A Standardized Work Methodology to Increase Manufacturing Productivity

Teresa Verduzco-Garza, Bernardo Villarreal

Universidad de Monterrey
San Pedro Garza García, N. L., México 66238
Teresa.verduzco@udem.edu.mx
Abstract: The present document explains the application of a standardized work methodology to identify, measure, and
improve shop floor operations, as an effort to increase productivity levels at a global company, located in Monterrey,
Mexico. From the lean manufacturing perspective, the relationship between waste elimination and productivity increase,
supported by diverse manufacturing techniques, represents the major concern to achieve a one-piece flow system, as it is
described in this paper. The assessment of several potential operating scenarios was done with the help of discrete
simulation models. Results of the system implementation are also given.

Keywords: Productivity, standardized work, work-in-process, one-piece flow, waste elimination, cellular layout, kaizen,
synchronization of operations, takt time.

1. Introduction

The development of manufacturing strategies to achieve high efficiency standards and continuous improvement
on the shop floor has been a challenge for companies during the last decades. These are required to maintain their
competitiveness in a day-to-day dynamic environment. Effective cost reductions in manufacturing by eliminating waste,
enables factories to have a better resource management that guarantees the accomplishment of a sustaining throughput
goal. The importance of focusing on key process indicators and operation performance measurement and control, is
becoming decisive for the company’s short and long term operational success.
This document presents the necessity of increasing productivity as a problem of concern in a manufacturing
work cell. The identification and elimination of bottlenecks through the different process stages has been treated in the
literature. The interest of improving efficiency in operations and attaining the throughput goals are important issues well
known and treated by just in time bibliography. The application of a one-piece flow system is suited to situations where
the shop floor operations are non-synchronized or when they lack of a standard work sequence. This is needed to uniform
the pieces that flow through the work cell. Otherwise, excessive performance time and additional costs are generated,
while the companies try to accomplish the manufacturing of demanded quantities without wasting resources of any kind.
The content of this paper describes how to accomplish the production ramp up goal according to the required
market takt time. It has been divided in four parts: first, a brief review of related literature at the next section, followed by
a description of the steps used to identify opportunities for waste elimination and efficiency increase in the work cell,
explained in the third section. Section four, describes the application of the previous steps, finishing on section 5 with the
resulting conclusions of the described approach.

2. Research

One of the most analyzed problems in manufacturing, is the need to increase efficiency ratios at the shop floor,
improving an area, process, or work standard and impacting directly in a company’ cost reductions, highest quality and
the lead time reductions; becoming more productive. Lean manufacturing provides tools to maintain the standards and
ensure the improvements.
Henry Ford, in the 1930s, transformed the way manual factories worked when he designed a mass production
system to manufacture automobiles. Further, in the same industry, after the World War II, Toyota’s successful company
efforts, leaded by Taiichi Ohno, defined seven types of waste (muda) commonly presented in processes that needed to be
eliminated: Mistakes on products identified as defects, overproduction of goods not yet ordered, goods causing excessive
stocks, waiting on the products expecting to be processed, unnecessary labor motions, excessive transportation, and
excessive processing (Ohno, 1988); all of these are still measured by many companies these days with the objective of
making their operations more efficient and controlled (Womack, 2005).
As described by Womack (2005), one of the 5 principles of lean thinking is “to make value flow without
interruptions”, and to when analyzing the value flow, it is very helpful to identify the different types of wastes, classify
the activities in value-added and non value-added through the analysis, which will result in the gap to study (Assay,
Brunson, 2002). But, how can we move a product through the value stream one piece at a time with no inventory and no
waste? A system with such characteristics is known as continuous flow or one-piece flow system (Tapping, 2006), and it
is a great aid to reduce lead times while keeping the minimum WIP (work-in-process) inventory and for the use of a
standard work to maintain the pieces flowing one by one through the process. Cellular manufacturing, is often applied
too, but not without a standard work tool to improve the pull production in order to best utilize people and machine
resources and to keep the production rhythm “tied” to the flow of customers orders (Asay, Brunson, 2002).
The achievement of a standard work operational sequence needs to be linked and controlled in every step of the
manufacturing process, measuring the cycle time and comparing it to takt time (considering demanded units) to complete
every task and rate the whole process. Measurement of takt time also benefits the operation by providing a baseline
measurement to stabilize the production rate, the essential scaling information for the work cell design, and facilitate the
synchronized product production (Dailey, 2003). The addition of the labor resource management given by line balancing
is to distribute the work elements evenly in the manufacturing cell and tie them to the takt time previously established.

