Standard work is the documented current best-known way to perform a task. It exists so that improvement is possible - you can't improve a process that has no defined baseline.
Three components
- Sequence: the exact order of sub-steps within a stage.
- Standard time: the target cycle time (not necessarily the observed average).
- Standard WIP: the amount of in-process inventory needed for the sequence to run smoothly.
Not a constraint - a baseline
Standard work is often mistaken for a rigid script. In Lean it's the opposite: it's the current agreement so that when someone finds a better way, the improvement can be captured and rolled out. If you don't have a standard, every operator does it their own way and improvement is impossible to measure.
In MapVS
Each stage has a Standard Time field alongside Cycle Time. When observed cycle time drifts from standard, MapVS surfaces it in the analytics tab as "performance loss" - one of the three components of OEE.