What would Dr. Deming Say? Dr. W. Edwards Deming advised us that a supplier is a partner and our relationships must be based on cooperation and trust. Adversarial relationships result in waste. Supplier relationships based on Dr. Deming’s teachings change fundamentally and, even better, both suppliers and customers win. Dr. Deming showed how customers and Read More …
Value Stream Mapping is a process most consider an exercise for finding and removing waste. It is a foundational Lean Tool that typically gets introduced early in a Lean Transformation. A Systems2win Excel template is depicted below: Value Steam Mapping is a powerful tool in the Lean arsenal but is far from the only kind Read More …
In the book,Value Stream Mapping for Lean Development: A How-To Guide for Streamlining Time to Market, Drew Locher explained how to create a Future State Map by utilizing seven basic questions: What does the customer really need? How often will we check our performance to customer needs? Which steps create value and which steps are Read More …
Don’t start a Value Stream Mapping (VSM) process trying to solve a problem! Start the process trying to identify the process. You probably know there is a problem somewhere that is why you’re working on it. However, to many of us will not prepare properly for a VSM event. We will gather information to solve Read More …
When beginning with Lean most of us immediately delve into Value Stream Mapping (VSM) thinking this process alone will make us Lean. It is one of the most requested Lean software tools (even though it may be the most difficult one to master) and Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate Read More …
The most difficult thing to do sometimes is to say I am done. How do you know when a product/service is finished? In Lean Thinking, we design (EDCA) for PDCA and only after we standardize do we consider the initial design finished. We are only finished when the product lifecyle is completed. How are you Read More …