
wrong with such an approach or event. Quite to the contrary, these can be
defining events when trying to make a major culture change in an organi-
zation. And they can be rapid and extremely successful. But it is essential

to get everyone on board and engaged in learning and improving. Granted,

to be competitive, we cannot afford unlimited resources, so it is important to
make the most out of the resources available. The most important resource
that is often overlooked is the people who actually do the work. While
observing Toyota, we noticed that the associate or team member plays a
significant role in the development and improvement of standardized work.
After all, who better understands the issues involved than the people who
are doing it day after day? This provides them with an “army” of resources,
all focused on the helping the company meet its goals! It can make a big
impact on your competitiveness if your entire company is constantly looking
for ways to improve.
A Basis for Improvement

Finally, the last part of the definition refers to the method for accomplishing
the work. The word method implies that we want to repeat the manner or
way that the work is done each time. It follows then that there is a sequence
to the steps that constitute the method. As we will soon see, the concepts
of method and work sequence will play important roles in this approach to
standardized work.
So where does this lead? The obvious conclusion is that standardized
work defines the work sequence to be repeated in order to try and achieve
repeatable levels of safety, quality, and output. But it also shows us that it
has two main usages:
1. It provides a standard method for accomplishing the work at the

moment.
2. It serves as a baseline for the kaizen activities.
This brings us back to the appearance of conflicts mentioned earlier.

We standardize in order to constantly improve, which means continuous
change! Actually, this is somewhat of an overstatement. The first step is to
stabilize the situation, as we discussed in the earlier example of the graph
of output B. Standardization helps us to do this. After the situation is stable,
we can now start on the road to constantly improving, but in small steps,
avoiding the risk and uncertainty that is involved with large and complex
changes. This will also allow us to maintain the integrity of the previous
kaizen improvements.

How Do We Get Standardized Work?

First, there are some prerequisite conditions (or preconditions) that must be
present in order to achieve and support standardized work. These are:
1. A human must be capable of doing the work. In other words, it must

be work that a person can do safely and ergonomically within the time
required and at the desired level of quality.
2. There must be a repeatable sequence to the work. The work that is
required must be such that the worker can do it the same way each and
every time it is expected.
3. The equipment, tools, and workplace must be highly reliable. If any of
these are not reliable or cause problems, either in time variations per
cycle or frequent downtime situations, the work will be impacted greatly.
4. The materials used must be of high quality. If the material and com-
ponents that are used are not of good quality, there may be frequent
instances of defects and other quality problems that will be a constant
source of issues that cause variation that will disrupt the worker.
These preconditions are necessary in order to make sure that variability

is kept to a minimum. For example, if a worker is constantly dealing with
equipment downtime or bad materials, how can he or she be expected to
accomplish the work in a consistent manner? Consider the variation in a
task when a worker has to constantly remove excess plastic flash from an
over-molded component: How can this be standardized if only a portion of
the parts have excess flash or if the time required to remove the flash var-
ies greatly between parts or between workers? Although a standard method
of ensuring that the component does not move on to the next process with
excessive flash might possibly be developed, resources would probably be
better utilized in improving the process causing the variation in flash—
whether internal or external to the company. Therefore, there is a need for
the preconditions to exist first in order to establish the stability needed to
support standardized work and kaizen.
At this point, we want to stop for a moment and talk briefly about the
term worker. It is important to understand that everyone has work that
they do, and therefore we use this term to refer to the person perform-
ing the work. This could be a CEO of a company, a policeman, a person
assembling parts in a factory, an engineer creating new product designs, or
a person preparing a meal in a restaurant. The term is not meant to imply

any disrespect to people, as we have come to understand that people are

the ones performing the real work—those tasks that are actually adding
the value in advancement of the product or service toward completion.
Machines, robots, and other complicated mechanisms are still just tools used
by the worker to accomplish the work. We use the term worker because it
is the most descriptive, and therefore the chance of miscommunication is
eliminated. There is an important relationship that develops when the kai-
zen attitude is present. This is the symbiotic relationship between the worker
and the company. When both are working toward the same goals, the
results can be greatly increased, but if there are problems such as mistrust,
fear, or other negative perceptions, this can prevent the two from working
toward the same goals. We have also observed this unfortunate situation,
and it is often one of the underlying causes of variability in some companies
and should be a main focus for gaining stability. The kaizen attitude and a
few of the issues involved are discussed further in Appendix E.
The Required Components for Standardized Work

Once the necessary preconditions for standardized work exist, we next need
to discuss the basic components that must always be present in one form or
another. These have been described by Ohno (1988, 22) as:
1. Cycle (takt) time

2. Work sequence
3. Standard inventory (in-process stock)
Please note that as we describe these required components, we will

mostly use examples that relate to manufacturing. This is critical because
the concepts and principles used to develop the philosophy of standardized
work have their foundations in the manufacturing industry. However, it is
important to understand that these required components can also be applied
in other industries or business applications if we grasp the basic concepts
firmly. It is this last premise that the later sections of this book are based
upon in order to make the progression from manufacturing to completely
different applications and industries. So please have an open mind as you
consider how these required components apply to your business.
Cycle time in this context has been more recently described as takt time
(Dennis 2002, 51) and is a concept that is used to describe the cadence or

pace at which a product (or service) needs to be produced in order to satisfy

customer demand in the time we have allotted to do so. The basic formula
is very simple:
Takt time (TT) = Allotted time ÷ customer demand
This can be for any time period as long as the time and demand used are
aligned (e.g., allotted time per day divided by customer demand per day). In
the manufacturing industry, it is most commonly expressed in units of “time
per part.” The customer needs a certain number of parts, and we have set
aside a certain amount of time to produce them. This could also be consid-
ered as somewhat of a schedule, except that it is used to act as a cadence to
compare the cumulative output to the passage of time. This is a somewhat
stranger definition than the conventional one, but it is important to under-
stand that takt is a much broader concept than is apparent on first glance. It
is this broader scope that will be necessary to apply the concept of takt to
areas where it did not seem applicable before. We will look at this concept
more deeply as we discuss the issues leading to noncyclic applications in
later sections.
Work sequence refers to the sequence of steps that must occur each time
the work is performed. This is a pretty straightforward statement, but the
emphasis is on the sequence rather than a checklist of events that must occur
without regard to the order. Whenever the work is to happen, it is impor-
tant that it happen in the same sequence each time. We see now that varia-
tion can have a definite impact on many aspects of the business, especially
in nonmanufacturing environments such as health care, food services, etc.
However, when we begin to consider the method used to get the work done,
it is not just the steps but the manner (often very specific motions or actions)
in which each step is performed that is important. Consider that visual con-
trol, another philosophy of TPS, can help ensure that an abnormal condition
(such as not following the prescribed method) is very apparent. Therefore, if
there is a definite manner in which the work is to be performed, it is easier
to notice abnormalities in the sequence. When we are trying to change to a
culture that fosters the kaizen attitude, it is sometimes necessary to institute
policies to help ensure a complete transition to the new environment. Visual
control is an important concept that can assist in this transition. For more
discussion on the topic of auditing standardized work, see Appendix A.
Standard inventory, otherwise known as standard in-process stock (Dennis
2002, 52), refers to any stock or material that must be present in order for the

