Single point lessons, also called 1-page plans, are an important part in establishing and maintaining a new Lean Enterprise System or process. As with many of the Lean tools, it’s elegance and simplicity means it is often overlooked or dismissed as not needed. But then, if you haven’t documented your new process, how can we clearly communicate that to others, expect them to “remember” what to do when you are not there and have a clear foundation on which to build improvement?
What Is a Single Point Lesson?
As the name suggests, a single point lesson is a one page, mini procedure, including a summary of the key points and using photos as much as is practical. It is used to clearly communicate the expectations of a process. If a process is complex, a single point lesson won’t be sufficient to train a person who has never completed this process before but it will have enough information to assist a person who has been trained to complete the task. Single point lessons also need to include information on what to do if the process can’t be completed as outlined in the lesson; this often involves contacting the area team leader, with a phone number
Why Do We Need Single Point Lessons?
A production environment is made up of many, many little process steps and procedures to get the work done by your workforce. Single point lessons make the initial training of a new process easier. When they are displayed at the workstation, they are a simple reminder of the expectations of that task. It is much easier to get our operators to meet our production requirements when they have been clearly defined and understood!
When Do We Create a Single Point Lesson?
As soon as a new process is developed and implemented, a single point lesson is needed to train your team in the new process. Creating a single point plan must become part of the implementation plan. Use this opportunity to test your own understanding of how a process works and what variables may appear to test the robustness of your process.
Summary
Creating single point lessons are an important part in implementing any change, which is at the heart of all continuous improvement environments. Take the time to simply document the key points of a process. By including your operators in developing the single point lessons, you are well on your way to getting your new process to stick.
