Process Development - How to Streamline Your Processes With a Value Stream Map

Process Development is an overarching name that encompasses many tools to solve improvement opportunities. Sometimes these tools can be overwhelming to not only define but also how and why they should be used. Luckily there is a tool for every improvement opportunity and Value Stream Mapping is one that applies almost everywhere in your business.

In every business there are processes that are involved in the day to day activities. These processes sometimes intertwine with one another. Different work streams within organizations are dependent on one another and sometimes those interdependencies are not fully understood. Because of this "muddy" understanding there is sometimes miscommunication, late delivery of work, and cost overruns.

Value Stream Mapping takes a high-level look at a company’s flow of goods or services from functional group to functional group. It usually contains seven to ten steps. Practitioners can drill down to find bottlenecks in a company’s processes. In this article I am going to show how you can use Value Stream Maps to streamline your business processes while saving you time and money.

What Is a Value Stream Map?

A Value Stream Map is a Lean Management tool that is used to create a baseline measurement or current state of a particular business process. This current state maps can really illustrate how your business is running today in its current state. The benefit to the pictorial is visually seeing the bottlenecks and the time associate with performing tasks within your business.

A Value Stream Map uses a series of shapes and icons that illustrate different segments or actions within your business. For example, a rectangle illustrates a standalone process step or a triangle for example illustrates a decision in the process. There are many shapes associated with various Process Development needs; choosing the correct shape is critical to clearly identify and illustrate each step of the current state Value Stream Map.

How Do I Start a Value Stream Map? - Begin At The End!

Whenever I run Value Stream Mapping exercises I ALWAYS start at the end of the process and facilitate my way to the beginning. This is especially critical if you are facilitating an Value Stream Mapping exercise that you are not familiar with. The benefits of starting from the end are:

1. If forces all team members to think backwards; jogging the memory and bringing to light details that may normally get glossed over.
2. It creates an end to the process and sets clear goals and objectives for the entire team as they go through the exercise.
3. It drives team engagement because of the multiple work stream attending the workshop. People are more likely to speak up if a process they are involved in is inadvertently left out.

Remember To Identify The Bottlenecks

Because this is a very mechanical exercise that usually takes place on a whiteboard or even as simple as a piece of paper it is very easy to see and identify exactly where the bottlenecks in the your business processes are. As I go through exercises with businesses and their teams; time and extended steps are always top of mind. Excess time and "extra" steps, is a process indicator that more often than not is depicting waste in a business process. This ultimately is costing your company lost revenues and inefficiencies.

Current State vs. Future State Value Stream Mapping

Once your Current State Value Stream Map has been identified along with the bottlenecks; it is now time to develop the Future State Value Stream Map. The Future State Value Stream Map will be the agreed upon process that will be followed by the team going forward. This will also now become the new baseline for future improvement opportunities if they arise. This is the essence of Continuous Improvement and is just one of the many Process Development tools.