Value Stream Mapping and Analysis

Value stream mapping reveals uncomfortable truths. When we run mapping workshops, teams always discover their bottleneck isn't where they thought. Recent example: Leadership convinced the problem was development capacity. "If we just had more developers..." Mapped the actual flow with timing data. Found: Development and testing moved quickly Then everything stopped Security review was the constraint They'd been hiring developers for months. Should have been fixing the review process. This is why the mapping matters more than the methodology. You can implement every DevOps practice. But if you're optimizing the wrong constraint, you're spending money to stay stuck. The map doesn't care about assumptions. It shows what's actually happening. We use a lightweight version - half-day to map one value stream end-to-end. Not perfect data. Good enough to see the truth. Because precise data about the wrong problem is still the wrong data. What assumption about your bottleneck needs testing?

How can 78.2 days of lead time produce just 42 seconds of value? Value Stream Mapping reveals the hidden delay. Most factories look busy. Machines run. People move. But the product sits still for hours. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) shows you why. It's a diagram of your whole process from customer order to final delivery. You map two things: → How the product physically moves → How information travels to guide it Take this gearbox assembly example. Production lead time: 78.2 days. Value-added time: 42 seconds. That's not a typo. 78 days of total time. 42 seconds of actual work. VSM has specific symbols for a reason. Each one tells part of the story. Here are the ones that matter most: The Inventory Triangle = parts not moving. The Data Box = cycle time at a glance. The Kaizen Burst = where the team strikes first. The Timeline Ladder = value vs. waste, side by side. Takt Time = the pace the customer sets. To build a current state map: → Walk each step the product takes → Capture cycle times and wait times → Map how orders reach each process You walk the floor to get this. You don't guess. You look. Once mapped, the team asks one question: Where is flow broken, and why? Then you design a future state. Not a fantasy. A real target. Reachable in 6–12 months. VSM works in healthcare, logistics, software. Any process with flow can be mapped. The symbols change. The logic doesn't. The real power is not the drawing. It's what the team sees together often for the very first time. *** 🔖 Save this post for later. ♻️ Share to help others find delays in their processes. ➕ Follow Sergio D’Amico for more on continuous improvement.

From Brown Paper to Evidence-based Insights: Why Value Stream Mapping Needs Process Mining Value Stream Mapping (VSM) has been a powerful tool in lean production for decades. It helps us see waste. It creates transparency. It structures improvement efforts. However, value stream maps are still: (1) static snapshots, (2) manually created, (3) based on interviews and assumptions (i.e., subjective), and (4) limited to one “representative” product family. In increasingly complex, dynamic environments, that’s no longer enough. Especially considering the availability of event data and powerful data-driven methods (PM, AI, ML, DS, etc.). In his research, Tim Teriete aims to address the gap by upgrading #ValueStreamMapping (#VSM) using #ObjectCentricProcessMining (#OCPM). A recent systematic literature review in #DiscoverAppliedSciences analyzed 2,682 papers and identified 21 serious attempts to combine Value Stream Mapping and Process Mining: see https://lnkd.in/eZihUDBm. The conclusion is clear: (1) the combination is promising, but (2) we are only at the beginning. Value Stream Mapping provides: ✔️ A top-down, aggregated, end-to-end view ✔️ Lean-oriented KPIs ✔️ A shared language for improvement Process Mining provides: ✔️ Bottom-up reconstruction from real event data ✔️ Variability and dynamics ✔️ Objective, reproducible insights The review highlights key gaps: ✔️Lack of aggregation from event-level to VSM-level ✔️Missing multi-object perspectives ✔️No proper handling of decoupling points ✔️No formal semantics for VSM elements In other words, existing approaches are still using general-purpose process mining tools and manually “translating” results into value stream maps. Tim Teriete aims to make this automatic in a joint effort between the Fraunhofer IPA Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation, the University of Stuttgart, and PADS - Process And Data Science RWTH Aachen University. Read the paper "Tim Teriete, Klaus Erlach, Thomas Bauernhansl, and Wil van der Aalst. Combining value stream mapping and process mining in production: a systematic literature review. Discover Applied Science 8, 285 (2026)" for more details. https://lnkd.in/eZihUDBm Tim Teriete Klaus Erlach Thomas Bauernhansl