work sequence to occur as intended. For example, if the sequence defines

that the first step is to place a part in a tooling fixture, it means that there
should not be a part already in the fixture when the worker gets to that step.
If there is, the sequence is disrupted and cannot be repeated until each step
has the proper in-process stock (whether material is required to be present
or not present at a particular location). This can be somewhat compared to
the priming of an old-style hand-operated well pump. It was necessary to
“prime” the pump with water in order for the pump to work as required
to supply water. So in this context, it is essential that the standard in-process
stock be present (or not present) according to the intended condition. This
also implies that once a cycle is started, it should continue until it is complete
to provide the worker with a consistent starting point after scheduled stops
such as breaks, lunch periods, end of shift, etc.
One of the main reasons for in-process stock is in order to take advan-
tage of some of the machine’s automation capability, which can reduce or
eliminate some of the worker’s time being wasted waiting on a machine
cycle to complete. For example, if a process takes 10 seconds of machine
time to complete, if the job is designed so that a completed part from
the previous cycle is present and ready to be exchanged with a completed
part from the previous process that the worker brought with him (the
completed part unloaded and the part brought with the worker loaded
in its place), all that is necessary is this exchange and the activation of
the machine cycle. The worker can then leave this workstation and take
the completed part that was unloaded to the next process in the work
sequence. If the job was designed without a completed part present, the
worker would have to wait for 10 seconds before the completed part could
be unloaded and moved to the next step (because the process is designed
to be empty when the worker approaches on the next cycle). Common
occurrences of this type of wait are when the worker must use both
hands to activate the process and keep the buttons pushed in the entire
time the machine is cycling for safety purposes. If the machine has ample
safety features to allow the machine to be activated and free the worker of
the wait, the worker can continue, and a completed part will be present
when the worker returns on the next cycle if the job is designed properly.
Therefore, we see that standard in-process stock (SIP) is very important
and that there is a relationship between the operation of the machine and
the standardized work.
One last point to mention, we notice that work sequence is both a pre-
condition as well as a required component of standardized work. This is

because it is the premise on which the principle is founded. Takt time, for
setting the required pace, and standard in-process stock, to set the required
materials for repetition, complete the components required for standardized
work to be possible.
Types of Standardized Work

Now that we are familiar with the three required components that must
always be present in some form, it is time to discuss the basic categories
into which standardized work is usually broken out. For most applications
where standardized work is said to be applied, they can be roughly sepa-
rated into two sections: those where each product or service is basically the
same and those that are different each time they are produced. The first
section can be further broken down into those that pretty much require the
same process steps, work, and process times (even if there are some slight
differences such as color, programming, etc.), and those that are essentially
the same but with some differences between models (added or deleted
process steps, process-time differences between models, etc.). This results in
three common categories into which most applications of standardized work
are normally considered to fall.
Common categories of standardized work:

Category A: Standardized work that has the same work sequence, work
content, and cycle time for all products in the same system. In other
words, all the products are basically the same or take the same
amount of time and same process steps, with no real differences
other than things like different color components, different program-
ming, etc., so that the only real issue is that the different parts only
need to be kept separate for delivery to the respective customers.
This is probably the most common category of standardized work.
Since essentially the products are all the same and take the same
amount of resources to build, the total number of products can be
added together and considered as a single product when determin-
ing a takt time as well as for purposes of determining system capac-
ity, even though there may be some changeover time between the
different products.
Category B: Standardized work that may have almost the same basic
work sequence, but the work content and therefore the cycle times

are not the same between different products produced by the same
system. There may be differences in the time per process step,
added or skipped steps, or other variations that differentiates one
product from another. A good example of this is a car on an assem-
bly line where one unit has a sun roof and the next unit does not,
even though nearly everything else may be the same. Therefore, the
amount of time and resources taken to produce them in the system
is not the same between products, preventing the totals from simply
being added together for a common takt time calculation. This can
add complexity in trying to establish time for the pace to be used as
a standard. This takt time calculation problem is due to the fact that
the total number of products cannot be simply added together and
divided by the allotted time like the Category A standardized work
application, since the products take different amounts of times to com-
plete. Even if a single time is developed for use while these parts are
being produced, it will not be very helpful unless a lot of resources
are expended in comparing the output to the passage of time, since
the relationship is not directly proportional as it is with Category A
applications. The greater the difference in the work content between
the products, the more sensitive the aggregate or weighted time is
to a change in the product mix ratio. This tends to result in multiple
“individual” takt times and the products being run in batches, since a
single takt time that was an average would be so difficult to compare
with the passage of time. Therefore, this category often causes a lot of
problems with determining resources required and maximum capaci-
ties, since these are also greatly affected by the mix.
Category C: Standardized work that does not appear to have a repeat-
able work sequence, at least within a single work period in the same
system. This category of standardized work has often been the most
difficult one to successfully implement. This is because the concept
of takt time does not seem appropriate because the required work is
not predictable in occurrence and frequency like Category A stan-
dardized work. In most instances, this type of standardized work is
not considered stable or repeatable.
For our purposes, these categories are not sufficient to properly

describe the techniques and principles that will be discussed. In this book,
we will discuss two main types of standardized work. These are described
as follows:

