“Okay, Curmudge, how are you going to do it? No one can teach value stream mapping without pictures.”
“You’re right as usual, Jaded Julie. It would be like trying to teach chemistry without a blackboard, or a whiteboard, or these days without a ‘smart board.’ So I won’t try to teach value stream mapping; I’ll just introduce the concept. Anyone with a bit of imagination should be able to handle that.”
“Oh, I should be able to do that all right. I once imagined that my husband would become a millionaire, but then reality set in.”
“Remember reading about the nurses in Nord 92? They said they didn’t utilize mapping, but I’ll bet they were able to clearly envision their processes. So sit back and try to conceptualize what I describe. But don’t close your eyes or you’ll fall asleep as we senior citizens do.”
“G’night, Curmudge.”
“Up and at ‘em, Julie! Let’s start by imagining a simple flow chart…just a few rectangles connected by lines or arrows. A value stream map (VSM) is a sketch of a process showing procedures in the boxes with intervals between procedures shown by the connecting lines. It differs from a flow chart by showing times for value-added activities (what the customer is willing to pay for) and non-value-added activities (when nothing constructive is happening, from the customer’s view). Think of an appointment with a physician. Your time spent with the nurse and the doctor should be value-added, but any waiting time is non-value-added. Unless you have been on vacation all summer, you should recognize the waiting time as waste or muda.”
“Me! Vacation? Curmudge, you are the one who has been on vacation.”
“How can you tell, Julie? As a retired person, I am on vacation 24/7…or at least that’s what some people think. So back to VSM. A process for study is identified, a team is formed to study the process, and they create the current state value stream map. This reveals the sources of waste in the process. The team then brainstorms ways to improve the process and reduce waste using special symbols for people and activities, storm clouds for problems, and ‘Kaizen bursts’ (stars) for ideas. A future state value stream map depicts the product of their efforts, and it serves as a blueprint for the action plan to upgrade the process.”
“The ‘VSM Game’ sounds like something my kids would like to play. So the team fixes the process and they live happily ever after, right?”
“No, Julie. The future state value stream map becomes the new current state value stream map, and that will help the team discern where even further improvements can be made. Remember, this is Lean, where the people in gemba continually strive to make incremental reductions in process waste.”
“Incremental. That means making little improvements but never reaching perfection.”
“Practically speaking, Julie, that’s true. However, a word that might better fit your definition is ‘asymptotic.’ But don’t worry; that’s a word that you don’t have to remember.”
“Consider it forgotten, Curmudge.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
P.S.—“Julie, if you want to learn about value stream mapping, go to Lean in the Affinity Learning Center on the Affinity intranet. See also Mike Rother and John Shook’s book Learning to See, published by The Lean Enterprise Institute. The book’s title is very appropriate, because that’s what VSM teaches us. Another excellent resource is the section on Value Stream Mapping in Cindy Jimmerson’s reVIEW, second edition. And most recently, Mark Graban has a chapter that covers VSM in his new book, Lean Hospitals.”
“You’re right as usual, Jaded Julie. It would be like trying to teach chemistry without a blackboard, or a whiteboard, or these days without a ‘smart board.’ So I won’t try to teach value stream mapping; I’ll just introduce the concept. Anyone with a bit of imagination should be able to handle that.”
“Oh, I should be able to do that all right. I once imagined that my husband would become a millionaire, but then reality set in.”
“Remember reading about the nurses in Nord 92? They said they didn’t utilize mapping, but I’ll bet they were able to clearly envision their processes. So sit back and try to conceptualize what I describe. But don’t close your eyes or you’ll fall asleep as we senior citizens do.”
“G’night, Curmudge.”
“Up and at ‘em, Julie! Let’s start by imagining a simple flow chart…just a few rectangles connected by lines or arrows. A value stream map (VSM) is a sketch of a process showing procedures in the boxes with intervals between procedures shown by the connecting lines. It differs from a flow chart by showing times for value-added activities (what the customer is willing to pay for) and non-value-added activities (when nothing constructive is happening, from the customer’s view). Think of an appointment with a physician. Your time spent with the nurse and the doctor should be value-added, but any waiting time is non-value-added. Unless you have been on vacation all summer, you should recognize the waiting time as waste or muda.”
“Me! Vacation? Curmudge, you are the one who has been on vacation.”
“How can you tell, Julie? As a retired person, I am on vacation 24/7…or at least that’s what some people think. So back to VSM. A process for study is identified, a team is formed to study the process, and they create the current state value stream map. This reveals the sources of waste in the process. The team then brainstorms ways to improve the process and reduce waste using special symbols for people and activities, storm clouds for problems, and ‘Kaizen bursts’ (stars) for ideas. A future state value stream map depicts the product of their efforts, and it serves as a blueprint for the action plan to upgrade the process.”
“The ‘VSM Game’ sounds like something my kids would like to play. So the team fixes the process and they live happily ever after, right?”
“No, Julie. The future state value stream map becomes the new current state value stream map, and that will help the team discern where even further improvements can be made. Remember, this is Lean, where the people in gemba continually strive to make incremental reductions in process waste.”
“Incremental. That means making little improvements but never reaching perfection.”
“Practically speaking, Julie, that’s true. However, a word that might better fit your definition is ‘asymptotic.’ But don’t worry; that’s a word that you don’t have to remember.”
“Consider it forgotten, Curmudge.”
Affinity’s Kaizen Curmudgeon
P.S.—“Julie, if you want to learn about value stream mapping, go to Lean in the Affinity Learning Center on the Affinity intranet. See also Mike Rother and John Shook’s book Learning to See, published by The Lean Enterprise Institute. The book’s title is very appropriate, because that’s what VSM teaches us. Another excellent resource is the section on Value Stream Mapping in Cindy Jimmerson’s reVIEW, second edition. And most recently, Mark Graban has a chapter that covers VSM in his new book, Lean Hospitals.”
Future State VSM--Triage in the ED
P.P.S.—“Look up, Julie, I’ve got one—a VSM picture. Janice found it for us.”
“That’s not much of a VSM; it doesn’t even show value-added and non-value-added times.”
“Hey, beggars can’t be choosers. Besides, this is a future state VSM. On these, times are only hoped-for estimates.”
“Now you’ll have to revise the title, Curmudge. It’s no longer ‘without pictures.’”
“Not a chance, Julie. We’d need to rewrite the first half page, and I don’t want to delete your dream about your husband becoming a millionaire. Mrs. Curmudgeon once had the same dream about me."
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