Following the Road to Improvement

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As a recently promoted Vice President, Chuck needed to quickly understand what all his people were doing. Chuck, a longtime employee of a major utility company, had been recently promoted to Vice President to take over the leadership of a wide range of different functions than what he had been managing. As a result of […]

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The Cost of Customer Misalignment (& How to Fix It)

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This consumer products company has a large portfolio of products. Working with key customers, the company develops and promotes brand marketing programs to help the customer improve their sales which increases the companyโ€™s revenue as well. The CEO of the company realized the percentage of successful promotions was less than he expected. At the same […]

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Value Stream Mapping and Process Mapping

Resource Page: Value Stream Mapping

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During the month of August โ€“ while many are taking time off to enjoy summer โ€“ we will be offering a resource page on a particular topic. The resource page features an overview of the weekโ€™s topic and links to the best related content across iSixSigma (articles, blogs, discussions, Marketplace products and dictionary entries). This […]

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Case Study: Improving Value for Clients and Employees

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On her drive into work, Melissa Garcia was listening to Beethovenโ€™s Piano Sonata No. 14 in C Sharp Minor and sipping on the mocha java blend sheโ€™d brewed in her kitchen just minutes before. It was a brisk fall Thursday morning, and Melissa was headed into the office where she was three weeks into her […]

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Organizational Process Flow: A River of Possibilities

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Fifteen years ago, a student of mine introduced me to the Toyota Way. As a participant in a project management program and then in a Six Sigma course, this young man (who happened to be across the world from me in Japan) began posting assignments using methodologies from his employer, Toyota. Later, that student became […]

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Value Stream Map Without All the Data Still Offers Gains

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A complete value stream map (VSM) is like a flowchart on steroids. There is the usual action boxes with arrows showing the flow of work, but a lot of other information, too – material and information flow, operating parameters, process and lead times, inventory, a timeline depicting value-added time relative to overall lead time, and […]

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Value Stream Mapping on a Budget (Using a Spreadsheet)

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Value stream analysis is one of the easiest methods to analyze a process and identify areas that can be improved. Even someone inexperienced can find the low hanging fruit. But what do you do when you want to conduct a value stream analysis and the boss tells you that he is not going to buy […]

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The 5 Whys: A Simple Tool in Value Stream Analysis

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Not so long ago in an organization not so far away, a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt not much different from many other Black Belts was running a value stream analysis. Creating the current state map was relatively easy since the participants understood their function and the way that information and inventory flowed along the […]

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Value Stream Mapping Definition

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Value stream mapping is a lean manufacturing or lean enterprise technique used to document, analyze and improve the flow of information or materials required to produce a product or service for a customer. Full definition.

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