What is Value Stream Mapping in Lean Six Sigma?

Lean Six Sigma has created the urge to improve products and services according to the demands of the market. Creating value for your products and services is very important and your entire plan should revolve around satisfying the customers. Value Stream Mapping is the tool used to analyze such trends and then planning according to the trends. Let’s begin with understanding what it really is.

What is Value Stream Mapping (VSM)?

The sequence of activities required to create and deliver any products or services to a customer is known as Value Stream Mapping. The flow chart is based upon two key factors; information and material. Most of such streams are highly cross-functional, the process of fulfilling a customer’s request flows through many work teams within the organization before the delivery. VSM is the flow of processes that starts from a customer’s request and ends at the delivery point. Hence, it is known as the request-to-delivery cycle.

Examples of VSM(Value Stream Mapping)

Here are a couple of examples that will help you understand why VSM is important in Lean Six Sigma:

• A customer service executive receiving an order.
• The software engineer performing a valid test.
• A police officer issuing a fine on violation of a rule.
• A vehicle owner filing a complaint about the product purchased.
• Quote-to-cash, Procure-to-pay, and record-to-report process
• A bank official finds fault on an issued cheque.
• A patient getting admitted to a hospital.
• A nurse administering the medications of a patient.
• A manager studying the request of a customer and providing the proposal.
• Manufacture producing a product, according to the number of processes.

Benefits of Value Stream Mapping:

Why do you create a Value Stream Map? The most important reason is to visualize data and analyze it to separate the value-adding factors from the non-value-adding ones. Here are a few more reasons that will prove, using value stream mapping can help improve your business process:

• Eliminates Waste- VSM concentrates on reducing the actions that hold no value in your work process. Eliminating such waste can help with increasing productivity.
• Increase Efficiency- VSM calculates the time being spent on each activity and ensures to get rid of unnecessary actions. This will help you in spending more time on the actions that are important hence, increasing the efficiency.
• Aligns Cross-Functional Collaborations- VSM aligns all the departments together on a common goal. It depicts the present and future trends of your company further, ensuring that all the departments identify and stay on the same target.

Conclusion:

Value Stream Mapping in Lean Six Sigma offers information flow that can be determined on the basis of value-added or non-value-added actions. It will help you make your work process more efficient by saving time and will also help you in increasing productivity. VSM is an integral part of the workflow system as it ensures that everyone working on the project is well connected and has the same goals for the organization. Prepare a value stream map and watch how it makes your life easier.