Why Do We Need Work Orders?

We don’t!

Lean companies, for the most part, don't use work orders to control production. Why not? Because work orders are wasteful. It takes a lot of time and effort to run the work-order process, and it is 100-percent waste.

There's another, deeper reason as well. In many companies, work orders are designed for push production; usually they are needed to bring a semblance of control to out-of-control processes. They are bandages for poorly performing processes. Lean companies, on the other hand, control their processes through pull, visual management, standard work, and empowered people. Using work orders gets in the way of visual management and empowered people, and perpetuates poor processes.

So how do we go about eliminating work orders? When I help companies tackle this issue, we do it in steps.

First, you list the reasons why you need to use a work order. I've listed 15 reasons (plus lot traceability) below for using a work order. Your company might have more reasons, or it might have fewer. But there are typically a lot of good reasons for using a work order. Here are a few:

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Comments

#16....

Excellent article!

Still, I am confused by item #16. IF a company is running lean, where are the "Lots"?.

Having substantial medical device background, I understand there are items that are still produced in lots or batches, such as plastic components, vials, etc. and require traceability for regulatory purposes.

Using the concept of "serial number" and assigning as a company produces, eliminates the need for upfront work order numbers and still gives the required traceability. One farily elegant method is to assign a "serial number" to every kanban and record that as the process progresses. it give complete traceability and allows complete flow with out upfront work orders. Even where regulatroy requirements are not prevalent, "serialized" kanban is an amazing tool to diagnose and fix problems.

Just my pair of copper Lincolns.

Computerised WO consumes lot of useless manpower

Dear Sir,

You are absolutely correct. After the introduction of computerised WO system many maintenance teams have started to work for the CMMS and not for the real mainenance problem. They always spent time to keep the dash board needle always in the green zone. Hence waste most of their valuable time in manipulating the data. They never spent time in trouble shooting the problem or improve the maintenance of the plant. In the process they lose the experience gained or never gain expertise on the equipment they are maintaining. Like a doctor nowadays spent more time in looking at the computer screen rather looking at the patient.

Hence the CMMS shall be abolished or shall be given to a dedicated team and not to the employees who are doing the real maintenance of the plant.

Best regards,

N.Natarajan.

+971508120339

Toyoting or not Toyoting?

The fact is that we are still NOT used not to work without work orders, whatever they are: Ray Johnson is right in raising questions about lots traceability. Toyota itself is subject to regulatory traceability when marking its cars with a chassis number, so let's walk on solid ground just for once. In many instances - but not always nor anywhere - work orders are "un-lean" indeed and favored by bureaucratic approaches; at the same time, companies still ignore whether to plan their production according to push or pull plans, let alone Logistics input. Until "production" and her mother "sales" will dominate the market scene, there'll be little room for logical Logistics.