Ask how long a task takes and you’ll get a range. Time someone tightening a part five times and you might see 30, 34, 38 and 42 seconds. Some of that is normal. Some of it is a bad day. A factory still needs one number for each task, so it can plan its day, set targets and spot problems. That number is called the standard time.
The problem
Picking that number by gut feel starts arguments. Take the average and one slow cycle drags it up. Take the fastest and nobody can hit it. Teams end up with targets people don’t believe in.
What we built
At Swip Tools, we built a free standard work calculator to take the guesswork out. It works in three steps:
- Time it. Watch the task a few times and record each one.
- Get the number. The tool picks a standard time from the timings you can actually repeat. You can always change it.
- See the whole job. Add up every task, including the walking between them, and compare the total with takt time, the pace the customer’s demand requires. The tool tells you plainly whether the job fits.
The result is a visual sheet of the whole job, the format lean factories have used for decades.
It’s free and needs no login.
Why it matters
A standard time everyone can see and trust makes the conversation easier. Instead of “you’re too slow,” it becomes “here’s what we measured, and here’s where the time goes.”
Try it
Time a real task: swiptools.com/tools/standard-work-calculator. For what to do when the numbers stop holding up, read When Standard Work Breaks Down on the Swip Tools blog.