Standard works are a critical part of implementing Lean Manufacturing. The standardization of processes includes all the steps required for a person to complete the job. With PCI Group’s adoption of Lean, standard works have become a critical tool in improving the accuracy of transactional mail. In this episode of Ask the Experts, Skip Pawul, Executive VP and Co-Owner, spoke about how the company realized these improvements.
“Standard works are quick visuals for the person doing the process. It walks a person through step A to step Z,” Skip explained.
The company created over 200 standard works, but they don’t stop once one is complete. “The accuracy improvement from standard works comes from the operator, QC person, business, or whoever wants to improve the process because they see something less efficient or could improve the quality of the end product,” Skip said.
When an employee identifies something like this, they take it to the business improvement team. They get feedback and details from the person, then analyze it. “If it makes sense, we change the standard works. We’re refining them over and over again, getting more confident that the end result will be better, more efficient, and have fewer errors,” Skip added.
With such a commitment to improving the accuracy of transactional mail with Lean, the team at PCI Group likely won’t ever stop improving! It’s currently at 99.9999%, which is industry-leading.
