Value Stream Improvement Archives - Partners in Business Excellence, LLC

Lean thinking is really conceptualizing lean principles and how they apply to a specific enterprise. Because Lean principles started in Japan with the Toyota Production System, its primary application has been in manufacturing. Today, Lean manufacturing has been growing in interest and popularity as more and more companies look for increased agility, faster to-market production, and stream-lined processes that reduce wasteful practices. Its implementation has even spread outside of fabrication into a broader business use.

Whether in lean manufacturing or lean management in other industries, five primary principles have been established to capture the goals of lean. These concepts were captured by, and summarized here based on the book “Lean Thinking” by Womack and Jones. And while the concepts themselves are simple, the implementation takes time as perfection is the final goal.

Lean Thinking Concept 1: Value

Value is what is delivered, and set primarily by the customer. What the consumer is willing to pay should be the goal of production to meet that value and also provide profit to the producing company. For example, if a consumer is willing to pay $10 for a widget, the company should use that value as their benchmark for production, eliminating waste and improving processes to meet customer expectations.

When customers are having their expectations met and companies are making profits, this is considered perfection.

Lean Thinking Concept 2: The Value Stream

Understanding the flow of the life-cycle of a product is the only way to truly eliminate waste. The Value Stream concept examines the flow from production to disposal of any given product to find areas where value is lacking and can be improved, or where processes are wasteful. Some wasteful processes may be unavoidable due to certain circumstances such as lack of technological advances or access to resources.

The awareness that is created in regards to the wasteful processes allow them to be corrected or improved for better outcomes.

Lean Thinking Concept 3: Flow

Flow refers to the state by which all processes are in alignment making production move forward without interruption. As wasteful practices are eliminated, production increases. This includes processes that previously halted product launches and to-market deliverables, something critical in today’s market where agility, speed and quality are of tremendous value.

Flow is the state where wasteful down-time no longer exists.

Lean Thinking Concept 4: Pull

Lean concepts tend to reduce cold inventory because rather than relying on forecasting demand, they put in place communication and manufacturing methods that allow for production on the fly – as customers order.

What if “busy work” was eliminated and production only happened when a sale closed? It’s a revolutionary mindset and manufacturing concept that both increases efficiency and output.

Lean Thinking Concept 5: Perfection

While we have all been taught that nothing is perfect, lean concepts are rooted in achieving perfection through continuous improvement. When an organization truly implements lean tools and concepts, they strive to get to the root of problems, never using a “band-aid” approach for fixes, but rather really dig into data and processes, and be willing to change based on feedback. They in essence create agility in business by being perfectionists focusing on lean.

Contact me today to learn more about lean thinking and how to apply it to your business to create more efficiency and profitability. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.

Businesses who have an end product, such as in manufacturing, use Value Stream mapping to help streamline activities, find holes or bottlenecks in their processes, or gain more clarity about how information and materials move through their organization. Value Stream Mapping is one tool of Lean Manufacturing.

Both Value Stream Mapping (VSM) and Value Stream Improvement (VSI) are sometimes used interchangeably, but the subtle difference is that VSM focuses on manufacturing and VSI is used more for the entire organization, including in non-manufacturing areas such as front office processes. It can be used in a variety of industries and I have used it successfully with a library, a software company, a county workforce agency, a construction company and others.

More and more businesses are looking at this Value Stream Improvement model, regardless of industry, to accomplish their goals.

“…Lean is much more than manufacturing. Peter Holtgreive led our software company into Lean with impressive results through value stream mapping and several kaizen events for our services and finance teams.” -Scott Ford

What is Value Stream mapping?

Value Stream mapping is a visual tool that defines information and material flows within a business. It clarifies responsibilities, practices and workflow with the overall goal of increased efficiency. Efficiency can come in several forms, such as reduced costs of production, increased productivity and less waste, just to name a few.

Value Stream Mapping can be used for processes of all types including employee onboarding, role and/or workflow clarity, accounts payable or receivable, warehouse functions, purchasing/working with vendors and more. It can be used to maximize consistency in every department of an organization and can be accomplished online, offline or a blend of both.

As a tool for efficiency and effectiveness, it can be used to create an ideal scenario versus actual scenario, to help make changes in management, processes and even culture. VSM looks at how well all of the processes work together, focused on material/service flow and information flow. There are typically many metrics included in each process step and in a lot of cases it goes through many departments, usually starting at initial client contract through to invoicing.

Value Stream mapping takes a specific objective and helps to measure and compare that objective alongside the entire organization’s objectives to make sure that all processes are aligned with the company’s values and capabilities.

How do I begin Value Stream mapping?

Value Stream Mapping usually begins with a designated team of people from inside the organization tasked with leading the project. It is also recommended that “outside eyes”, a consultant or Value Stream facilitator, be present to help guide the conversation and point out holes that may be overlooked by people who are seeing things day to day.

Here’s a specific example of this: I went into a company to facilitate a Value Stream Mapping session on how they receive sales orders for their custom made products. Once we mapped the current state it became obvious how poorly the entire process was working causing frustration throughout the company. As outside eyes, I was able to point out and address both a waste and a broken process they wouldn’t have addressed without me.

In Value Stream mapping we:

Plan the event by defining the scope and collecting data.
Extract the knowledge of those who do the work, create a snapshot and visibly show how the process works or doesn’t work – the Current State.
Identify opportunities for improvement throughout the value stream where the processes can work better together.
Design the Future State map ensuring that the opportunities improvements are taken into account while maintaining alignment with the mission and vision of the company. Create a project plan on how to get from the Current State to the Future State.

After the Value Stream Mapping is complete, we track, measure and manage follow through to make sure the new process is working as intended. We adjust or correct as needed.

Value Stream mapping is an effective tool for bringing clarity and efficiency to processes in business. As your outside eyes, I help you by facilitating Value Stream mapping and other efficiency boosting, non-software based solutions that can be implemented quickly and easily to reach the goals you are desiring. I often use VSM to find out what the rest of my engagement with a client might be, as it really helps us develop a plan on how to get where they want to and what needs to be done to get there.

Contact me today to learn more about how Value Stream mapping can simplify and improve your business process making them easier to understand, perform and manage. Together, we will create a continuous improvement culture and healthier bottom line.

Value Stream Improvement

The 5 Concepts of Lean Thinking Summarized

What is Value Stream Mapping?