← More Toolbox Talks
📱
Best viewed in landscape & full screen
Rotate your phone sideways, then tap the button below for the best experience. You can also swipe left/right to navigate slides.
Continue without full screen
📋 Toolbox Talk  ·  Continuous Improvement

Standard Work:
The Best Way We Know, Today

What standard work is, how takt time sets the pace of customer demand, and how to write a standard operating procedure (SOP) that people actually follow.

✅ Updated October 2026📚 Lean & continuous improvement🏭 Warehouse · logistics · manufacturingukworkrights.co.uk

Talk 5 of 7 in the Continuous Improvement series  ·  a working method, not legal guidance

What it is

Standard work in plain English

  • Standard work is the current best and safest way to do a job, written down and agreed with the people who do it
  • It has three parts: takt time, work sequence and standard stock
  • Takt time is the pace the customer needs: available working time divided by the number of units needed
  • Work sequence is the order of steps that does the job safely and right first time
  • Standard stock (standard work-in-progress) is the small amount of material needed in the process to keep it flowing
  • The standard is the baseline for improvement — you can't improve a job that is done ten different ways

Not set in stone

A standard is the best way we know today. When someone finds a better way, test it and update the standard — that is how improvements stick.
Why it matters

What a good standard gives you

  • The same result whoever does the job, on any shift
  • Safety controls built into the method, so the safe way is the normal way
  • Quicker, clearer training for new starters and agency staff
  • Problems stand out: if the standard is followed and it still goes wrong, the process needs fixing
  • Realistic planning, because everyone knows how long the job takes
  • Know-how is kept when an experienced person moves on

Built with the team

Standards written in an office and handed down get ignored. Write them with the people who do the job, and test them on the floor.
How to do it

Takt time: the pace of customer demand

  • Takt time = available working time ÷ customer demand
  • Available time is the shift length minus planned breaks and meetings
  • Demand is the number of units the customer needs in that time
  • Cycle time is how long a step actually takes — compare it with takt to find the bottleneck
  • A step slower than takt falls behind; a much faster one may be over-producing
  • Takt is set by the customer, not by how fast people can work

Worked sum (example figures)

An 8-hour shift with 60 minutes of planned breaks gives 420 minutes, or 25,200 seconds. The customer needs 840 units a shift. Takt time = 25,200 ÷ 840 = 30 seconds per unit.
How to do it

Writing an SOP people will use

1
Watch the job

Watch the people who do it well, and ask why they do each step.

2
Break it into key steps

What is done, in what order.

3
Add key points and reasons

For each step: safety, quality and the knack that makes it work — and why.

4
Use pictures

Photos and diagrams beat paragraphs. One page if you can.

5
Test it

Have someone unfamiliar follow it while you watch, and fix what confuses them.

6
Display, train, review

Keep it at the point of use, train to it, and review it when the job, kit or risk assessment changes.

Good SOP check

Could a competent new starter follow it without asking? Does it show the safe way? Is it at the point of use? Does it have an owner and a review date?
Worked example  ·  Warehouse

Standard work for loading a trailer

  • What we saw: each loader built loads differently — heavy pallets in odd places, loads re-worked at the door
  • The team agreed one sequence: check the trailer, vehicle restraint or chocks on, load in drop order, heavy and even at the bottom, secure, record
  • Key points with reasons on the sheet — e.g. restraint on before the forklift enters, so the trailer cannot move away from the dock
  • Standard stock: a marked lane at the door holding the next load, staged in drop order
  • Takt came from the departure schedule: how many trailers must leave each hour

What changed

Loads were built the same way on every shift, staging stopped blocking the dock, and new loaders learned from the sheet and a buddy.
Worked example  ·  Manufacturing

Balancing a three-person assembly cell

  • Takt: 420 available minutes and 840 units needed gives 30 seconds per unit
  • Cycle times timed (example figures): station 1 = 25 s, station 2 = 38 s, station 3 = 22 s
  • Station 2 was slower than takt, so work piled up before it and station 3 waited
  • Two small tasks moved from station 2 to the others: now 28 s, 29 s and 28 s — all under takt
  • Standard stock set at one unit between stations, with the sequence and key points written for each station

