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Value-Adding Exercise

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  • March 10, 2020 at 6:08 pm #246618

    AlonzoMosley
    Participant

    Always lots of drama over VA/NVA discussions… (“What do you mean I don’t add value??!?!?”).

    Never found a specific list of specific examples that specifically drive home the points (yes, I’m looking for specifics).

    I put together a fun (!) list for groups to work on in a workshop… Classify each of these activites as VA, NVA, or Necessary NVA (or “Business Value Add”, depending on your vocabulary.)

    Thoughts? More examples, please!

    The List:

    • Checking oil temperature on machine
    • Attaching shipping labels to a pallet
    • Putting customer’s special barcodes on a pallet
    • Putting our inventory transfer labels on a pallet
    • Assembling boxes
    • Monitoring flow rate in system
    • Packing drums with finished goods
    • Reconciling invoices with packing slips
    • Doing a DMAIC Problem-Solving project
    • Feeding product back in to get the right pH
    • Letting engineers apply their expertise to all process performance problems
    • Wrapping Flour bags in shrink wrap
    • Loading bags into Warehouse A while palletizer in Warehouse B finishes first job
    • Testing for viscosity
    • Striping the warehouse
    • Producing extra finished goods in case we get orders
    • Walking a job, and then going back to get exactly the right parts and tools for that work order
    • Adjusting machine settings at the start of shift
    • Adding reagent to the mix
    • Bringing reagent over from the warehouse

    I’m certainly open to getting more examples!!

    Here’s what we listed as answers. Of course, anything that’s “NNVA” you could argue is “NVA” and vice versa.

    VALUE ADD

    • Adding reagent to the mix
    • Monitoring flow rate in system
    • Packing drums with finished goods
    • Putting customer’s special barcodes on a pallet

    NECESSARY NVA

    • Assembling boxes
    • Attaching shipping labels to a pallet
    • Checking oil temperature on machine
    • Doing a DMAIC Problem-Solving project
    • Striping the warehouse

    FLAT OUT WASTE

    • Adjusting machine settings at the start of shift (Processing)
    • Bringing reagent over from the warehouse (Motion)
    • Feeding product back in to get the right pH (Defects)
    • Letting engineers apply their expertise to all process performance problems (Intellectual)
    • Loading bags into Warehouse A while palletizer in Warehouse B finishes first job (Transport)
    • Producing extra finished goods in case we get orders (Overproduction)
    • Putting our inventory transfer labels on a pallet (Motion or Processing)
    • Reconciling invoices with packing slips (Processing)
    • Testing for viscosity (Motion, Processing)
    • Walking a job, and then going back to get exactly the right parts and tools for that work order (Motion, Waiting)
    • Wrapping Flour bags in shrink wrap (Processing)
    1
    March 11, 2020 at 10:09 pm #246636

    Strayer
    ★★★★★★★★★★
    Participant

    Not sure what you want to accomplish by making a long, long list of examples, which is inherently misleading.  It’s value added if it meets three tests:  It changes the product or service.  The change is desired by the customer.  It’s done right the first time – since rework is waste.  We can’t really tell whether something is VA or NVA without knowing the details.

    As for NNVA (necessary non value added) I’d say that there’s no such thing unless mandated by the laws of nature and man.  We can change the latter by influencing government and business rule-makers.

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    March 11, 2020 at 11:57 pm #246638

    AlonzoMosley
    Participant

    Like I said, I want to hand it out as a group exercise in a workshop.

    Clearly I know the definition/criteria… I’m looking for ways to encourage discussion with my team, and salt their minds with concrete examples.

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    March 13, 2020 at 10:56 pm #246660

    Strayer
    ★★★★★★★★★★
    Participant

    Okay.  There are some things that are very probably NVA.  Some that are very probably VA.  And some that are very probably NNVA.  But are you looking for discussion examples that seem obvious but aren’t?  If so, I’m sure some of us can contribute examples from experience.  As a retired IT guy, one that comes to mind is software testing.  Testing is NVA, but it’s a truism that all software contains bugs until proven otherwise, and you can never completely prove otherwise.  So is testing and rework to fix bugs VA?  It certainly changes the product and the customer certainly wants it.  But it wasn’t done right the first time!

    1
    April 27, 2020 at 5:52 pm #247424

    Nicole Batulis
    Participant

    For group activities with VA/NVA I have tended to have groups work on them based off of a detailed process map or a VSM for context.  You can pick a workflow that is relevant for your audience and then have each team review and categorize the waste types using the process map or VSM.  This approach would also allow for practicing the calculation of process efficiency (if you go the VSM route for the activity starting point).

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