3. Methodology

A general procedure is suggested. At the beginning of the intervention process the focus area is reviewed and the
measures of what is and the goal of what should be are determined. This is done to keep clear what the real problem is
and its importance through the key indicators that aren’t accomplished. The Value Stream Map (VSM) tool makes easier
to understand and perceive the actual situation for the next step analysis, giving each operation cycle time, the
accumulation of inventory between operations, and the total lead time.
The next stage of the analysis is to gather information related to the process, using operations time measurement,
combined worksheet, spaghetti diagrams. Operations time measurement is a tool used to track waiting times between
operators and machines, facilitating the identification of bottlenecks. Spaghetti diagrams are traced for every real path a
product follows throughout the process sequence. It is important to quantify the distance in meters, per day, shift and
year. A Combined worksheet records waiting times between the operator and the machines, contributing to bottleneck
identification as well. The Balanced state plots every process according to its cycle time. Takt time is calculated and
shown in the same chart, providing a clear image of the processes with an exceeding cycle time, thus representing the
actual state, in which bottlenecks could be found. The same processes should be plotted for the desired state, but with
expected cycle times and calculating the near-optimal number of operators.
Once the operation is fully measured and plotted, the identification and classification of wastes found through
the process is studied, using the Toyota’s waste classification types (Ohno, 1988); a Pareto chart can be useful to
recognize which ones have greater negative impact in the process. A comparison is made with the results obtained in the
time measurement and the standard time that is considered for the process, in order to determine the Gap of the analysis.
Likewise, a Value-added and non value-added activity analysis is made, and the results thrown as non value-added
activities will be the Gap to consider. At this stage of the methodology the root causes are exposed.
The Standardized work method approach is the next stage. In this stage the design of the set of proposals to
eliminate the gap is done. These consist of redesigning the work cell based on a one-piece flow system, synchronizing the
operations, and relocating both operational and human resources. All with the purpose of accomplishing the goal of takt
time, efficiency and, therefore, productivity. It is necessary to document every action taken in order to verify that
standardized work is being accomplished. To do so, it is recommended to show the actual situation, the solutions for the
problem and the results obtained. All the information shown should be numerical data. A simulation of the future state is
very helpful to collect the projected results before its implementation.
In the final stage, the main goal is to confirm that the expected results are being accomplished. We will describe
conclusions; synthesize results of planned decreasing time in activities with non-added value. In addition, a summary
containing the improved time in activities that add value to the product, a comparison of the initial and final cycle time,
and the balanced operations of the process is also given. Finally, developing a “control plan” can help to assure the
accomplishment of the standardized work and its results throughout time.

4. Implementation and Results

In this section we will describe the application of the standardized work methodology to a manufacturing work
cell within the northern Mexico facility of an important company, focusing on the key waste management aspect,
analyzed previously, to improve the new layout proposal in order to achieve the takt time goal, and synchronize the
operations at the shop floor.
The named work cell manufactures a high volume of manually bended and welded complex subassemblies,
which are hung in carriers and sent to the next process: powder painting. Productivity is recorded at the end of the
hanging stage. The actual goal is to produce 64 subassemblies daily, at a Takt Time of 17 minutes. The available time is
1,090 minutes per day, but with the ramp up, the production demands 76 subassemblies daily. The manufacturing process
must be able to accomplish that output.
 The company’s main interest is to reach a productivity goal of 92%, instead of 87.22% measured at the
beginning of the project. The strategy is based in eliminating the wastes using Lean Manufacturing, a new layout
redesign proposal, and operations synchronization, crafting the kaizen actions to guarantee the one-piece flow through
the work cell.

4.1 Process Mapping and Key facts

Once the process is identified and clearly defined, the next stage is to collect all data and gather key information
related to the operational indicators. This is carried out by applying the following tools:
a) Spaghetti diagrams
b) Cycle and Operations time measurement
c) Combined worksheet
d) Bottleneck analysis
e) New demand Takt Time calculation

The bottleneck operation illustrated in the Value Stream Map given in Figure 1 is full welding. This includes all
activities from the bending process until the full welded subassembly is hung on carriers for the next internal customer
(powder coating). In the other hand, the hanging operation causes the highest IPK at the measured process, an average of
18 pieces waiting to be hung, representing other important waiting time waste and an opportunity for the one-piece flow.
The process takt time at this moment was measured in 17 minutes and the total cycle time in 124 minutes.