What changed

Work flowed without piles or waiting, nobody was rushed to keep up, and the standard showed exactly who does what.
Common mistakes

What goes wrong

  • Writing it in the office without watching the job
  • Pages of text that nobody reads — keep it short and visual
  • Setting takt by how fast people can go instead of by customer demand
  • Never updating it, so the sheet and the real job drift apart
  • Leaving out the reasons why, so people skip steps that look pointless
  • Using standards to catch people out instead of to support them

⚠ Watch for this

If people keep doing the job differently from the standard, find out why. Often their way is better, or the standard can't be followed in real conditions.
Try it this week

Write one key-points sheet

1
Choose one short task

One that new starters often get wrong.

2
Watch an experienced person

Note the steps and ask why at each one.

3
Write it on one page

Steps, key points, reasons and a photo.

4
Test it on a newcomer

Fix anything that confused them.

Bring it back

Did the newcomer get it right first time? What did you change after watching them use it?
Over to you

Discussion questions

  • Which jobs here are done differently on each shift?
  • What does a new starter find hardest to learn, and why?
  • Which of our written procedures does nobody use — and why not?
  • What is our customer demand per hour or per shift, and does everyone know it?
  • Where are the safety controls in our methods written down?

For the presenter

Bring one of your real procedures and test it against the 'good SOP check'. It is often the quickest way to show why standards matter.
Quick check

Check your understanding

1
Takt time is:

A) How fast the quickest person works    B) Available time ÷ customer demand    C) The length of a shift

2
420 minutes are available and 210 units are needed. What is takt time?

A) 2 minutes    B) 30 seconds    C) 20 minutes

3
Which is NOT one of the three parts of standard work?

A) Work sequence    B) Standard stock    C) The overtime rota

4
A good SOP is written:

A) By the office alone    B) With the people who do the job, and tested on the floor    C) Once, and never changed

Answers

1 B  ·  2 A  ·  3 C  ·  4 B
Common questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between takt time and cycle time?
Takt time is the pace the customer needs. Cycle time is how long a step actually takes. A step whose cycle time is longer than takt is a bottleneck.
Does standard work stop people improving the job?
No — it is the starting point for improvement. Without a standard there is no baseline to measure a change against. When a better way is found and tested, the standard is updated.
Where does the word takt come from?
It is German for beat or pulse, like the beat a conductor keeps. Takt time is the beat the process needs to keep to match customer demand.
For whoever runs this talk

Delivery notes & attendance record

Suggested length: 10–15 minutes. A toolbox talk is a short briefing on one topic, given by a supervisor or team leader to the people doing the work.

Before you start

Bring a calculator and one real procedure from your site. If you can, find out your actual customer demand per shift before the talk.

How to run it

Explain the three parts (slides 2 and 3), work through the takt sum together, then test your real procedure against the 'good SOP check'.

Where this fits

Talk 5 of the Continuous Improvement series. Process Observation (talk 7) shows how to time the cycles you compare with takt.

The worked examples are illustrations to start a discussion, not real case studies or measured results.

Attendance record
TopicStandard Work: The Best Way We Know, Today
Date
Site / location
Delivered by
Actions agreed
Next talk due
Attendees
NameSignature

Use the Print handout button to print this record. General guidance on a working method — not legal, health and safety or HR advice. Before changing how a job is done, check the risk assessment and safe system of work for that job, and involve the people who do it.

Continuous Improvement series

Keep
improving

Seven short talks that build on each other. Run them in order, or pick the one your team needs next.

Next talk
Value Stream Mapping
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-vsm.html
After that
Process Observation
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-timestudies.html
The full series
All 7 talks
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-talks.html#continuous-improvement
This talk
Standard Work
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-standardwork.html

General guidance on a working method — not legal advice · Updated October 2026 · © UK Work Rights Ltd · Company No. 17228507 · ICO Registration No. ZC239465 · Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ  ·  hello@ukworkrights.co.uk
Directed and published by Matt Thompson, founder
Content is produced with AI assistance.