"Know the rules to know how to break them." I say this a lot. Especially about value stream and process-level mapping, strategy deployment, and rapid improvement (kaizen) workshops. Here's the thing: While we all need some sort of "training wheels" when we're learning new concepts—or lines to color within—eventually the training wheels need to come off, the lines need to go away, and we need to begin "freer form" drawing and painting. That doesn't mean you turn into a wild-west renegade nor ignore standards that produce consistent success. But it *does* mean that the work you do, the guidance you provide, the decisions you make, the actions you take become highly situational. Conditions matter. This is why improvement interventions of any sort need to be 100% tailored to the conditions present. Cookie cutter approaches and "programs" carry very high rates of failure. Is it more difficult to operate situationally? Of course. Are the results deeper and longer lasting? 100%. Case in point: This week I was onsite with a client helping them learn how to improve one of their value streams. Naturally, one of the methods I often use to help people learn to see the current state and create a blueprint for the future is value stream mapping. In the book Mike Osterling and I wrote and in our Academy courses on both process and value stream mapping, we recommend three "standard" metrics to determine more quickly and easily where obstacles to flow lie: lead time from process to process, process time for each process, and the %C&A (percent complete & accurate) or first pass yield, if manufacturing. We've worked with clients where the quality of the work wasn't a problem at all. So we skipped that metric. (But you have to make sure it's truly not a problem; sometimes quality problems are unspoken and/or hidden and using %C&A can reveal the truth.) In this week's case, the current state value stream ended up with 25 process blocks left to right. (It was longer than some because it was enterprise-wide, including invoicing/collections/etc.). The "break the rules" moment came when the team and I decided to only add Process Time to 7 of the process blocks because that's where the work effort was most problemmatic. Most of the other barriers to flow were delay-related due to other conditions. Adding process time to the full value stream would have taken a ton of time, which was better spend trading their investigator's hat for their innovator's hat, designing the future state. A facilitator wears many hats and "time management cop" is one of them. See what I mean? I would never had made that suggestion to the team when I first learned VSM in 2001. It has taken decades of practive to learn the difference between unbreakable standards and where, when, and why to flex. Practice, practice, practice. Think deeply and situationally. Know the rules to learn how to break them. I'd love to hear your thoughts and am happy to answer questions.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗽 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗳𝘂𝗹. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆. Three weeks of work. Every step documented. Bottlenecks highlighted. Waste identified. It looked… perfect. That’s when I knew nothing would change. Because the mapping had become theatre. They were performing improvement, not doing it. I asked: "𝑆𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝑀𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦?" Silence. 𝑊𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒. 𝑇𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡, 𝑤𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 5 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 6 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑦𝑠𝑖𝑠. So I pulled the map off the wall, walked to the bin, and dropped it in. Someone actually gasped. What I've learned in my 27 years with Danaher and Procter & Gamble: The value isn’t in the map itself. It’s in the alignment discussions (even fights), the surprising insights, and the team's learning while you're creating the map. The “𝑊𝑎𝑖𝑡… 𝑤𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑇𝐻𝐴𝑇?” The operator who says, “𝐼’𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠.” The discovery that the real process looks nothing like the one on the slide deck. Once you’ve learned that, the map just becomes an alignment tool. 𝗧𝗵𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀: 𝟭. 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘃𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗺𝗮𝗽 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱, 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹. 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗻𝗲. 𝟮. “𝙒𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙩𝙖” 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝘀 “𝙄’𝙢 𝙖𝙛𝙧𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙗𝙚 𝙬𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙜.” Perfect analysis with no action is just procrastination. 𝟯. 𝗠𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗻 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘁 𝗚𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗮 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲. Most teams never get to part two. Here’s what we did instead on 3 flipcharts: 1. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆. 2. 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄. 3. 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘄𝗲’𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄. Had an operator run the new sequence the next morning. 2 days weeks later, the bottleneck was moving. Not solved - that took three more iterations - but we learned more in 2 days of testing than in 3 weeks of mapping. 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝗕𝗮𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝘀𝘂𝗯𝘀𝘁𝗶𝘁𝘂𝘁𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁. 👉 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗿𝘁. 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀. 📌 Want to 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗻𝘂𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁? Sign up for my newsletter: 𝗵𝘁𝘁𝗽𝘀://𝗹𝗻𝗸𝗱.𝗶𝗻/𝗱𝟯𝗭𝗺𝗮𝘆-𝗛 Practical insights for you based on 27 years in Procter & Gamble and Danaher. Video Source: @𝗞𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗦𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗼𝘁𝘁𝗮𝗶𝘆𝗮𝗻 - thanks for showing Value Stream Mapping (VSM) for real change in 60 seconds 🙏

