VSM is an outline of a product’s manufacturing life cycle that identifies each| |step throughout the production process. The overall goal is to move from batch and push to one-piece flow and pull through the entire value | |stream. The ultimate goal is to design and introduce a lean value stream that optimizes the flow of the entire system – from information, to| |material, to finished goods arriving at the customer’s door. | [pic] |Full Text (3398 words) | Copyright Institute of Industrial Engineers Feb 2001
COVER STORY Not too long ago I visited a manufacturing company in hopes of landing that ever-elusive “perfect job” After summarizing my life on six sheets of paper and sweating through a nerve-racking interview, I realized I had survived long enough to enjoy dessert: the plant tour. As I walked down the hall toward the prize, I thought about the questions I had that could only be answered by a personal inspection of the facility. At the end of the hall was a large, gray metal door covered with safety signs and supported by a chipped floor deeply engrained with years of dirt and grime.
The door opened and my mind was filled with confusion (plants like this still exist? ) and elation (the factory was grouped into huge, singular departments).
Like a patron on a tour in a dark museum, I was led through one monstrous department after another. I looked in amazement at queued batched loads that were so large they had to be moved by overhead crane. The cloth container holding the batch was massive. Some engineer had undoubtedly spent months convincing management to buy the crane so that twice or even three times the quantity could be moved from one department to the next.
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Onward we marched through more segregated work areas, multiple inspection stations, an oversized warehouse stocked wall-to-wall and 50-feet high with finished goods. We traveled through packaging, final inspection, and finally to the shipping dock. All told, I counted 10 separate departments inside two buildings, more than five inspection posts, and more than 12 places to house work-in-process and finished goods inventory. After the tour, I sat down to lunch with the engineering manager. Although we had talked for almost two hours that day, everything for me hinged on his opinion of lean manufacturing.
material flow icons represent stops in the manufacturing process (machines, assembly stations), outside sources (factories), inventories, push arrows, truck shipments, etc. Data boxes that display key production metrics accompany material flow icons. Several other material flow and general icons exist. (A complete list of icons is available in “Learning to See,” an instruction manual published by the Lean Enterprise Institute of Brookline, Mass. ) Information lines are used to connect material flow icons to form a complete and united production system. The lines represent all types of information flow, including manual, electronic, kanbans, go-see scheduling, and load levelling. Like material flow icons, information lines are accompanied by small, rectangular description boxes.
These boxes detail the frequency of the information flow. As is true in most kaizen events, VSM should be conducted in a cross-functional, team setting. The team should include associates from all areas of the company as well as a representative of the customer. Mapping the value stream always starts with customer demand. But for which product? Your company may produce 400 SKUs. The basis of lean manufacturing is product families. Everything in a lean organization (machines, R&D, marketing, engineering, and even maintenance) is organized around specific product families. Thus, the first task for the mapping team is to define which product family to map.
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This task in itself may require a new outlook on business and obligate the team to make decisions before inviting the customer in to begin mapping. 1. Start the map by drawing a factory icon and data box in the top right corner of the paper (Figure 1).
Fill in the data box with a list of customer requirements (remember that the value stream is based upon product families, so be specific) such as units per day, number of shifts, complexity breakout, and other production information. Remember that the scope of a value-stream map encompasses much more than just the factory. It includes the entire value stream from raw material to shipment of finished product.
Therefore, the best place to start is with the customer, since the customer is the only individual who can define the true value of the commodity at hand. (The customer icon on the map resembles a castle, representing the fact that the customer is king. ) [pic] Figure 1 2. The next step is outlining the basic supplier production process. Use a process box on the left side of the map to represent suppliers. Usually, all suppliers cannot be listed, so the rule of thumb is to select the supplier of the most vital components or the company that supplies the most components by dollar amount. After the suppliers are drawn, list the production details of the operation in a data box.
This information should be readily available from your purchasing department. 3. The last step of the external map is to connect all the icons with information flow icons. Draw the appropriate icon based on the type of information flow. Figure 1 has electronic information flow, which is indicated with lines that appear as lightning bolts. Other types of flow make use of different types of lines. Below each information icon, draw a description box and fill in the frequency of information flow. The external map is now complete. Internal mapping At this time, stop all mapping activity. The team must make the transition from external to internal mapping.
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