Value Stream Mapping Overview- What is VSM?

The new age of manufacturing needs maximum efficiency in the history of mankind, serving the customers better than ever, and making employees more empowered, predictive, and satisfied. The main key factor behind this magical achievement that we have today is the Value Stream Mapping.

If you’re a manufacturer and want your team to be productive, this can change your game forever. In this blog, we will cover everything about Value Stream Mapping (VSM), including how it can benefit your organization and the Value Stream Mapping tools you can use to implement it effectively.

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is a workplace efficiency tool which was originally designed by Toyota Motors Company to improve their workforce productivity. The vsm lean tool employs a flowchart documenting every lean step to mark the smallest of progress. This tool combines material progress with information flow, identifying the waste & reducing the process cycle times, and implementing process improvement.

Several industry manufacturers take the lean path and find the VSM an essential tool for planning, implementing, and improving while keeping the workforce in the progress, and dedicated towards the milestones.

Value Stream Mapping examples are also called as:

1. Value Stream Analysis
2. Lean Process Mapping
3. Lean Six Sigma Value Stream Mapping

The overall purpose of the VSM process is to remove or reduce waste in the process. This automatically improves the efficiency of a given value stream. How?

This is done by creating lean observation, mapping, and creating leaner operations to identify the waste as well as the quality problems. With several supporting methods to use in lean environments, VSM examples can also identify the flows at the system level across multiple processes.

Faster than Necessary Pace: Creating too many products that damage the flow, quality, and productivity.

Waiting: When goods are not transported or worked on.

Conveyance: Transportation where double-handling & excessive movement are required.

Processing: Poor layout, communication, and unnecessary motion- a complex solution for a simple problem.

Excess Stock: Overabundance of inventory, resulting in cost & waste.

Unnecessary Motion: Ergonomic waste requires excess energy usage such as bending, picking up objects, or stretching.

Correction of Mistakes: Cost associated with defects, resources, or raw materials.

Relearning: Time waste associated with the relearning of resources.

Handoffs: When the key members of the project owners are changed or removed.

Extra Features: Extra features with the final product that has no value addition in the uses.

Note- Though VSM examples are mostly associated with manufacturing, it significantly solves the challenges related to supply chain, logistics, IT industries, healthcare, and administrative operations.

The VSM tool identifies operations in three categories as follows:

1. Non-Value Adding Operations (NVA):
Operations that add no value to the process and can be eliminated immediately.

2. Necessary but Non-Value-Adding Operations (NNVA):
These are necessary operations but are of no value under current procedures.

3. Value-Adding Operations (VA):
Processes with value such as conversion of the raw materials into the final product for the procedure.

Here are some reasons why VSM has become an integral part of all manufacturing industries:

– Reducing waste directly benefits the bottom line of the workforce.
– You discover the root cause of waste production.
– Team gets insights about the cause of waste which is helpful for improving behaviour, culture, and collaboration.
– Individual opinions are turned into team efforts, making it more directly beneficial to customers.

Though VSM is a game changer, it has its challenges to overcome. The whole process can be a waste if you don’t utilise it with the best care. Here are some ideas to overcome your challenges while creating Value Stream Mapping Examples:  

1. Keep a keen eye on ROI to maintain a balance between LOE, potential value, and savings.

2. Involve experienced people from the business & product side to utilise them in cross-functional mapping.

3. Be certain & track a record of everything as the process of identifying can be intense.

4. Improve the work procedure with baby steps here & there, marking the growth in the long run & eliminating costs.

5. Use traditional ways to map with pencil & paper in the early stages to get familiar with the concept instead of rushing to value stream mapping tools & charts.

Want professional help for creating VSM? 

Contact Tetrahedron Lean Manufacturing Consultant team for a step-by-step personalised guidance.

The Value Stream Method uses two distinctive states to map out the challenges, identify the waste, and improve efficiency. The method includes two states of value stream maps, Current State & Future State. 

Current State- What does the process currently look like?

Future State- What the process will look like ideally?

– The value stream example is created with symbols, tracking each observation, information or material flow into consideration.

– The standard form suggests drawing value-adding steps at the centre of the map and non-value steps at the right angles in vertical lines to the value stream. It distinguishes the process into two parts, value & non-value-adding steps.

– The value-adding steps are called the ‘Story of the Product’ and the non-value-adding steps are called the ‘Story of the Person’.

– The nomenclature is given due to the complex association of value-adding & waste. Often it is seen that the person associated with the operation is responsible for the waste.

Hines and Rich defined the 7 value stream mapping tools as follows:

Process Activity Mapping: Study of process flows, identification of waste materials, and process re-engineering.

Supply Chain Response Matrix: Mapping out critical bottlenecks for processes in a single diagram.

Production Variety Funnel: Connections to other industries offering potential solutions.

Forrester Effect Mapping: Graph mapping for customer’s demand, showing demand & production & reconstructing the process.

Quality Filter Mapping: Locating the defects in the processes.

Decision Point Analysis: Determine the inflection point in the supply chain.

Physical Structure Mapping: A combined model which overviews the supply chain.