Mixed-Model Value Stream Design is an advanced Lean technique for creating flow in environments where multiple product types (or service variants) must be produced on the same resources. Unlike a single product value stream, where flow is straightforward, mixed-model design deals with variety, shared resources and fluctuating demand and still aims to deliver at takt, with minimal waste. What It Is A value stream: the end-to-end set of activities that deliver value to the customer. Mixed-model: multiple product families or variants share the same processes, equipment and people. Design: intentionally structuring flow, scheduling and resource allocation so that all models can be produced smoothly, without excess inventory or delays. Key Principles of Mixed-Model Value Stream Design 1. Define Product Families Group products that share ~80% of process steps and have similar workloads. This reduces complexity and makes flow design manageable. 2. Calculate Family Takt Time Takt = Available Time ÷ Total Demand (for the family). Ensures the system is designed to meet aggregate demand across models. 3. Establish Production Intervals Decide how often each product in the family will be produced (e.g., every hour, every shift). Shorter intervals = lower inventory, faster response. 4. Balance Machines and Operators Use Yamazumi (operator balance charts) to distribute work evenly across operators for all models. Ensure machines and people can keep pace with family takt. 5. Enable Quick Changeovers SMED (Single-Minute Exchange of Dies) is critical. The faster you can switch between models, the shorter the production interval and the leaner the flow. 6. Design Pull Systems Kanban loops sized for mixed demand. Supermarkets or FIFO lanes to buffer shared resources. 7. Visual Management Mixed-model heijunka boards (level-loading boards) to schedule variety without chaos. Obeya dashboards to track flow efficiency across models. Example Imagine a factory producing three types of pumps (A, B, C) on the same line: Daily demand: A = 200, B = 100, C = 50 → Total = 350 units/day. Available time: 420 minutes/day. Family Takt = 420 ÷ 350 ≈ 1.2 minutes/unit. The line is designed so that every 1.2 minutes, some pump (A, B, or C) comes off the line. A heijunka schedule sequences them (e.g., A-A-B-A-C …) to level demand and avoid batching. Why It Matters Flexibility: Handles product variety without excess inventory. Responsiveness: Shorter lead times, faster reaction to customer demand. Efficiency: Shared resources are optimized, not overloaded. Scalability: Supports growth and product diversification without redesigning the entire system. Mixed-Model Value Stream Design is a perfect bridge between Lean rigor and enterprise complexity. It’s especially powerful when paired with digital Obeya dashboards, so leaders can see in real time how variety impacts flow.

