Value Stream Mapping has been a practice that was first introduced in the book Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate MUDA by Mike Rother and John Shook. This groundbreaking workbook, which has introduced the value-stream mapping tool to thousands of people around the world, breaks down the important concepts of value-stream mapping into an easily grasped format. Dan Jones and Jim Womack followed that book with Seeing the Whole Value Stream which took the mapping methodology through an improvement process that converted the traditional value stream of isolated operations to a broader view of the entire value stream.
Recently the co-authors, Womack and Jones in response to feedback asking for examples in other sectors and questions about how to understand supply chain costs more accurately, have added five essays to the book for this new edition. These essays demonstrate how real companies have taken on the challenge of improving their extended value streams working in collaboration with their suppliers and customers.
The new essays for the book are:
- Spreading value-stream thinking from manufacturers to final customers through service providers—extending the wiper example.
- Applying extended value-stream thinking to retail—a look at the Tesco story.
- Learning to use value-stream thinking collaboratively with suppliers and customers.
- Product costing in value-stream analysis.
- Seeing and configuring the global value stream.
The one particular essay that stood out to me was Learning to use value-stream thinking collaboratively with suppliers and customers. The objective of this effort was to garner their suppliers and customer in a true collaborative effort to create value. It was the first time any of these five companies had ever viewed a shared value stream. They started with a few modest objectives for improvement. However, it turned into much more than an improvement effort but rather a deeper type of organizational relationship. The reason they cited was that they learned how to communicate with each other. You can view the experience: Video of Matthew Lovejoy’s presentation on the Acme Alliance story.
This story exemplifies the power of collaboration and what can be developed from it. Collaboration in a Value Stream Mapping exercise can be a difficult process. You open your doors to all the skeletons you have in the closet for both vendors and customers to see. Most people are surprised by the reactions. It is typically not one of disgust or insecurity but rather a helping hand is extended and many times consideration that certain requirements may not even be needed.
The spirit of this venture serves a valuable insight that co-producing, co-creation and open innovation is not as far-fetched as it may seem. A single Value Stream Mapping process led to four years of increasing engagement. I wonder what would happen is they shorten that iteration a bit?
P.S. If your 1st edition of the book looks like mine, it’s time for the 2nd edition anyway.
Related Information:
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