1. Cyclic: Work that is meant to repeat at the end of the current cycle and
continue with a regular frequency. This includes both Category A and
Category B standardized work. Examples of this type of standardized
work are seen in manual work cells with relatively short takt times.
However, it basically describes standardized work that requires the per-
son to repeat the same sequence of tasks continuously.
2. Noncyclic: Work that occurs randomly, or at least appears that way, and
does not appear to repeat at the end of the current cycle, but that must
follow the same work sequence when the work is required. This is typi-
cally Category C standardized work, but it can also include Category A
and Category B when dealing with long-cycle processes. We will dis-
cuss long-cycle in a later section, but we use this term to represent a
condition where takt time is longer than a normal work period (e.g.,
building two houses per year, etc.). Examples of Category C standard-
ized work can include tending groups of machines, preparing a cus-
tomer order at a fast-food restaurant, or performing tasks for long-cycle
standardized work applications such as installing the plumbing in a
new home. It generally describes tasks that must be repeated in work
sequence, but are only required occasionally rather than repeating at
the end of the current cycle.
We are going to focus first on the cyclic applications, as this is the sim-
plest form of standardized work, and as stated earlier, a firm understanding
of the basics is necessary if we are to expand the concepts into other areas.
The application of standardized work to noncyclic tasks will be covered in
a later section. But before we leave this section, there is one other impor-
tant concept to consider. Not all jobs will be designed around advancing a
single product or batch of products to completion. The worker may actually
be operating multiple machines or performing multiple tasks that may cross
several product value streams. There are many reasons for this, including
better utilization of equipment or worker, specialized worker training that is
in limited supply, low daily production volumes of individual products, etc.
Shigeo Shingo (1989, 156–161) explains the concept of a worker handling
multiple machines. He says that there are two types of multiple machine
handling: vertical and horizontal. The vertical type is called multi-process
handling and refers to the operation of multiple machines that are of differ-
ent processes. The horizontal type is called multi-machine handling and sim-
ply refers to operation of machines that are all of the same process. A good
example of multi-process handling is a manufacturing cell. An example of

multi-machine handling is a worker operating a bank or group of molding

machines. In some industries, it is necessary to produce products in batches.
Often this results because of machines with very long cycle times and it is
necessary to have a worker handle or “tend” a number of machines simulta-
neously in order to better utilize the worker’s time.
We will also see that in order to better utilize the worker’s time, it is
necessary to design the job so that the worker is not made to waste time
by waiting on machines to finish, walking farther than necessary, applying
unnecessary motions, and so on. However, it is not desirable to fill in the
worker’s time with unnecessary tasks simply to keep them busy. There are
three basic issues that should be considered. Although they will be dis-
cussed further in later sections, they are listed below.
1. Tasks should always add value.

2. Tasks should be easy for the worker to recognize and execute.
3. Tasks should not hinder the flow of the product and thus need to be
considered carefully.
One last point to consider is that efficient use of the worker’s time is
not always the most popular issue with many companies. Financial prac-
tices and expensive equipment and tooling can often lead companies to
make decisions based on obtaining the highest utilization of assets. This
may seem like the proper thing to do. After all, if we spend a lot of money
on equipment and tooling, shouldn’t we try to use them as much as pos-
sible? However, it is precisely this point of view that can easily lead to
overproduction, one of the basic forms of waste and considered by many
to be the worst because it can cause so many other forms of waste. This is
why it is very important to ensure that the equipment and tooling supports
the worker’s standardized work and does not go beyond the minimum
requirements to meet the customer needs. But in order to be able to deter-
mine whether the equipment supports the work as designed, it is impor-
tant to be able to study the work as it actually happens. We do this by
observing the situation, and based on our observations, we make determi-
nations or gather more information. Because it is such an important con-
cept, we want to discuss it in more detail before we continue with cyclic
standardized work.

Chapter 2
Observation
Before we get too deep into standardized work, we need to discuss a very
important aspect of its development. This aspect involves the ability to
observe what is really occurring in the workplace or work environment as
opposed to what is supposed to occur (or assumed to occur). It is easy to
forget that just because something is intended to occur a specific way, we
cannot assume that it actually happens that way in real life, especially with
standardized work. Therefore, it is important to learn how to recognize
and assess the steps that occur in the work process quickly and with a fair
amount of accuracy. We start off by trying to better understand the concept
of observation in general.
We observe by using our physical senses such as sight, feel, sound, and
smell. Our brain then uses these senses as inputs, individually or in combi-
nation, to process the current series of events that are of interest. From this
processing, we decide what the current event means to us both in learning
and, if needed, in reaction. What events do you visually see around you
when you are looking at specific moments in life? Do you know how to
interpret what you saw and what you need to look for in your next observa-
tions to verify your interpretations? For example, these moments could be
related to specific situations such as preparing for and then taking a trip to
the local grocery store to purchase food.
If you could step outside of yourself and observe your own actions, what
would you see? Would your actions always contribute directly to your trip?
Are all the decisions leading up to a trip to the store totally obvious from
visual observation only, or are some of the decisions based on past per-
sonal experience rather than current conditions? Does your thought process
15

involve certain key items or tasks for your trip? What are the key items or
tasks required to ensure a successful trip to the grocery store? How much
detail will you need for determining these key items or tasks? You may be
surprised at the level of detail that you may not have noticed upon casual
observation of these events. As we will see throughout this section, observ-
ing involves asking ourselves many questions. These questions will be pri-
marily based on visual inputs of repeatedly observed events or tasks. These
types of questions will eventually lead you to address your given objective.
First, let us look at some of the questions we might have while observing
the steps that may have been involved in preparing for your trip to the store:
1. Why did you plan to go to a particular store?

2. How did you decide how much food you needed to buy?
3. Did you prepare a list of items that were needed before you left?
4. Did you check the food you had on hand before leaving?
5. Did you consider the weather conditions?
6. Did you ensure that you had all the necessary items such as keys,
money, coupons, and the correct attire for the weather?
The next questions about the steps that you could observe might involve
your travel or transportation to the grocery store:
7. Did you take a particular route to the grocery store?

8. Did you have to adjust your original plans due to traffic delays?
Questions concerning steps that might be observed after arriving at the gro-
cery store could include:
9. Do you have your list of items needed with you?

10. Were you able to obtain all the items on your list?
11. Do you have the correct amount of money required?
… and then finally, were you able to return home in a safe and timely man-
ner? Let us review what we have just outlined in observation for preparing
and traveling to the store. Consider Figure 2.1.
We have discussed steps that could be observed in preparing to go to
the store, traveling to the store, and returning from the store afterwards.
Each step consists of individual tasks that should be completed before the
next step occurs. These steps can be interpreted in many ways, based on

Observation ◾ 17
1 2 1 meal 3 4
1 week 1.
2.
2 weeks 3.
4.
#.
1 month
Plan/Purpose
Coupons Market
7
5 6
Stop 8
9 1. 10 1.
2. 2. 11
3. 3.
4. 4.
#. #.
Remember
Figure 2.1 Steps observed during process of going to the store.
the perspective of the observer: Some tasks may seem very different, and
some may seem very common. Each step could contain one or more tasks.
Let us break down some of the steps into the corresponding tasks.
◾◾ Go to the calendar—check date or day of the week

