They are vital first steps in developing an action plan to improve your manufacturing operations.

 The VSM should be regarded — to use a football analogy — as akin to putting the game plan together. After a VSM
is created, the team must execute the plan – blocking, tackling, running and passing in order to win the game. In
other words, using what’s learned from creating the VSM to realize an ideal future state of the process. If activities
aren’t following the plan, the coach will alter the plan in order to achieve a positive result. The VSM merely maps out
what the current state is. Then, a plan (based on findings from creating the VSM) is created to improve the business.
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months. 

Three points to keep in mind:

  See and understand the current situation and where the bottlenecks are.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by excess queues of material or documents.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by poor or incomplete data.

We’ve seen many value stream maps (VSM) over the past 20 years, as it has become a common tool. In some
companies it’s a first requirement before a lean effort begins.
In other companies, value stream maps are regarded as burdensome and irrelevant. And that's a shame.
VSMs that are completed with no 'what next' analysis (other than post-its on a craft paper display in a conference
room) serve no purpose. And when employees aren't involved in leveraging the VSM they've created into a better
future state for the company, they will groan and roll their eyes when asked to participate in other VSM workshops.
The level of detail that's included in a VSM – and the team’s ability to interpret ‘current state’ as represented by the
map – can make it difficult to see which improvement efforts can yield the best results. In some companies just
beginning (or restarting) their lean process, some improvements appear so obvious that a map may seem
unnecessary.
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However, leaders who highlight the 'quick wins' achieved in the VSM workshop will give their team a sense of
accomplishment. They'll also help participants understand the link between the current state value stream map, and
opportunities to improve the process.

How can we make creating a value stream map less burdensome and more relevant? We’ll first review the basic
structure of a full VSM. Then we’ll talk about why the map must be build with the right level of detail. Finally, we’ll
review how these steps come together in a future state plan.
Value Stream Mapping – the Process
Many companies dedicate key resources for a week or more to complete the mapping process, and then declare their
effort complete. That’s missing the mark, because value stream maps are never meant to be stand alone documents.
The VSM should be regarded — to use a football analogy — as akin to putting the game plan together. After a VSM
is created, the team must execute the plan – blocking, tackling, running and passing in order to win the game. In
other words, using what’s learned from creating the VSM to realize an ideal future state of the process. If activities
aren’t following the plan, the coach will alter the plan in order to achieve a positive result. The VSM merely maps out
what the current state is. Then, a plan (based on findings from creating the VSM) is created to improve the business.
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months. The team should re-
convene to update their value stream map by recording improvements and changing business conditions. The plan is
then compiled for the next six months. Because the same team is revising the VSM within six-month timeframes, the
process becomes less burdensome and more relevant. The VSM communicates the progress the lean initiatives
have made.
How Much Detail to Include?
The level of detail is critical when developing a VSM. The old phrase rings true: “Too much detail – you can’t see the
forest for the trees.” And of course the corollary is also true, “Too little detail – and you can’t see the trees for the
forest.”
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months.
What the VSM is meant to show are all the problems encountered in a process (or, where improvements may have
the biggest benefit). After all, the seminal book that put VSM in the mainstream lean world is titled Learning to See by
Rother and Shook.

Three points to keep in mind:

• See and understand the current situation and where the bottlenecks are.
• See impediments to flow illustrated by excess queues of material or documents.
• See impediments to flow illustrated by poor or incomplete data.
Your improvement goals should drive the level of detail you include in your VSM. For an enterprise-level VSM, teams
focus on identifying opportunities to reduce overall lead time. Process steps and the supporting data should illustrate
opportunities to reduce days and weeks of lead time. If your team is mapping a work-cell process, then process steps
and tasks in seconds, and a discrete count of inventory is required. The VSM should show where the problems are. If
these bottlenecks aren’t readily visible, and you have a lot of information, then you’re too detailed. If your entire value
stream shows only two or three process blocks, then you will probably need to break things down a bit further.
What’s the rule of thumb developed by teams we’ve worked with? They express a process in 20 to 30 steps within
the primary flow. It’s always easier to identify where the team needs to dig a little deeper than it is to consolidate
process steps. It’s also helpful to perform a self-check as you build your map. This can help you identify bottlenecks
in the process before collecting data. If the main process flow already speaks to you about problems, or ideas jump
off the sheet at you, then you know you’re at the correct level of detail. The correct level of detail will also lessen the
burden of data collection and map compilation.
Bringing It All Together
When process data is overlaid on the map, an imbalance of inventory or data will help you see the bottlenecks and
where they’re created. Analyze the opportunities presented by the map. They may be revealed by excess inventory
buildup, material flow knocked out of balance by extended cycle times, quality issues or information flow that enters
the process at the wrong place. As you begin to identify improvement opportunities, it should become clearer where
to focus. Then, target your improvement areas, assign a project manager for each area and prioritize a value stream
plan that can help your organization quickly realize the largest process benefits.