Figure 1. Present Value Stream Map

4.2 Gap identification

After collecting all the information, a comparison is made between the results obtained with time measurement
and the standard time considered for the process. These two numbers are used to determine the Gap, which reflects the
deviation between what is and what should be, according to the standard time. In fact, the analysis shows that the real
operation time, measured in 121 minutes, is lower than the standard time previously established in 144 minutes by the
factory. It represented an opportunity to update the company’s standard time and improve the operations based on the
new total cycle time to guarantee the efficiency.
In the same fashion, a value-added and non Value-added activity analysis was made (Figure 2), separating
operation activities from wastes, and the resulting non Value-added activities were the gap to consider for elimination. At
this stage of the methodology, the non-value sources are exposed, this will facilitate decision- making and will suggest
the further steps to follow. Notice that the bottleneck operation of full welding contains only 27% of value added activity.

Figure 2. Value-added and Non Value-added activity analysis

4.3 Key wastes identification

At this step, the most relevant findings are the identification of wastes and their detailed causes to analyze, in
order to define the future strategy and actions to increase productivity.
The First Pass Yield tracking (FPY) quality measurement, analyzing the waste of “making defective products”
(Ohno, 1988), shows that the rework effect caused by the lack of quality at the source waste, represents a total of 43.84
minutes.
Through the Spaghetti diagrams for each operation of the work cell, the distance waste measured is equivalent to
walk 542.42 meters for each manufactured product. Considering a full-day production goal, the walked distance
measured is equivalent to 35.12 minutes per shift through the whole work cell. The standard work combination sheet
allowed the identification of the main operations and reflected the unnecessary movements as waste, primarily in the last
three operations: the knife assembly, the functionality inspection and the hang up operation, all represented by the full
and partial welding workstations. All of them represent 160.58 hours per month (average 8 hours and 27 minutes a day or
3.5 subassemblies based on their standard time).
In order to improve efficiency on worked hours and further increase productivity, it will be necessary to define a
new layout design. The one proposed is oriented toward an increase of the manufacturing cell performance and the
reduction of excessive distances traveled by the technicians. In the most cases, these are due to carrying pieces to build
the subassembly, and moving it around different workstations throughout the manufacturing process. Additionally, the
new layout should include an ergonomic design, in order to avoid fatigue and reduce the technician injury risks. The
access for the forklifts to supply the supermarkets should be facilitated too.
The lack of a one-piece flow system, also results in the accumulation of unnecessary WIP (work-in-process)
before the hang up operation. This causes unnecessary waiting time at the subassemblies and decreases productivity. The
previous deficiency causes extra time on weekends for the teeth and knives welding and for the hang up operations.
Further, the paint system chain is saturated, and the final impact is an inconsistent flow through the following operations
–internal customers- during the regular shifts.
With a new layout, designed under a waste elimination oriented criteria, the hours worked by the technicians
will be reduced and the pieces per hour will increase, thus improving the productivity ratio. In fact, designing a layout
based on a one-piece flow system with synchronized operations could assure the takt time to be achieved.
4.4 Waste elimination strategy and layout redesign

In an attempt to decrease the main wastes found, the strategy objective is focused in the development of a one-
piece flow system according to the new takt time, keeping the new cycle time as the new company’s standard time. The
customer required demand was achieved by redefining the standard work sequence on pre welding and welding
workstations and balancing the operations in the whole manufacturing cell. Figure 3 shows the result of the new balanced
cell. In summary, the following initiatives were undertaken:

 Layout redesign under a one piece-flow-system:

Machinery and tooling relocation on a sequence; tooling modification for capacity increase; supermarkets
relocation at the beginning of the cell in front of their corresponding workstations;, elimination of IPK (In
process kanban) space to minimize the WIP, limiting only to the planned IPK to manage variations on demand.
 Hang up the subassemblies before the welding workstations, to eliminate in floor WIP.
 Design a new and ergonomic welding tool for the welding workstations, based on a one-axis rotation and the
quality calibrator included in order to comply with the standards, while keeping the subassemblies hanged.
 Modify the low volume pre-welding tool to fabricate high volume subassemblies and increase the production
capacity in this operation, in preparation for the production ramp up.
 Re-define a new standard work for the shop floor, by balancing and synchronizing operations in order to reduce
bottlenecks in the manufacturing cell and accomplish the new demand takt time
 Implement a kanban system for the subassembly components supermarket, in order to guarantee piece
availability at the manufacturing cell.
 Visual management implementation for the components supermarket, and for the whole manufacturing cell.

Figure 3. Bottleneck analysis and future balanced stage

In addition to the implementation of the listed initiatives, it will be necessary to train the technicians on the new
way to operate the cell, how to use the kanban system, and the new welding and pre-welding tooling. It will be very
important to keep the standard work instructions at hand and executing a periodic audit, in order to guarantee the
adoption of the new work method.