◾◾ Check for special events on the calendar
◾◾ Go to the desk—get notepad and pencil; get coupons
◾◾ Go to food-storage shelves, refrigerator, and freezer—check food inven-
tory and record
◾◾ Go to car key area—get car keys
◾◾ Go to window—check outside temperature and weather (is it raining,
snowing, or cold?)
◾◾ Go to closet—get coat and/or umbrella (if needed)
Steps 1 through 6 involved preparation for the trip. In observing this

preparation, you could see an underlying or predefined thought process
to try and minimize mistakes or potential causes for variation for the trip.
Some of these mistakes could occur in the form of: (a) incorrect or omit-
ted items needed from the store, (b) not having enough money to pay for
all the items needed, (c) not having enough space to bring all of the items
purchased from the store back home, or (d) improper attire for the weather

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CHAPTER VIII
JANE GETS OFF THE FAIRWAY
The side-door leading into the smoking-room opened, and the

golf-club’s popular and energetic secretary came trotting down the
steps on to the terrace above the ninth green. As he reached the
gravel, a wandering puff of wind blew the door to with a sharp report,
and the Oldest Member, who had been dozing in a chair over his
Wodehouse on the Niblick, unclosed his eyes, blinking in the strong
light. He perceived the secretary skimming to and fro like a questing
dog.
“You have lost something?” he inquired, courteously.
“Yes, a book. I wish,” said the secretary, annoyed, “that people
would leave things alone. You haven’t seen a novel called The Man
with the Missing Eyeball anywhere about, have you? I’ll swear I left it
on one of these seats when I went in to lunch.”
“You are better without it,” said the Sage, with a touch of austerity.
“I do not approve of these trashy works of fiction. How much more
profitably would your time be spent in mastering the contents of such
a volume as I hold in my hand. This is the real literature.”
The secretary drew nearer, peering discontentedly about him; and
as he approached the Oldest Member sniffed inquiringly.
“What,” he said, “is that odour of—? Ah, I see that you are wearing
them in your buttonhole. White violets,” he murmured. “White violets.
Dear me!”
The secretary smirked.
“A girl gave them to me,” he said, coyly. “Nice, aren’t they?” He
squinted down complacently at the flowers, thus missing a sudden
sinister gleam in the Oldest Member’s eye—a gleam which, had he
been on his guard, would have sent him scudding over the horizon;
for it was the gleam which told that the Sage had been reminded of a
story.
“White violets,” said the Oldest Member, in a meditative voice. “A
curious coincidence that you should be wearing white violets and
looking for a work of fiction. The combination brings irresistibly to my
mind—”
Realising his peril too late, the secretary started violently. A gentle
hand urged him into the adjoining chair.
“—the story,” proceeded the Oldest Member, “of William Bates,
Jane Packard, and Rodney Spelvin.”
The secretary drew a deep breath of relief and the careworn look
left his face.
“It’s all right,” he said, briskly. “You told me that one only the other
day. I remember every word of it. Jane Packard got engaged to
Rodney Spelvin, the poet, but her better feelings prevailed in time,
and she broke it off and married Bates, who was a golfer. I recall the
whole thing distinctly. This man Bates was an unromantic sort of
chap, but he loved Jane Packard devotedly. Bless my soul, how it all
comes back to me! No need to tell it me at all!”
“What I am about to relate now,” said the sage, tightening his grip
on the other’s coat-sleeve, “is another story about William Bates,
Jane Packard, and Rodney Spelvin.”
Inasmuch (said the Oldest Member) as you have not forgotten the
events leading up to the marriage of William Bates and Jane
Packard, I will not repeat them. All I need say is that that curious
spasm of romantic sentiment which had caused Jane to fall
temporarily under the spell of a man who was not only a poet but
actually a non-golfer, appeared to have passed completely away,
leaving no trace behind. From the day she broke off her engagement
to Spelvin and plighted her troth to young Bates, nothing could have
been more eminently sane and satisfactory than her behaviour.
She seemed entirely her old self once more. Two hours after
William had led her down the aisle, she and he were out on the links,
playing off the final of the Mixed Foursomes which—and we all
thought it the best of omens for their married happiness—they won
hands down. A deputation of all that was best and fairest in the
village then escorted them to the station to see them off on their
honeymoon, which was to be spent in a series of visits to well-known
courses throughout the country.
Before the train left, I took young William aside for a moment. I
had known both him and Jane since childhood, and the success of
their union was very near my heart.
“William,” I said, “a word with you.”
“Make it snappy,” said William.
“You have learned by this time,” I said, “that there is a strong
romantic streak in Jane. It may not appear on the surface, but it is
there. And this romantic streak will cause her, like so many wives, to
attach an exaggerated importance to what may seem to you trivial
things. She will expect from her husband not only love and a
constant tender solicitude—”
“Speed it up,” urged William.
“What I am trying to say is that, after the habit of wives, she will
expect you to remember each year the anniversary of your wedding
day, and will be madder than a wet hen if you forget it.”
“That’s all right. I thought of that myself.”
“It is not all right,” I insisted. “Unless you take the most earnest
precautions, you are absolutely certain to forget. A year from now
you will come down to breakfast and Jane will say to you, ‘Do you
know what day it is to-day?’ and you will answer ‘Tuesday’ and reach
for the ham and eggs, thus inflicting on her gentle heart a wound
from which it will not readily recover.”
“Nothing like it,” said William, with extraordinary confidence. “I’ve
got a system calculated to beat the game every time. You know how
fond Jane is of white violets?”
“Is she?”
“She loves ’em. The bloke Spelvin used to give her a bunch every
day. That’s how I got the idea. Nothing like learning the shots from
your opponent. I’ve arranged with a florist that a bunch of white
violets is to be shipped to Jane every year on this day. I paid five
years in advance. I am therefore, speaking in the most conservative
spirit, on velvet. Even if I forget the day, the violets will be there to
remind me. I’ve looked at it from every angle, and I don’t see how it
can fail. Tell me frankly, is the scheme a wam or is it not?”
“A most excellent plan,” I said, relieved. And the next moment the
train came in. I left the station with my mind at rest. It seemed to me
that the only possible obstacle to the complete felicity of the young
couple had been removed.
Jane and William returned in due season from their honeymoon,