Repeating the Process for Continuous Improvement

Building a current state value stream map is your organization’s logical first step, but it should never end there. If
you’ve crafted it correctly, the VSM should challenge the current state of the process you want to improve. The VSM
will help you create a value stream plan to improve the process. And, most important, it will help you execute the
plan.
The value stream plan should be valid for no more than six months, at which time the future state map should be the
current state map.
Validate your current data with time observations, inventory counts and up-to-date quality metrics. Then the process
of creating a value stream plan and future state map for the next six months begins (again). Use your current state
map to identify new improvement opportunities, update your value stream plan, and then create another future state
map incorporating all the ideas from the updated plan. It is a great example of W. Edward Deming’s “Plan-Do-Check-
Act” cycle. 
november 13, 2014 by brian sutter 0 comments

Most companies have a better chance to profit and satisfy customers when inventory managers develop an effective
and efficient inventory management strategy. The right strategy ensures access to the right products, and it also
helps control costs associated with buying and storing goods. Understanding the difference
between push and pull inventory management models can help you develop the right system for your own unique
business.
PUSH, PULL & HYBRID MODELS
Push inventory strategy should have backed by excellent forecasts;. Normal apprel industry like jeans manufacturer
are either manufactured or ordered in advance to meet anticipated demand. For that one must have accurate,
historical sales records and hope prior sales will predict future demand where as Pull strategy (JIT) fits well where
products are customized and typically require personalization at the consumer level. These products are mostly
branded (Zara)and consumers place high emphasis on personalization aspects, examples being custom handbags,
custom shoes, computers, and even some cars.(Panit in case of BMW)

Now a days we can see hybrid approach in case of sporting goods like Nike ,Adidas where they are main sponspor of
major sports (NBA ,NFL) where they have to have to wait till some team or team players will come out as star durinfg
that particular season .They prepare T-shirts and Jerseys haf way and than those comes at USA centre and here
they complete with remaining stuff like putting current hot player or Team name.

high-volume, low-mix companies examples are medical companies such as disposable syringe assembly, medical
hand gloves,bandages and consumer electronics companies ,like statandard keybords for PC
low-volume, high-mix operation oriented companies are specialized proucts for narrow markets diagnostic equipment
manufacturing companies like bp machine, and Aerospace

The pull inventory model simply relies upon the ability to order or make products as they are requested by customers.
This inventory method is also called just-in-time or JIT.  Advantages of a pull system include the fact that businesses
aren’t spending money ordering or storing finished products until after customers have already purchased. However,
this model is only effective when every link in the company’s supply chain operate according to this model rather than
the more traditional pushing of stock in a top-down approach.
Some businesses use a hybrid push-pull method to properly manage inventory. To be successful, companies require
a sophisticated inventory control system to track products and supplies currently in stock with the ability to properly
forecast future demand. This model is also known as a lean inventory strategy—companies rely heavily on
forecasting and constantly adjust inventory levels based on actual sales.

The pull system was identified as a crucial tool to decrease the level of inventories and improve the availability of the
components for assembly. The components are produced by machining department and provided to the warehousing

The second context in which a push/pull concept can be seen is the point in a supply chain where demand is fulfilled
through orders on suppliers (replenishment) and beyond which demand is fulfilled through stock (inventory) in the
supply chain. For example, consider a typical retail operation. Should the company directly replenish the stores as the
stocks on the shelves deplete? Or, should the company replenish the stores from a warehouse that stocks inventory
and then replenish its warehouses by placing orders on suppliers? In the first case, when stores are directly
replenished by orders placed on the suppliers, the company saves on the warehousing expense altogether, though it
may carry higher inventories as it manages several hundred stores, each individually carrying inventories to avoid the
risk of stock-outs. In the second case, the company can build a warehouses to optimize inventory to hedge against
the stock-out risk, but adds the cost of creating and maintaining a warehouse. 

In both of these scenarios as well, the company is dealing with balancing the cost of inventory against the cost of
resources and fulfillment-time. 

Therefore, in making the push-pull decisions, companies are primarily balancing the cost of inventory, resources, and
fulfillment cycle-time. The factors that generally affect these conditions are as following. While no generic
determinations can be made, understanding the concept of balancing these costs and the factors governing them
provides an objective method for making such decisions. 

 Demand Variability: When the product demand is certain, stable, and can be forecasted with relatively high
accuracy, then a push strategy may work well. But when demand uncertainty is high, consider pull strategies for