Introduction to Value Stream Mapping
Value Stream Mapping is a structured process mapping technique that is used to map the flows of information and material through a business.
Value stream mapping offers a proven technique in capturing areas of waste and excess lead time - it can be applied to a single or series of business processes - and provides a mechanism of portraying how business processes can be transformed to add value. Unsuprisingly there are various how-to guides to Value Stream Mapping available online - such as this Value stream mapping guide
It’s important to remember that Value stream mapping is purely a tool - whilst it has got very popular over the last couple of years it’s not a panacea. It is however, a immensely useful process mapping tool - and is quite different from other mapping approaches - it uses a standard set of value stream mapping symbols and requires an element of data capture and analysis. Due to these differences -VSM teams will require training before hand - there are also a variety of tools available to help streamline the process.
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