Overview
The term value stream refers to all the activities your company must do to design, order, produce and deliver its products or services to customers.
A value stream has three main parts:
· The flow of materials, from receipt from suppliers to delivery to customers.
· The transformation of raw materials into finished goods.
· The flow of information that supports and directs both the flow of materials and the transformation of raw materials into finished goods.
VSM Editor can be invoked from the Tools menu. A Project need not be loaded to use the VSM Editor.
Library of Icons
VSM Editor consists of two types of Icon libraries:
1. Value Stream Mapping Library
2. Flowcharting Library
Value Stream Mapping Library
There are five types of icons in value stream mapping:
· Production-flow icons.
· Material-flow icons.
· Information-flow icons
· Lean Manufacturing Icons
· General Icons
Production-Flow Icons
Icon |
Description |
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Department or manufacturing process: The top of the icon shows the name of the department or the process being mapped. The bottom of the icon shows resources, information, or a relevant lean-enterprise technique |
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Outside sources: These include customers and suppliers. Try to use typical customers or suppliers for your mapping activities |
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Data Box: This is a place for key data such as machine availability; number of product variations that each operation typically produces; product changeover times; whether each part you produce can run daily, weekly, or monthly; cycle time; process capacity; and first time through (FTT) quality levels. If the process you are mapping is machine based, record its overall equipment efficiency or OEE rate and then identify which operation is the constraining operation |
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People: Shows the number of employees required to perform an operation “Partial people” can be used; for example, “0.5” means that an employee spends half his/her time performing a particular operation |
Material-flow icons
Icon |
Description |
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Push movement of production materials: Shows the movement of raw materials or components that are “pushed” by the production process rather than being requested by the customer |
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Pull movement of production materials: Shows the movement of raw materials or components that are requested by the customer (i.e., they are not pushed) |
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FIFO: Indicates that products need to be pulled and delivered on a first-in, first-out (FIFO) basis: the oldest remaining items in a batch are the first to move forward in the production process |
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Truck Shipment: Shows the movement of materials by truck. Be sure to show the frequency of shipments on your map |
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Inventory: Indicates the inventory count and time |
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Storage: Shows all products contained in a storage area. You can note the minimum and maximum levels within each bin or row location |
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Emergency Stock: Shows all products contained in an emergency-stock area. You can note the minimum and maximum levels of each item |
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Withdrawal: Pull of materials, usually from a supermarket. |
Information-Flow Icons
Icon |
Description |
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Manual information flow: Shows information that is transferred by hand |
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Information type: Indicates the type of information being communicated |
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Production kanban: A card used to initiate the production of a certain item.(Used for kanban systems only) |
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Withdrawal kanban: A card used to obtain an item from a storage area.(Used for kanban systems only) |
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Signal kanban: A card used to initiate a batch operation. (Used for kanban systems only) |
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Kanban card post: This indicates the use of a physical mailbox location for kanbans. It is used for kanban systems only |
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Pull Ball: Gives Instruction to immediately produce a predetermined type and quantity, typically one unit. A pull system for subassembly processes without using supermarket. |
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Load leveling box: Used for kanban systems to indicate load leveling ( Adjusting a production schedule to meet unexpected changes in customer demand) |
Lean Manufacturing Icons
Icon |
Description |
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Visual management: Shows that visual management techniques have been applied. |
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Error proofing: Shows that error-proofing techniques have been applied. |
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Quick changeover: Indicates that quick changeover techniques have been applied. |
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Product and process standards: Shows that your company’s product and process standards are in place. |
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Stretch objectives: Shows where stretch objectives for fostering improvement have been set for specific operations or for the value stream as a whole. |
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Performance boards: Indicates that process objectives and results have been posted in an operation’s work area. |
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Constraining operation: Shows which operation(s) constrains, or limits, the progress of the value stream. |
General Icons
Icon |
Description |
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Kaizen Burst: Highlights improvement needs at specific processes that are critical to achieving the value stream vision. Can be used to plan kaizen workshops. |
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Balloon: Allows user to highlight a part of the VSM and add a callout to it. |
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Go See Scheduling: Adjusting scedules based on checking inventory levels. |
Flowchart Library
Flowchart Library
Drawing VSM Chart
There are two options for drawing a VSM Chart:
· Manual Drawing
· VSM Wizard
Manual Drawing
Steps to be followed:
1. The symbols from the VSM library are dragged and dropped in the design area.
2. The flow of material, actions and information in the factory is shown by the arrows. These arrows can be added by left clicking with finger icon on start symbol and then on end symbol.
Note: - The line type for the arrow can be changed by clicking on the arrow symbol in the toolbar available above the drawing area.
3. Any symbol can be cut/copied using right click menu. Then it can be pasted at any position by selecting paste from right click menu.
4. A group of symbols can be grouped together by first selecting them together by pressing "Shift" button and then selecting "Group" from right click menu.
5. Any important information related to any symbol can be shown in a callout which can be added from right click menu.
6. The name text of each symbol can be changed by left clicking on the text in it.
7. Right click menu also allows to change the properties of the text.
VSM Wizard
Wizard can be obtained from by clicking on Edit -> VSM Wizard Tool.
Steps to be followed:
1. Enter Header information. Press Next.
2. Enter Takt Time and Component Information. Press Next.
3. Select "Activity Location" by pressing browse button. The activities and resources mapped to that location will automatically added when user click on the added location.
4. Press "Finish" to add a default value stream graph. This graph can be modified according to the user requirements.
5. All the functions available in the manual drawing option are available for VSM Wizrd also.
Drawing Flow Chart
FlowChart shows the flow of the product through various stages. Flow chart can be drawn using icons from Flow Chart Library. The icons can be drag and dropped from the library on the drawing area. The arrows can be used to show the flow as in VSM chart drawing.
Printing Options
The print options available in the VSM Editor are-
· Print Properties
· Print Area
· Print Preview
Print Properties
It provides two options:
1. To Scale the graph.
2. To set the printing area(Entire graph/Selected area)
Print Area
This button allows to focus on any particular portion of the graph for printing, i.e., to set/clear any of graph as print area.
Print Preview
This button shows the print preview of the graph, which depends on the options selected from "Print Properties" and "Print Area".