Essay on Value

Stream Mapping
Apparel Production Planning And Control

Submitted By-
Aanchal Chawla(DFT-VI)
Value Stream Mapping (VSM), is a tool used for lean management, which can be used for
any value chain i.e. the process of activities in the manufacturing process that are adding
value to the product being made. It is a flow diagram that documents every step in the
process. Also known as material and information flow analysis diagram, it maps the path of
production and identifies key waste elimination opportunities. The aim of lean management
is to maximize customer value and reduce waste at the same time. VSM can be used for this
very purpose by an organization to identify waste, reduce process cycle time and implement
process improvement, in order to improve workplace efficiency. The first VSM template was
implemented by Toyota Motor Company via material and process flow diagram. The
operations are being looked at from a value stream perspective, to support the takt i.e.
customer demand.

In order to implement VSM, firstly, product family is identified, a group of products or services
that go through similar processing steps, then the current state map is drawn, followed by the
desired state map. VSM has a set of symbols which are used to draw the current and future
state map. Lastly a project is planned to eliminate waste.

Talking about the garment industry, which has huge amount of raw material and WIP
summed with disorganization, implementing VSM can be quite helpful, when it comes to
having a smooth flow of material from each department and reducing waste. Many garment
manufacturers face inter department problem of stocking the fresh output as input from the
previous department, then the question arises of how to expedite the previous in-hand
material process and then in this pandemonium, pieces would even go missing. This frenzy
among the departments can lead to increased lead time and delay in shipments, which is a
non-value added activity, as the customer is not paying for it. Taiichi Ohno coined these non-
value adding element as ‘mudas’ or the 7 wastes of lean and according to him these
account for up to 95% of all costs in non – lean manufacturing environments.

Therefore, material and information flow diagram of the manufacturing unit is necessary so
as to implement the lean concept. To get rid of the 7 mudas every unit will have to go
through its present state map so as to lay foundation for the future state map and for that
future state mapping needs to be facilitated by someone with deep lean expertise. By doing
the implementation of lean through VSM the cycle time would match the takt time i.e. the
rate of customer demand. While making the current state map, the person trying to map may
try to map the ‘right’ thing which defeats the whole purpose of mapping, which is to identify
all the wrong which may be adding to non value added activities in the cycle time.

Garment manufacturing factories are generally very disorganized and people tend to cover
their backs by keeping buffer which does not make it easy to track the flow of the material
through the process. Currently, issues in apparel manufacturing shop floor, as stated by Mr.
Anand Deshpande, founder and CEO, Admaa Consulting, involves many pieces waiting to
be reworked, larger lots causing a huge amount of delay, no standard WIP being maintained
on the floor, stocks getting misplaced in stores and shop floor, overproduction (goods made
too early or excess of what is required), high replenishment time experienced in raw material
and finished goods stores, high turnaround time (order placement to payment cycle is long),
poor first time through per cent (FTT%), process delays due to lack of synchronization
between preparatory sections, capacity constraints induced by skill variability and individual
variability, longer set-up times between product changeovers and challenges of multi-skilling.
Hence, all these problems should be identified so as to get to the root cause and make
necessary changes by doing the PDCA approach(Plan-Do-Check-Act). Some of the general
solution that can be applied are, making improvement in supply chain efficiency, creating
supermarkets between departments by install a pull system and FiFo( First in, First out),
defining and maintaining a standard WIP between departments.
As stated in the Toyota Way, there is a lot to learn, that can only be learned by doing and
mapping makes people feel like they are doing lean, but it is simply drawing pictures. There
are many skills involved in improving the current state map to the desired future state map
and many catastrophes may occur even after the initial successful implementation of lean
through VSM, if the implementation or the continuous improvement cycle is not maintained.
As the changes are implemented in the initial stage, each operation in the value stream
takes place in stages i.e. independently. After successfully connecting to other operations,
the entire chain progresses together. With a step-by-step reduction of the time frame
matching the customer requirement-weekly schedules become daily, during this time the
processes with greatest weakness(most waste) will start appearing. This creates a cycle or a
loop which can also be thought of as a spiral as each cycle through the phases comes up
with even smaller quantities of waste. If periodic major changes are done in such situations
instability would be created and large improvements will have to be done, starting all over
again from the scratch, or down the spiral.

To sum up, VSM, as a tool is not just used to make a lean expert pass over the process and
get rid of all the waste rather the purpose is to create a connected value stream in which all
the departments associate are supposed to work as a team and forced to think, solve
problems and eliminate waste.