4.5 Discrete simulation model projected results and implementation

The previously described strategy requires an additional time and financial investment to run the redesigned
layout. The use of a discrete simulation model helped to project the expected results and to measure the expected goals
before implementation. The Promodel software was selected to run the simulation.
Using the new standard work based on a new operation sequence, the layout optimization and the best labor
utilization, we measured the following indicators through the simulation model: percentage of machinery utilization,
percentage of blocked pieces per stage, percentage of labor usage per stage, and total subassemblies hung up at the end of
the process.
The proposed changes on the manufacturing cell, as a first scenario, implies the relocation of the Baucor and
Fasti machines for the folding and bending operations respectively. This will reduce the amount of times that the forklift
accesses the cell and allowing the material to drop down into the cell supermarkets. The next step consists in relocating
the welding stations, next to the carriers’ riel. The new operational method requires each welding technician to finish the
whole sequence of welding operation, make the quality verifications in the welding tooling, and hang up the piece on the
carrier at the corridor. This method reduces the WIP in the manufacturing cell area, and the excessive time and motions
caused by the waste of waiting for the pieces to be inspected and hung. The previous WIP area, with the layout
improvements, will be dramatically reduced. The new area will eliminate the possibility of accumulating unnecessary
inventory through the operation, improving the cleanliness and order in the work area. Finally, the operational balance
between the processes of tacking, partial welding and welding eliminates the bottlenecks and accomplishes every stage
cycle time into the new demand takt time.
The implementation of the above listed kaizen projects represented a projected increase of produced pieces from 65 to 76
subassemblies per day, accomplishing the ramp up new demand. The results summary is described below (Table 1: 1st
Scenario Simulation results).
Working on the first proposed scenario, the manufacturing cell will work under the one-piece flow system from
the welding operations until the end of the process under study, before powder coating station.

Table 1. 1st Scenario simulation results

1 st Scenario

Simulation time 113 hours

Shifts 2 ** Including break and lunch time
Daily capacity 76 pieces

% Machinery utilization The machines with more % of utilization are

Folding Fasti 72.47%
Tacking 67.38%
Welding 1 59.75%
% Blocked piece 67.71%
% Of labor utilization Welders 1 to 4 40 - 50%
Folding and bending 40.77%
% Of wait 18.39%

Failed arrivals Zero

For the discrete simulation model, the new times were calculated using the Stat-Fit function of the Promodel
software. The summary of results is described on Table 2: 2nd Scenario simulation results, where we found that the % of
blocked pieces increased by the use of the one piece IPK.

The second scenario, visualizes the demand increase for the next 3 years, forecasting 120 units per day. The
proposal consists in the installation of new rails for carriers, the hanging of pieces before the welding processes in order
to have them suspended for the rest of the stages, redesigning the tooling, and installing a one piece IPK between stages,
in order to reduce the velocity variability between manual welders. The IPK will remain hung.

Table 2. 2nd Scenario simulation results

2 nd Scenario

Simulation time 113 hours

Shifts 2 ** Including break and lunch time

Daily capacity 116 pieces

% Machinery utilization The machines with more % of utilization are

Tacking 85.83%
Partial Welding 64.34%
Bending Baucor 62.39%
Folding Fasti 54.92%
% Blocked piece 75.38%

% Of labor utilization Partial welder 53.01%

Folding and bending 52.22%

% Of wait 17.40%
Failed arrivals Zero
 An additional recommendation for the responsible management of the mentioned manufacturing cell is the
acquisition of a new folding machine for the second scenario, given the age of the current equipment, to reduce the down
time in this workstation caused by failure. It is expected that the pieces per day produced increased in 11 subassemblies
using the first scenario, reducing the inventory between operations in the shop floor dramatically, achieving and beating
the initial productivity goal. The new standard work reflects the operational efficiency for each stage in the
manufacturing cell.

5. Conclusions

The present paper explores an application of lean methodology in a manufacturing process field, based on the
synchronous operations approach by Umble (1997), reducing the identified wastes described by Ohno (1988), using
standard work at a Mexican facility of a global agricultural industry leader in its field, improving the process efficiency
and WIP reduction -close to elimination- in most cell operations, achieving a one-piece flow system, and controlling the
bottlenecks under their takt time.
The strategy to reduce waste described in the first scenario has successfully being implemented by now; the
results obtained are providing to the facility management the bases to make assertive decisions for the future
manufacturing system to support the demand increase for the next years, simulated in the second scenario, and the
confidence of success on sustaining their efficiency and productivity ratios.

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