and settled down to the normal life of a healthy young couple. Each
day they did their round in the morning and their two rounds in the
afternoon, and after dinner they would sit hand in hand in the
peaceful dusk, reminding one another of the best shots they had
brought off at the various holes. Jane would describe to William how
she got out of the bunker on the fifth, and William would describe to
Jane the low raking wind-cheater he did on the seventh, and then for
a moment they would fall into that blissful silence which only true
lovers know, until William, illustrating his remarks with a walking-
stick, would show Jane how he did that pin-splitter with the mashie
on the sixteenth. An ideally happy union, one would have said.
But all the while a little cloud was gathering. As the anniversary of
their wedding day approached, a fear began to creep into Jane’s
heart that William was going to forget it. The perfect husband does
not wait till the dawning of the actual day to introduce the
anniversary motif into his conversation. As long as a week in
advance he is apt to say, dreamily, “About this time a year ago I was
getting the old silk hat polished up for the wedding,” or “Just about
now, a year ago, they sent home the sponge-bag trousers, as worn,
and I tried them on in front of the looking-glass.” But William said
none of these things. Not even on the night before the all-important
date did he make any allusion to it, and it was with a dull feeling of
foreboding that Jane came down to breakfast next morning.
She was first at the table, and was pouring out the coffee when
William entered. He opened the morning paper and started to peruse
its contents in silence. Not a yip did he let out of him to the effect that
this was the maddest, merriest day of all the glad new year.
“William,” said Jane.
“Hullo?”
“William,” said Jane, and her voice trembled a little, “what day is it
to-day?”
William looked at her over the paper surprised.
“Wednesday, old girl,” he replied. “Don’t you remember that
yesterday was Tuesday? Shocking memory you’ve got.”
He then reached out for the sausages and bacon and resumed his
reading.
“Jane,” he said, suddenly. “Jane, old girl, there’s something I want
to tell you.”
“Yes?” said Jane, her heart beginning to flutter.
“Something important.”
“Yes?”
“It’s about these sausages. They are the very best,” said William,
earnestly, “that I have ever bitten. Where did you get them?”
“From Brownlow.”
“Stick to him,” said William.
Jane rose from the table and wandered out into the garden. The
sun shone gaily, but for her the day was bleak and cold. That William
loved her she did not doubt. But that streak of romance in her
demanded something more than mere placid love. And when she
realised that the poor mutt with whom she had linked her lot had
forgotten the anniversary of their wedding-day first crack out of the
box, her woman’s heart was so wounded that for two pins she could
have beaned him with a brick.
It was while she was still brooding in this hostile fashion that she
perceived the postman coming up the garden. She went to meet
him, and was handed a couple of circulars and a mysterious parcel.
She broke the string, and behold! a cardboard box containing white
violets.
Jane was surprised. Who could be sending her white violets? No
message accompanied them. There was no clue whatever to their
origin. Even the name of the florist had been omitted.
“Now, who—?” mused Jane, and suddenly started as if she had
received a blow. Rodney Spelvin! Yes, it must be he. How many a
bunch of white violets had he given her in the brief course of their
engagement! This was his poetic way of showing her that he had not
forgotten. All was over between them, she had handed him his hat
and given him the air, but he still remembered.
Jane was a good and dutiful wife. She loved her William, and no
others need apply. Nevertheless, she was a woman. She looked
about her cautiously. There was nobody in sight. She streaked up to
her room and put the violets in water. And that night, before she went
to bed, she gazed at them for several minutes with eyes that were a
little moist. Poor Rodney! He could be nothing to her now, of course,
but a dear lost friend; but he had been a good old scout in his day.
It is not my purpose to weary you with repetitious detail in this

