How to boost productivity through value stream mapping

Implementation of lean manufacturing and removing the 8 wastes are well established ways to work towards operational excellence. But in any operation the number of challenges which appear to need resolving immediately or that are linked in a chain of inter-dependent business functions can be overwhelming.

You may be motivated to whip the whole operation into shape only to lose steam and team buy-in at the first hurdle when solving one problem creates ten others. It is in these instances that I recommend manufacturing leaders consider Value Stream Mapping (VSM).

What is VSM?

VSM takes a holistic approach and identifies the areas you should focus efforts while alerting you to the wider picture and how changes will affect the whole process.

I recently worked with an engineering company in Manchester and to understand their manufacturing bottlenecks we used VSM to model the process and timings of production. This process gave a clear picture for the business to see where efficiency could be improved.

By changing the utilisation of three key machines, they were able to reduce production time by 300 hours. By coordinating the sales order process to manufacturing process and ensuring better communication between sales and production, machine utilisation was improved by the adjustment of batch sizes producing orders more quickly. These changes have reduced the amount of work in progress (WIP) and materials on site – meaning less risk to existing stock and improved productivity.

How do I go about this?

VSM is not a quick solution, it will take time to do this properly. This factsheet provides useful information on how to go about this and recommends some reading that you might want to consider before starting. Alternatively, the Business Growth Hub’s Manufacturing Team can provide fully-funded support to help you do this.

My advice on how to succeed is:

1. Start small
   Don’t try to fix the entire process in one go, focus on one area such as order processing or quality checking.
2. Get the right people together
   You will need a cross section of people from different teams to work together if it is to succeed. The interface between people, departments and machines is essential. Make sure to pick a combination of motivaters and challengers to be part of the team. Convincing a potential detractor in the early stages will help motivate others to ‘come with you’.
3. Avoid scope creep
   Fix the start and the end point of the process before you start, to avoid scope creep. For instance, in order processing the start point will be when the sales team receive a customer call, through to the order being ready for delivery. You would not consider your marketing strategy at this point.
4. Set SMART objectives
   We all know how business as usual gets in the way of making change, so be realistic and set time frames to achieve this. ‘Improved communications between sales and production teams’ is not a clear objective. Whereas ‘Implement a new communication channel between the sales and production teams on a weekly basis to manage production capacity’ is.

4. Give the team time and space to achieve this
   If the recommendations come from the workforce, the change will be easier to implement. Be sure to allow them time to work on this, in a separate room away from the shop floor if possible. Impose the value of the project on the team, by explaining how important it is to you. Most crucially make sure that they have the necessary time in their schedule to achieve it.