Utilizing Value Stream Mapping

When enhancing your production line through implementing lean principles and attempting to efficiently overhaul your supply chain so that it capitalizes on its full potential and delivers the dividends you have been investing in, it pays to be fully immersed in every aspect of your product and its development cycle. Doing so will help you better anticipate potential issues which may arise. Utilizing a lean-focused product development cycle when trying to better understand your production line will help you realize and better appreciate the values of efficiency and constantly focusing on improvement. A tool you can utilize in achieving that improvement is value stream mapping, a lean-focused technique that concentrates on charting and refining the stream of material and information through your manufacturing line. Better understanding the ins and outs of lean product development requires the proper research and education on this and other techniques.

Value stream mapping for non manufacturing environments

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Understanding the techniques required to analyze, refine and apply a strategy designed to streamline your supply chain will demand proper planning and insight into which lean practices best apply to you and your business. Of course you will already be familiar with some of the basic concepts, as the relevant areas of interest in your supply line should already be familiar to you. Therefore, when you do eventually move on to implementa lean production system best suited to your needs, you will be capable of applying the knowledge we have discussed through maneuvers that will genuinely bring your enterprise closer and closer to success. 

Lean Basics - AME

If you have analyzed your business plan and decided that it is best to move ahead and implement a lean strategy focused on addressing issues within your enterprise, then it is expected that you properly research the pertinent concepts and educate yourself extensively on the subject matter. When you move to discuss the matter with staff members and which ever relevant committees you’ve included in the conversation thus far, you’ll need to have decided on the proper focus and be able to succinctly explain it. Most importantly, you must approach lean manufacturing with a cohesive team mindset and shared goal. If you and your team do not share aligning viewpoints and thoroughly understand the pertinent lean manufacturing concepts, then you’ll swiftly meet with discouragement, setbacks and, likely, failure.

After establishing that the senior management is on the same page as you regarding your shared vision, you’ll logically move to brainstorm your first lean-oriented project. The specific project you end up selecting and move to implement will depend highly on your specific needs--although in terms of pilot programs, there are certainly specific steps and stages you’ll want to focus on. What is of supreme importance at this point in time is that you, along with the senior staff, effectively communicate your intentions to the workforce so that you can gather feedback on the relevant lean manufacturing strategies. In doing so you’ll be able to effectively work with your team to implement the strategy best suited to the goalposts you set on the path to becoming a lean enterprise.