narrative. I will, therefore, merely state that the next year and the
next year and the year after that precisely the same thing took place
in the Bates’s home. Punctually every September the seventh
William placidly forgot, and punctually every September the seventh
the sender of the violets remembered. It was about a month after the
fifth anniversary, when William had got his handicap down to nine
and little Braid Vardon Bates, their only child, had celebrated his
fourth birthday, that Rodney Spelvin, who had hitherto confined
himself to poetry, broke out in a new place and inflicted upon the
citizenry a novel entitled The Purple Fan.
I saw the announcement of the publication in the papers; but
beyond a passing resolve that nothing would induce me to read the
thing I thought no more of the matter. It is always thus with life’s
really significant happenings. Fate sneaks its deadliest wallops in on
us with such seeming nonchalance. How could I guess what that
book was to do to the married happiness of Jane and William Bates?
In deciding not to read The Purple Fan I had, I was to discover,
over-estimated my powers of resistance. Rodney Spelvin’s novel
turned out to be one of those things which it is impossible not to
read. Within a week of its appearance it had begun to go through the
country like Spanish influenza; and, much as I desired to avoid it, a
perusal was forced on me by sheer weight of mass-thinking. Every
paper that I picked up contained reviews of the book, references to
it, letters from the clergy denouncing it; and when I read that three
hundred and sixteen mothers had signed a petition to the authorities
to have it suppressed, I was reluctantly compelled to spring the
necessary cash and purchase a copy.
I had not expected to enjoy it, and I did not. Written in the
neodecadent style, which is so popular nowadays, its preciosity
offended me; and I particularly objected to its heroine, a young
woman of a type which, if met in real life, only ingrained chivalry
could have prevented a normal man from kicking extremely hard.
Having skimmed through it, I gave my copy to the man who came to
inspect the drains. If I had any feeling about the thing, it was a
reflection that, if Rodney Spelvin had had to get a novel out of his
system, this was just the sort of novel he was bound to write. I
remember experiencing a thankfulness that he had gone so entirely
out of Jane’s life. How little I knew!
Jane, like every other woman in the village, had bought her copy
of The Purple Fan. She read it surreptitiously, keeping it concealed,
when not in use, beneath a cushion on the Chesterfield. It was not its
general tone that caused her to do this, but rather the subconscious
feeling that she, a good wife, ought not to be deriving quite so much
enjoyment from the work of a man who had occupied for a time such
a romantic place in her life.
For Jane, unlike myself, adored the book. Eulalie French, its
heroine, whose appeal I had so missed, seemed to her the most
fascinating creature she had ever encountered.
She had read the thing through six times when, going up to town
one day to do some shopping, she ran into Rodney Spelvin. They
found themselves standing side by side on the pavement, waiting for
the traffic to pass.
“Rodney!” gasped Jane.
It was a difficult moment for Rodney Spelvin. Five years had
passed since he had last seen Jane, and in those five years so many
delightful creatures had made a fuss of him that the memory of the
girl to whom he had once been engaged for a few weeks had
become a little blurred. In fact, not to put too fine a point on it, he had
forgotten Jane altogether. The fact that she had addressed him by
his first name seemed to argue that they must have met at some
time somewhere; but, though he strained his brain, absolutely
nothing stirred.
The situation was one that might have embarrassed another man,
but Rodney Spelvin was a quick thinker. He saw at a glance that
Jane was an extremely pretty girl, and it was his guiding rule in life
never to let anything like that get past him. So he clasped her hand
warmly, allowed an expression of amazed delight to sweep over his
face, and gazed tensely into her eyes.
“You!” he murmured, playing it safe. “You, little one!”
Jane stood five feet seven in her stockings and had a fore-arm like
the village blacksmith’s, but she liked being called “little one.”
“How strange that we should meet like this!” she said, blushing
brightly.
“After all these years,” said Rodney Spelvin, taking a chance. It
would be a nuisance if it turned out that they had met at a studio-
party the day before yesterday, but something seemed to tell him
that she dated back a goodish way. Besides, even if they had met
the day before yesterday, he could get out of it by saying that the
hours had seemed like years. For you cannot stymie these modern
poets. The boys are there.
“More than five,” murmured Jane.
“Now where the deuce was I five years ago?” Rodney Spelvin
asked himself.
Jane looked down at the pavement and shuffled her left shoe
nervously.
“I got the violets, Rodney,” she said.
Rodney Spelvin was considerably fogged, but he came back
strongly.
“That’s good!” he said. “You got the violets? That’s capital. I was
wondering if you would get the violets.”
“It was like you to send them.”
Rodney blinked, but recovered himself immediately. He waved his
hand with a careless gesture, indicative of restrained nobility.
“Oh, as to that—!”
“Especially as I’m afraid I treated you rather badly. But it really was
for the happiness of both of us that I broke off the engagement. You
do understand that, don’t you?”
A light broke upon Rodney Spelvin. He had been confident that it
would if he only stalled along for a while. Now he placed this girl.
She was Jane something, the girl he had been engaged to. By Jove,
yes. He knew where he was now.
“Do not let us speak of it,” he said, registering pain. It was quite
easy for him to do this. All there was to it was tightening the lips and
drawing up the left eyebrow. He had practised it in front of his mirror,
for a fellow never knew when it might not come in useful.
“So you didn’t forget me, Rodney?”
“Forget you!”
There was a short pause.
“I read your novel,” said Jane. “I loved it.”
She blushed again, and the colour in her cheeks made her look so
remarkably pretty that Rodney began to feel some of the emotions
which had stirred him five years ago. He decided that this was a
good thing and wanted pushing along.
“I hoped that you might,” he said in a low voice, massaging her
hand. He broke off and directed into her eyes a look of such squashy
sentimentality that Jane reeled where she stood. “I wrote it for you,”
he added, simply.
Jane gasped.
“For me?”
“I supposed you would have guessed,” said Rodney. “Surely you
saw the dedication?”
The Purple Fan had been dedicated, after Rodney Spelvin’s
eminently prudent fashion, to “One Who Will Understand.” He had
frequently been grateful for the happy inspiration.
“The dedication?”
“‘To One Who Will Understand,’” said Rodney, softly. “Who would
that be but you?”
“Oh, Rodney!”
“And didn’t you recognise Eulalie, Jane? Surely you cannot have
failed to recognise Eulalie?”
“Recognise her?”
“I drew her from you,” said Rodney Spelvin.
Jane’s mind was in a whirl as she went home in the train. To have
met Rodney Spelvin again was enough in itself to stimulate into
activity that hidden pulse of romance in her. To discover that she had
been in his thoughts so continuously all these years and that she still
held such sway over his faithful heart that he had drawn the heroine
of his novel from her was simply devastating. Mechanically she got
out at the right station and mechanically made her way to the
cottage. She was relieved to find that William was still out on the
links. She loved William devotedly, of course, but just at the moment
he would have been in the way; for she wanted a quiet hour with The
Purple Fan. It was necessary for her to re-read in the light of this
new knowledge the more important of the scenes in which Eulalie
French figured. She knew them practically by heart already, but
nevertheless she wished to read them again. When William returned,
warm and jubilant, she was so absorbed that she only just had time
to slide the book under the sofa-cushion before the door opened.
Some guardian angel ought to have warned William Bates that he
was selecting a bad moment for his re-entry into the home, or at
least to have hinted that a preliminary wash and brush-up would be
no bad thing. There had been rain in the night, causing the links to
become a trifle soggy in spots, and William was one of those
energetic golfers who do not spare themselves. The result was that
his pleasant features were a good deal obscured by mud. An
explosion-shot out of the bunker on the fourteenth had filled his hair
with damp sand, and his shoes were a disgrace to any refined home.
No, take him for all in all, William did not look his best. He was fine if
the sort of man you admired was the brawny athlete straight from the
dust of the arena; but on a woman who was picturing herself the
heroine of The Purple Fan he was bound to jar. Most of the scenes
in which Eulalie French played anything like a fat part took place
either on moonlight terraces or in beautifully furnished studios
beneath the light of Oriental lamps with pink silk shades, and all the
men who came in contact with her—except her husband, a
clodhopping brute who spent most of his time in riding-kit—were
perfectly dressed and had dark, clean-cut, sensitive faces.
William, accordingly, induced in Jane something closely
approximating to the heeby-jeebies.
“Hullo, old girl!” said William, affectionately. “You back? What have
you been doing with yourself?”
“Oh, shopping,” said Jane, listlessly.
“See any one you knew?”
For a moment Jane hesitated.
“Yes,” she said. “I met Rodney Spelvin.”
Jealousy and suspicion had been left entirely out of William
Bates’s make-up. He did not start and frown; he did not clutch the
arm of his chair; he merely threw back his head and laughed like a
hyæna. And that laugh wounded Jane more than the most violent
exhibition of mistrust could have done.
“Good Lord!” gurgled William, jovially. “You don’t mean to say that
bird is still going around loose? I should have thought he would have
been lynched years ago. Looks like negligence somewhere.”
There comes a moment in married life when every wife gazes
squarely at her husband and the scales seem to fall from her eyes
and she sees him as he is—one of Nature’s Class A fatheads.
Fortunately for married men, these times of clear vision do not last
long, or there would be few homes left unbroken. It was so that Jane
gazed at William now, but unhappily her conviction that he was an
out-size in rough-neck chumps did not pass. Indeed, all through that
evening it deepened. That night she went to bed feeling for the first
time that, when the clergyman had said, “Wilt thou, Jane?” and she
had replied in the affirmative, a mean trick had been played on an
inexperienced girl.
And so began that black period in the married life of Jane and
William Bates, the mere recollection of which in after years was
sufficient to put them right off their short game and even to affect
their driving from the tee. To William, having no clue to the cause of
the mysterious change in his wife, her behaviour was inexplicable.
Had not her perfect robustness made such a theory absurd, he
would have supposed that she was sickening for something. She
golfed now intermittently, and often with positive reluctance. She was
frequently listless and distrait. And there were other things about her
of which he disapproved.
“I say, old girl,” he said one evening, “I know you won’t mind my
mentioning it, and I don’t suppose you’re aware of it yourself, but
recently you’ve developed a sort of silvery laugh. A nasty thing to
have about the home. Try to switch it off, old bird, would you mind?”
Jane said nothing. The man was not worth answering. All through
the pages of The Purple Fan, Eulalie French’s silvery laugh had
been highly spoken of and greatly appreciated by one and all. It was
the thing about her that the dark, clean-cut, sensitive-faced men
most admired. And the view Jane took of the matter was that if
William did not like it the poor fish could do the other thing.
But this brutal attack decided her to come out into the open with
the grievance which had been vexing her soul for weeks past.
“William,” she said, “I want to say something. William, I am feeling
stifled.”
“I’ll open the window.”
“Stifled in this beastly little village, I mean,” said Jane, impatiently.
“Nobody ever does anything here except play golf and bridge, and
you never meet an artist-soul from one year’s end to the other. How
can I express myself? How can I be myself? How can I fulfil myself?”
“Do you want to?” asked William, somewhat out of his depth.
“Of course I want to. And I shan’t be happy unless we leave this
ghastly place and go to live in a studio in town.”
William sucked thoughtfully at his pipe. It was a tense moment for
a man who hated metropolitan life as much as he did. Nevertheless,
if the solution of Jane’s recent weirdness was simply that she had
got tired of the country and wanted to live in town, to the town they
must go. After a first involuntary recoil, he nerved himself to the
martyrdom like the fine fellow he was.
“We’ll pop off as soon as I can sell the house,” he said.
“I can’t wait as long as that. I want to go now.”
“All right,” said William, amiably. “We’ll go next week.”
William’s forebodings were quickly fulfilled. Before he had been in

