Procedures

The generally accepted definition of procedure in a Lean company is that it is the “how” of an operation. It is closely related to the term “process”. A process would be the series of steps required to complete the operation, or the “what”.

Think of the acronym SOP, which is either standard operating procedure or standing operating procedure. In either case, the “P” stands for procedure. Most people understand that an SOP is a description of how to accomplish a task.

By the above definition, if you are assembling a go-cart, the process would tell you install a hub then install a tire, and should specify the order for all 4 sets.

The related procedures would tell you how to properly seat the hub and how much to torque the lug nuts.

The truth, though, is that the distinction is not really all that important. Certainly, you need to know the order to do your work, and you need to know specifics about how to do your work. But it can be distracting to an organization to quibble over nomenclature for this sort of thing. The important thing is to make sure you have a well-documented set of instructions to accomplish the work in your organization. How you label it is not as important, though the whole organization should call it by the same name.

There are occasional cases, however, where how you refer to the steps of your work might be important. For example, ISO9001 and the Shingo Institute have specific terminology for their requirements. If you are going to use an external certifying agency, make sure you use their nomenclature.