Standardization rarely ranks as high in the search charts as words like “kaizen” or “continuous improvement,” but I daresay it is even more important!
Taiichi Ohno said himself that “without a standard there can be no kaizen.”
Many organizations get excited about the idea of kaizen but neglect the importance of standardization.
In the end, morale and momentum suffers as improvements fail to stick and confusion increases throughout the organization.
It is more helpful to think of continuous improvement as continuous standardization. If you aim to tie every improvement into an updated standard, it has a far better chance of being received and sustained long-term.
The video above comes from the introductory section of our course Standardization and Standard Work.