the Metropolis ten days he had realised that he was up against it as
he had never been up against it before. He and Jane and little Braid
Vardon had established themselves in what the house-agent
described as an attractive bijou studio-apartment in the heart of the
artistic quarter. There was a nice bedroom for Jane, a delightful
cupboard for Braid Vardon, and a cosy corner behind a Japanese
screen for William. Most compact. The rest of the place consisted of
a room with a large skylight, handsomely furnished with cushions
and samovars, where Jane gave parties to the intelligentsia.
It was these parties that afflicted William as much as anything
else. He had not realised that Jane intended to run a salon. His idea
of a pleasant social evening was to have a couple of old friends in for
a rubber of bridge, and the almost nightly incursion of a horde of
extraordinary birds in floppy ties stunned him. He was unequal to the
situation from the first. While Jane sat enthroned on her cushion,
exchanging gay badinage with rising young poets and laughing that
silvery laugh of hers, William would have to stand squashed in a
corner, trying to hold off some bobbed-haired female who wanted his
opinion of Augustus John.
The strain was frightful, and, apart from the sheer discomfort of it,
he found to his consternation that it was beginning to affect his golf.
Whenever he struggled out from the artistic zone now to one of the
suburban courses, his jangled nerves unfitted him for decent play. Bit
by bit his game left him. First he found that he could not express
himself with the putter. Then he began to fail to be himself with the
mashie-niblick. And when at length he discovered that he was only
fulfilling himself about every fifth shot off the tee he felt that this thing
must stop.
The conscientious historian will always distinguish carefully

between the events leading up to a war and the actual occurrence
resulting in the outbreak of hostilities. The latter may be, and
generally is, some almost trivial matter, whose only importance is
that it fulfils the function of the last straw. In the case of Jane and
William what caused the definite rift was Jane’s refusal to tie a can to
Rodney Spelvin.
The author of The Purple Fan had been from the first a leading
figure in Jane’s salon. Most of those who attended these functions
were friends of his, introduced by him, and he had assumed almost
from the beginning the demeanour of a master of the revel. William,
squashed into his corner, had long gazed at the man with sullen
dislike, yearning to gather him up by the slack of his trousers and
heave him into outer darkness; but it is improbable that he would
have overcome his native amiability sufficiently to make any active
move, had it not been for the black mood caused by his rotten golf.
But one evening, when, coming home after doing the Mossy Heath
course in five strokes over the hundred, he found the studio
congested with Rodney Spelvin and his friends, many of them
playing ukeleles, he decided that flesh and blood could bear the
strain no longer.
As soon as the last guest had gone he delivered his ultimatum.
“Listen, Jane,” he said. “Touching on this Spelvin bloke.”
“Well?” said Jane, coldly. She scented battle from afar.
“He gives me a pain in the neck.”
“Really?” said Jane, and laughed a silvery laugh.
“Don’t do it, old girl,” pleaded William, wincing.
“I wish you wouldn’t call me ‘old girl’.”
“Why not?”
“Because I don’t like it.”
“You used to like it.”
“Well, I don’t now.”
“Oh!” said William, and ruminated awhile. “Well, be that as it may,”
he went on, “I want to tell you just one thing. Either you throw the
bloke Spelvin out on his left ear and send for the police if he tries to
get in again, or I push off. I mean it! I absolutely push off.”
There was a tense silence.
“Indeed?” said Jane at last.
“Positively push off,” repeated William, firmly. “I can stand a lot, but
pie-faced Spelvin tries human endurance too high.”
“He is not pie-faced,” said Jane, warmly.
“He is pie-faced,” insisted William. “Come round to the Vienna
Bon-Ton Bakery to-morrow and I will show you an individual custard-
pie that might be his brother.”
“Well, I am certainly not going to be bullied into giving up an old
friend just because—”
William stared.
“You mean you won’t hand him the mitten?”
“I will not.”
“Think what you are saying, Jane. You positively decline to give
this false-alarm the quick exit?”
“I do.”
“Then,” said William, “all is over. I pop off.”
Jane stalked without a word into her bedroom. With a mist before
his eyes William began to pack. After a few moments he tapped at
her door.
“Jane.”
“Well?”
“I’m packing.”
“Indeed?”
“But I can’t find my spare mashie.”
“I don’t care.”
William returned to his packing. When it was finished, he stole to
her door again. Already a faint stab of remorse was becoming
blended with his just indignation.
“Jane.”
“Well?”
“I’ve packed.”
“Really?”
“And now I’m popping.”
There was silence behind the door.
“I’m popping, Jane,” said William. And in his voice, though he tried
to make it cold and crisp, there was a note of wistfulness.
Through the door there came a sound. It was the sound of a
silvery laugh. And as he heard it William’s face hardened. Without
another word he picked up his suit-case and golf-bag, and with set
jaw strode out into the night.
One of the things that tend to keep the home together in these
days of modern unrest is the fact that exalted moods of indignation
do not last. William, released from the uncongenial atmosphere of
the studio, proceeded at once to plunge into an orgy of golf that for a
while precluded regret. Each day he indulged his starved soul with
fifty-four holes, and each night he sat smoking in bed, pleasantly
fatigued, reviewing the events of the past twelve hours with complete
satisfaction. It seemed to him that he had done the good and
sensible thing.
And then, slowly at first, but day by day more rapidly, his mood
began to change. That delightful feeling of jolly freedom ebbed away.
It was on the morning of the tenth day that he first became
definitely aware that all was not well. He had strolled out on the links
after breakfast with a brassie and a dozen balls for a bit of practice,
and, putting every ounce of weight and muscle into the stroke,
brought off a snifter with his very first shot. Straight and true the ball
sped for the distant green, and William, forgetting everything in the
ecstasy of the moment, uttered a gladsome cry.
“How about that one, old girl?” he exclaimed.
And then, with a sudden sinking of the heart, he realised that he
was alone.
An acute spasm of regret shot through William’s massive bosom.
In that instant of clear thinking he understood that golf is not all.
What shall it profit a man that he do the long hole in four, if there is
no loving wife at his elbow to squeak congratulations? A dull
sensation of forlorn emptiness afflicted William Bates. It passed, but
it had been. And he knew it would come again.
It did. It came that same afternoon. It came next morning.
Gradually it settled like a cloud on his happiness. He did his best to
fight it down. He increased his day’s output to sixty-three holes, but
found no relief. When he reflected that he had had the stupendous
luck to be married to a girl like Jane and had chucked the thing up,
he could have kicked himself round the house. He was in exactly the
position of the hero of the movie when the subtitle is flashed on the
screen: “Came a Day When Remorse Bit Like an Adder Into Roland
Spenlow’s Soul.” Of all the chumps who had ever tripped over
themselves and lost a good thing, from Adam downwards, he, he
told himself, was the woollen-headedest.
On the fifteenth morning it began to rain.
Now, William Bates was not one of your fair-weather golfers. It

