Value Stream Mapping (VSM)- Why aren't more companies using this tool?
Recently, a team of fourteen colleagues from across the entire Value Stream at Tandus Centiva (Truro, NS) spent two days mapping out the current, ideal, and future states of two core product lines. Prior to the event preliminary work was conducted, including creating a charter, and collecting and stratifying our top 20 styles. Our Vice President kicked off the event and challenged the team to use the session to help identify and create projects, and Kaizens, to attack waste and other losses.
As the team broke into two smaller groups and began to walk backwards through the process, speaking with associates, and truly studying the system, many eyes began to open. We soon realized that we didn't understand the process as well as we thought we did.
At the end of the second day, the team left exhausted but satisfied in knowing that they had helped to create a roadmap for future projects in 2018. Great learning, great teamwork and an excellent way to finish off 2017.
With the New Year approaching, companies who haven't tried VSM should set it as part of their New Year's resolution.
Happy holidays from Tandus/Centiva- a Tarkett company.
Helping Teams and Organisations through their Transformations
5 年As Bill says "cumbersome", but also needs to be applied with rigour. In Europe, in some cultures at least, the lack of rigour leadfs to half-baked solutions and often failure and then the attitude the "It doesn't work"
Waiting for Next Opporunity at Burgess Oliver Inc
6 年Hope all is going well. Check in sometime catch you later have a great 2018
Certification Body Auditor and Instructor for ISO 9001 and ISO 13485
6 年I think the concept of VSM is fantastic but it can be severely cumbersome, particularly for small companies lacking the primary resource - time. As quality professionals, we have to find more cost effective ways of using VSM in those organizations with less than 50 employees.
TMG
6 年Good question Bruce. VSM is a very powerful tool to identify waste, transform the process to one of pull versus one of push, same day delivery from f the supermarket at shipping, conduct line balancing to convert flow to a one piece flow, minimize or eliminate WiP, minimize schedule changes, improve on time delivery, etc. more, etc. more..........................
CFLA-FCAB Board of Directors Atlantic Representative, CFLA-FCAB Climate Action Committee, Librarian, Author, B.A., B.Ed., MLIS
6 年Excited to see what your team accomplishes in 2018, Bruce!