Value stream mapping or material and information-flow mapping is a lean technique that is used to analyze, design, and manage the information that is required to move a product to the customer.
Value stream mapping uses different symbols to represent the work streams and information flows. It is used to improve processes that have repetitive steps and numerous transfers in order such as the manufacturing industry.
Value stream mapping uses symbols which represent the customers view to show value adding and non value adding items in order to identify those items that don’t add value to the process.
Some non-value adding item include repetitive steps and numerous transfers. These are sources of bottlenecks and waste in a process because they can lead to wait time, duplication of effort, low productivity and poor quality.
There are numerous other sources of waste in a process and they include the following :
- Overproduction: Overproduction is a form of waste. When too much of a product is produced it can lead to the waste of raw materials, storage space, labor and other resources.
- Defects: during production expensive accidents and defects might occur. If overproduction is identified and eliminated, this would also lead to a reduction in production and hence a reduction in expense.
- Over-processing: Over-processing waste is defined as any step in a process that is unnecessary. An example of this is adding extra functionalities to a product which might not be needed by the customers.
- Waiting: Waiting waste is when there is a lag in the process due to handoffs. This could cause an increase in the processing time and waste resources such as power, materials and labor.
- Transport: Transport waste is when the vehicles transporting the products are taking longer routes than necessary.
So how do you create a value stream map ?
- Identify the process that you would be analyzing : you should start by identifying the process that you want to analyze and improve. This is meant to identify any problems with the current process.
- Elicit the process data : gather all the process data such as the number of people involved, the average number of working hours, cycle time, wait time, dependencies, uptime and downtime in order to fully understand the process.
- Define the current state : define the current process so that you can identify the potential bottlenecks and understand the cause of that waste.
- Define the future state : define the future state which has identifies the waste points and state potential ways to eliminate and improve them.
- Implement the future state : once the future state has been implemented, follow up with the stakeholders and confirm that it has resolved the identified problem. You should also set up Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) to review and continuously improve the process.
