The importance of standardised work in preventing wrong deliveries

Abstract: The purpose of this bachelor’s degree work was to analyse a packaging station in a global manufacturing company in Sweden, and to provide an answer on why it is important with standardised work in preventing wrong deliveries. The purpose of the analysis was to come up with various improvement proposals in order to reduce and prevent wrong deliveries. The analysis of the packaging station was conducted by observing the station and understanding how the workers work and what kind of work procedure do they follow. The observations made it possible to conduct several conclusions on why the problems occurred, one of these conclusions was that the work procedure is not standardised which in turn increased the errors in the station. Through a clear problem description, it was possible to come up with improvement proposals by answering the following research questions:  Main RQ: Why is a standardised workplace important in a manufacturing company? To be able to answer the main research question, the question has been divided into two smaller sub-questions: 1.     How can a packaging area be standardised by using lean process improvement tools? 2.     How can operating standards improve the efficiency in a packaging station? The approach applied in this study and project has been qualitative research with an inductive approach, by reviewing scientific articles and observing the work in the packaging station it was possible to analyse and compare the collected data in order to come with a conclusion to the problem. The data that was collected in form of interviews has been continuously analysed in order to have as relevant data as possible for the improvements work.  By comparing the collected data from the literature and the case findings it was possible to lay a foundation for the analysis where the proposed improvements came from and to conclude a final proposed improvements that reduces the wrong deliveries in the packaging station. In conclusion, standardised work is important in order to prevent wrong deliveries because it contributes to a more clear and sustainable structure that the workers follow. By having standardised instructions and methods that is being followed, the amount of errors is reduced in the packaging station.  Wrong deliveries are reduced and prevented when there is a standardised work procedure that is based on the lean ideology in a packaging station