The perfect value stream according to Jim Womack

August 2021, while cleaning up an old external backup hard drive, I came across an article written by Jim Womack, in July 2003 : How lean compares with six sigma, re-engineering, toc, tpm, etc., etc. (still online: https://www.lean.org/womack/DisplayObject.cfm?o=710) This nearly 20 years old article conveys two important messages in less than 4,000 characters which are …

Value Stream Mapping is a tool for pivoting

“Pivot” has become a buzzword in business, referring to a shift in strategy or a significant change made in product, service or business model as a result of experiment. When a solution or an assumption does not lead to or deliver the expected outcome, a significant change may be required to adjust to the reality …

What is VSM good for?

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is one of the most popular tool of the Lean toolbox, frequently associated with finding improvement opportunities. Yet VSM is more than a kind of treasure map. >Lisez cet article en français Enabling “helicopter view” Drawing a VSM is like getting aboard a chopper and take off to watch the perimeter …

Future of Lean and additive manufacturing

In a previous post titled “How much non-added value additive manufacturing can take out of actual processes?” my prospective thinking was all about technological disruptions and the impact on companies. The same question is valid for the future of Lean. If as I assume much of the non-added value can be taken out of actual …

VSM Pitfall: unnecessary process

Value Stream Mapping (VSM) is probably the main analysis tool and the most used in the lean toolbox. Easy to understand and handle, VSM is the starting point of improvement workshops and kaizen events. It helps focusing on wastes and improvement potentials in any process. The ease of use and popularity of VSM make them …

How much non-added value additive manufacturing can take out of actual processes?

It is a well-known fact: the sequence of all activities required to bring a product to a customer is called a value stream and despite the name, value does not flow smoothly nor swiftly along streamlined processes. Value streams are cluttered with non-added value processes, tasks and steps, so-called wastes. Traditional manufacturing processes aren’t very …

Value Stream Mapping

A value stream is the sequence of all activities required to bring value to customers. The name value stream infers the value flows to customers along streamlined processes, which is an ideal seldom seen in reality. In reality value streams are cluttered with non-added value processes, tasks and steps. Nevertheless such value streams deliver value, …

Value, value-added, value stream

Value is usually defined, at least in Lean-thinking context, as “something the customer is ready to pay for”, which leaves to customers the entire freedom to choose what makes value to them. It can be something worth a lot of money because made of precious material, something desirable like an item that gives his owner …