The #1 BA activity I do at the start of every project? Map the ”end-to-end” value stream / process. When I was a junior BA, I thought being proactive meant diving straight into process mapping when capturing current state. So I’d jump in and start documenting how Team A did their thing… Then Team B… Then Team C… But something always felt off I was missing the bigger picture. It wasn’t until I discovered Value Stream Mapping that it all clicked. Here’s what I learned: ✅ A value stream shows the entire flow - from the very beginning (e.g. customer request) to the very end (e.g. customer fulfilment). ✅ It spans all the teams, departments, and processes involved. ✅ And it’s often in the handoffs where the real issues and inefficiencies live. Now, before I go deep into any process, I always start with the end-to-end value stream. Here’s why it works:  → It helps us surface pain points early → Brings stakeholders into the same conversation → Highlights where work gets delayed, duplicated, or dropped → Drives the right conversations for future state design → And gives us a goldmine of requirements to start building our backlog And the best part? It doesn’t need to be fancy. Post-it notes or a simple Miro board are more than enough. Just get the right people in the room, make it safe to speak honestly, and map what’s really happening (not what should be happening). This shift completely changed how I approach discovery / planning for new projects. Let me know in the comments if you'd like a copy of my training guide on how to run a structured value stream mapping session - happy to share it with anyone who’s keen. Repost if you found this helpful. Follow → @Matthew Thomas Holliday for more tips and insights. #BusinessAnalysis #valuestreammapping #BA #VSM #BAtools 

Too many operations leaders struggle with reoccurring problems Here's why: They don't understand their processes. Many organizations who struggle can't do the fundamentals like: - Visualizing the workflow - Get to the root cause of issues - Identify opportunities for improvement Value Stream Mapping (VSM) can help. VSMs are powerful Lean tools that reveal the end-to-end flow of materials and information, Main drawbacks of not using VSM: -Persistent Issues: Quality problems and longer lead times. -Hidden Inefficiencies: Missed opportunities to eliminate waste. -Higher Costs: Increased operational costs and reduced customer satisfaction. -Siloed Thinking: Suboptimal decisions due to lack of cross-functional collaboration. By using VSM, organizations can gain a holistic view of their processes. This clarity helps boost efficiency and eliminate waste. Main advantages of VSM: +Waste Identification +Holistic Process View +Data-Driven Decisions +Improved Collaboration +Continuous Improvement Incorporating VSM can significantly enhance quality, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

Value Stream Mapping without the right symbols is like speaking a foreign language. You know what you want to say. But nobody understands you. Here's your visual vocabulary for Lean: PROCESS & FLOW SYMBOLS: → Process Step - Single step in production → External Supplier/Customer - Input/output outside factory → Inventory - Stock or WIP between processes → Push Arrow - Items pushed regardless of demand → Finished Goods - Products ready for customers → FIFO Flow - First-in, first-out material movement → Data Box - Key process data (cycle time, uptime) INFORMATION FLOW SYMBOLS: → Weekly Schedule - Production planning info → Electronic Flow - Digital info sharing (ERP, emails) → Manual Info Flow - Paper or manual information → Kanban Signal - Visual signal to replenish material → Signal Kanban - Special card triggering production LEAN TOOLS SYMBOLS: → Load Leveling (Heijunka) - Balancing production to demand → Supermarket - Controlled inventory storage → Kanban Post - Collection point for kanban cards → Production Kanban - Authorizes making products → Withdrawal Kanban - Authorizes moving materials → Sequenced Pull - Delivering items in exact order PEOPLE & LOGISTICS SYMBOLS: → Person - Operator or worker → Pacemaker Process - Step setting production rhythm → Kaizen Burst - Improvement opportunity marker → Truck/Forklift - Transport movement of materials The beauty of VSM isn't just mapping current state. It's creating a common language for improvement. When everyone speaks the same visual language: Waste becomes visible. Flow problems jump out. Improvement opportunities reveal themselves. Your value stream map is only as good as the symbols you use to tell the story. Which VSM symbol do you find yourself using most often? P.S. Save this cheatsheet, you'll need it for your next mapping session.