Value Stream Mapping
See the whole flow, find the waste
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What Is Value Stream Mapping?
A visual tool for analyzing the flow of materials and information required to deliver a product or service to customers.
Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a lean management method for documenting, analyzing, and improving the flow of information and materials required to produce a product or service. It shows the current state of a process and helps design a future state with less waste and faster flow.
Unlike process mapping, which focuses on individual process steps, VSM captures the entire value stream—from customer demand through delivery. It includes both material flow (bottom of the map) and information flow (top of the map), revealing disconnects and waste that process maps miss.
The power of VSM is seeing the whole system rather than optimizing individual steps. Many improvement efforts make one step faster while the overall flow time stays the same—or gets worse. VSM helps identify the true constraints and opportunities for improvement.
- •Understanding end-to-end flow of a process
- •Identifying systemic waste and bottlenecks
- •Planning lean transformations
- •Communicating current state to stakeholders
- •Setting priorities for improvement projects
- •Very small processes with obvious flow
- •When you need to improve immediately (map later)
- •If you're going to map but never act on it
- •First week of a new job (go see and learn first)
- •Mapping what should happen instead of what actually happens
- •Creating beautiful maps that sit on the wall unused
- •Mapping at too high a level to see real waste
- •Forgetting to include information flow
- •Optimizing individual steps without seeing whole flow
Standard Example
Value Stream: Customer Order to Delivery (Widget Product Line)
Current State Findings:
• Total Lead Time: 23 days
• Value-Added Time: 4.5 hours (0.8% of lead time)
• 14 inventory points between steps
• Batch sizes: 500 units (minimum order is 50)
• Information flow: weekly MRP runs to shop floor
Key Wastes Identified:
1. Waiting: 8 days in queue before machining
2. Overproduction: Building to forecast, not orders
3. Transportation: 3 warehouse moves before shipping
4. Inventory: $340K tied up in WIP
Future State Design:
• Flow cells for similar product families
• Pull system with kanban between cells
• Daily scheduling (vs. weekly MRP)
• Cross-training to level work
Target:
• Lead Time: 5 days (from 23)
• WIP Inventory: $80K (from $340K)
• First-pass yield: 98% (from 91%)
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