Standardisation: A proactive improvement tool.

Skills gaps reduce performance. Yet because their impact is hard to quantify, they are often overlooked due to:

• Weaknesses in vendor-supplied routines.

• Overly complex SOPs used to provide training

• Informal “corporate muscle memory” which is lost when key staff change roles or leave.

These gaps are characterised by weaknesses, such as:

1. Persistent problem hot spots.

2. Poor contamination control and waste containment strategies.

3. Inconsistent compliance to best practices.

For manufacturing leaders aiming to achieve industry-leading performance, standardisation is an essential tool for developing workforce competence. It is not optional—it’s essential.

Making Skills Gaps Visible

Standardisation involves breaking tasks into three categories:

• Core Skills: Basic, routine operations such as start-up, steady-state running, and shutdown.

• Intermediate Skills: Tasks performed regularly but with variations—such as set-up, adjustment, or material replenishment.

• Specialist Skills: Infrequent, often complex tasks like troubleshooting or managing improvement projects.

Categorising tasks in this way defines the required skill profile and where routine tasks need to be simplified so that they can be carried out as a core competency. Not everyone can be expected to develop evey skill so an important feature of standardisation is the creation of the team skill profile so that leaders can:

• Match tasks to appropriate skill levels—core, intermediate, and specialist.

• Use structured learning plans to close skill gaps methodically.

• Simplify routine tasks, making them easier to perform and teach.

• Develop shift team capabilities to match operational needs.

• Build core competencies to improve workforce flexibility and responsiveness.

The outcome is a reduction in human error and enhanced capabilities for:

• Process control:: Clarifying task ownership, method gaps, and skill responsibilities.

• Daily Management: Aligning individual and collective capabilities.

• Planning: Using task feedback (e.g. errors, trouble shooting results) to address root causes and reinforce resilience.

• Policy Deployment: Creating logical pathways to develop necessary skills.

• Collaboration: Coordinating development across the team.

• Performance analysis: Tracking key metrics and supporting the development of insights into causal factors

Making it happen

Begin with clear control points and defined competencies to:

• Unlock specialist resources to tackle quality defects and design issues, while enhancing workforce autonomy.

• Improve planning accuracy.

• Enhances front line flexibility and engagement.

• Creates a scalable system for consistent application across areas.

1. Identify Control Hot Spots

   • Action: Refine core methods and accountability.

   • Outcome: Eliminate human error with robust work routines and targeted training.

2. Standardise Intermediate and Specialist Competencies

   • Action: Integrate asset care and operational tasks.

   • Outcome: Visual standards for consistent execution.

3. Simplify and Transfer Routine Tasks

   • Action: Introduce detection aids and refine weak practices.

   • Outcome: Reduce dependency on specialist skills and surface knowledge gaps.

4. Refine Learning Plans

   • Action: Enhance tools, routines, and measurement systems.

   • Outcome: Elevate consistency and quality.

5. Resolve Latent Design and Process Defects

   • Action: Optimise physical arrangements and task balancing.

   • Outcome: Boost standard speeds while protecting quality levels.

Conclusion

Reducing the hidden costs of skill and knowledge gaps through standardisation, skill matching, and systemisation delivers team based capability profiles and learning plans for core, intermediate and specialist skills

That translates skill gaps into proactive improvement opportunities to guide improvement priorities and provide:

• Better matching of people to tasks.

• Reduced reliance on tacit knowledge.

• Retention of organisational know-how.

• Flexible deployment of resources to meet changing production demands.

For senior manufacturing leaders, it delivers a clear strategy to build a competent, agile workforce and unlock the full potential of your operation.

Discover how the TPM Excellence programme can accelerate your path to world-class performance.