Standard work: what it is and what it means

Standard work is the everyday operating baseline: the documentation of the current way of working, not an archive of the past. It sets the best currently known way of performing an activity, with defined sequence, timing and quality requirements. Before improving, every operator must know the standard in force: without it, every improvement is a variation with no point of reference. Imai (Kaizen, 1986) describes standard work not as a finish line but as the baseline on which subsequent improvements are built: every standard is the basis for the next improvement. The operations manual is that standard: not an archive of the past but the description of the current way of working. The operational question is not when to rewrite the manual but how to update it so that it stays aligned with operational reality.

Distinctive: basis for the next improvement
Distinctive: current way of working
Distinctive: best currently known way
Distinctive: baseline on which subsequent improvements are built
Essential: everyday operating baseline
Essential: not an archive of the past
Essential: defined sequence, timing and quality requirements
Essential: every improvement is a variation with no point of reference
Constant: every standard is the basis
Constant: documentation of the

Glossary

Standard work

The everyday operating baseline that describes the current way of working, not an archive of the past — every standard is the basis for the next improvement.