took more than a shower to discourage him. But this was real rain,
with which not even the stoutest enthusiast could cope. It poured
down all day in a solid sheet and set the seal on his melancholy. He
pottered about the house, sinking deeper and deeper into the slough
of despond, and was trying to derive a little faint distraction from
practising putts into a tooth-glass when the afternoon post arrived.
There was only one letter. He opened it listlessly. It was from
Jukes, Enderby, and Miller, florists, and what the firm wished to
ascertain was whether, his deposit on white violets to be despatched
annually to Mrs. William Bates being now exhausted, he desired to
renew his esteemed order. If so, on receipt of the money they would
spring to the task of sending same.
William stared at the letter dully. His first impression was that
Jukes, Enderby, and Miller were talking through their collective hats.
White violets? What was all this drivel about white violets? Jukes
was an ass. He knew nothing about white violets. Enderby was a
fool. What had he got to do with white violets? Miller was a pin-head.
He had never deposited any money to have white violets
despatched.
William gasped. Yes, by George, he had, though, he remembered
with a sudden start. So he had, by golly! Good gosh! It all came back
to him. He recalled the whole thing, by Jove! Crikey, yes!
The letter swam before William’s eyes. A wave of tenderness
engulfed him. All that had passed recently between Jane and himself
was forgotten—her weirdness, her wish to live in the Metropolis, her
silvery laugh—everything. With one long, loving gulp, William Bates
dashed a not unmanly tear from his eye and, grabbing a hat and
raincoat, rushed out of the house and sprinted for the station.
At about the hour when William flung himself into the train, Jane
was sitting in her studio-apartment, pensively watching little Braid
Vardon as he sported on the floor. An odd melancholy had gripped
her. At first she had supposed that this was due to the rain, but now
she was beginning to realise that the thing went much deeper than
that. Reluctant though she was to confess it, she had to admit that
what she was suffering from was a genuine soul-sadness, due
entirely to the fact that she wanted William.
It was strange what a difference his going had made. William was
the sort of fellow you shoved into a corner and forgot about, but
when he was not there the whole scheme of things seemed to go
blooey. Little by little, since his departure, she had found the
fascination of her surroundings tending to wane, and the glamour of
her new friends had dwindled noticeably. Unless you were in the
right vein for them, Jane felt, they could be an irritating crowd. They
smoked too many cigarettes and talked too much. And not far from
being the worst of them, she decided, was Rodney Spelvin. It was
with a sudden feeling of despair that she remembered that she had
invited him to tea this afternoon and had got in a special seed-cake
for the occasion. The last thing in the world that she wanted to do
was to watch Rodney Spelvin eating cake.
It is a curious thing about men of the Spelvin type, how seldom
they really last. They get off to a flashy start and for a while convince
impressionable girls that the search for a soul-mate may be
considered formally over; but in a very short while reaction always
sets in. There had been a time when Jane could have sat and
listened to Rodney Spelvin for hours on end. Then she began to feel
that from fifteen to twenty minutes was about sufficient. And now the
mere thought of having to listen to him at all was crushing her like a
heavy burden.
She had got thus far in her meditations when her attention was
attracted to little Braid Vardon, who was playing energetically in a

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New Horizons in Standardized Work

Techniques for Manufacturing and

Productivity improvement in manufacturing SMEs :

New Horizons of Process Chemistry Scalable Reactions

New Horizons of Process Chemistry Scalable Reactions

Standardized Work with TWI Eliminating Human Errors in

A New Meaning-Mission Fit: Aligning Life and Work in

Process Systems Engineering for Pharmaceutical

New Perspectives in Software Engineering: Proceedings

Process Facilitation in Psychoanalysis Psychotherapy

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Timothy D. Martin & Jeffrey T. Bell

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

No claim to original U.S. Government works

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© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

4 Long-Cycle Standardized Work...................................................55

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

The statement, “Without Standards, there can be no improvements,” is one

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank my coauthor, Tim

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Carla Martin Professor Henry Kraebber

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

What Is Standardized Work?

Before jumping into standardized work, it is probably a good idea to men-

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

A Foundation Based on Stability

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

Figure 1.1 Production output under significantly different conditions.

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

The Best Method at the Moment

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

to get everyone on board and engaged in learning and improving. Granted,

A Basis for Improvement

1. It provides a standard method for accomplishing the work at the

This brings us back to the appearance of conflicts mentioned earlier.

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

How Do We Get Standardized Work?

1. A human must be capable of doing the work. In other words, it must

These preconditions are necessary in order to make sure that variability

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

any disrespect to people, as we have come to understand that people are

The Required Components for Standardized Work

1. Cycle (takt) time

Please note that as we describe these required components, we will

© 2011 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC

pace at which a product (or service) needs to be produced in order to satisfy

Takt time (TT) = Allotted time ÷ customer demand