Value Stream Management is the process of measuring, understanding, and improving the information flow. VSMgmt maps the interactions required of all associated functional departments or tasks that are part of the flow necessary to keep Cost, Service and Quality for a company's products and services as competitive as possible.

While Value Steam Mapping (VSM) is normally associated with the flow of material in a manufacturing company, many of the tools and techniques can be applied, with just a little twist, to document the information flow necessary to perform office administration or service industry processes. Office Value Stream (OVS) is the term some practitioners have coined for the series of activities or processes performed while supporting the daily operation needs of the company.

So can the LeanMan Car Factory Simulation Kits support VSMgmt training?

YES - with a twist.

The LeanMan Car Factory simulation normally sets up a manufacturing flow to produce toy cars, and includes the supporting functions of supplier, warehouse or stockroom, order entry, quality and shipping. VSMgmt can be simulated by amplifying the order entry, material requisition, quality and shipping functions with a parallel OVS information flow.

Example: The LeanMan Customer Service and Repair Center simulation.

In this simulation exercise, we will simulate the service side of the car factory, so we do not build new cars, we repair them. Set up the event by building the cars ahead of the event, but add some problems. Mismatched wheel color; extra or missing brakes; extra or missing head or tail lights; non-rotating wheels, etc. The person acting as the customer will return cars at random for evaluation and repair.

The customer administrator must receive the order; determine warranty or at cost; and create the work order. Sometimes the customer wants to approve the work after evaluation and before repair is initiated. The service technician receives the order and evaluates the work; performs repairs that can be made immediately or requisitions needed parts; stores the item waiting parts; and eventually performs the repair and completes the order with time and materials used. The quality technician inspects the repairs. The stockroom obtains the materials and delivers the parts to the repair person. To add reality, place a unique amount of time on each type of part that the delivery person must wait before delivering the part.

As the simulation runs, all steps must complete the appropriate information paperwork to create orders, requisition parts, perform repairs, inspection acceptance, review repair labor and material and create an invoice. etc. The challenge will be to create a lean information flow, very visual, accessible by all who need to know it, and prioritized appropriately.

The returned car will require evaluation and immediate repair, or else material will be ordered and repair will occur later. The material items each have a unique delay time assigned for ordering, so depending on the type of repair there will be either one or two times to be touched. Each type should be categorized and used in the estimate of completion and capacity calculations. The repair technician works on the orders in sequence as they arrive, or repairs a waiting car when material is delivered. This sequencing is another point to observe between non-lean and lead flow. Each of these times require some bit of available capacity, which must be scheduled into the next available time slot (see Heijunka scheduling for additional ideas on capacity management) and the customer administrator advised of the estimated completion time so the customer can be advised. On-time metrics will measure actual to estimated completion.

The CD provides paperwork forms for the participants to fill out for each type of information in the flow. In the non-lean simulation, these forms typically travel by a mailroom person picking them up and dropping them off as he/she makes a circular round of the team. In the lean flow, everything should be as visual as practical and not dependent upon human transmission.

Note: The Heijunka scheduling techniques work well in accepting the random input of orders and creating a level workload with predictable completion times. The key in service is capacity management and meeting promise dates for return to the customer.