To-Be Value Stream

Quick reference

• 00:04 Hi, I'm Ray Sheen.
• 00:06 As we seek to improve the situation that caused the problem,
• 00:09 it often means we need to create a new process flow.
• 00:13 We talked during the measure stage about defining the As Is process.
• 00:18 Now it's time to create a To Be process, this is how we hope the process will
• 00:22 operate once all of the changes are implemented.
• 00:26 A nice thing about lean improvements is that many of them are localized to
• 00:30 just a few steps, and that means that you can start to put them in place
• 00:33 without needing to wait for everything else to be ready to go.
• 00:37 So don't delay incorporating changes,
• 00:39 start getting benefits as soon as possible.
• 00:42 Some improvements will focus on flow and streamline the flow of the value stream
• 00:47 map, we talked about those in an earlier lesson.
• 00:51 Some of the improvements will focus on improving quality at each step.
• 00:54 We've also talked about quality improvements in
• 00:57 the lessons on Poka-Yoke and 5S.
• 00:59 These improvements will reduce costs, reduce uncertainty in delivery and
• 01:03 performance, which improves customer satisfaction.
• 01:07 And some improvements will focus on improving the process scheduling, applying
• 01:12 pull principles instead of push, this is also a principle that we've discussed.
• 01:17 These changes often give us a process that is faster, lower cost,
• 01:21 lower inventory, better quality, and more responsive to customer needs.
• 01:26 Wow, who wouldn't want that?
• 01:29 The To Be map also contains targets or
• 01:32 estimates of how this new process should be performing.
• 01:37 These targets are normally based upon the actual data that we had in the As Is map,
• 01:41 so our starting point is the current reality.
• 01:44 And we recognize perfection is unrealistic.
• 01:47 Remember, there are common cause variations in every process, and
• 01:52 that will include some variation in our To Be process.
• 01:55 However, we want to eliminate waste and make improvements.
• 01:59 In fact, you can look to the market to get competing benchmarks so
• 02:02 that you know how to position yourself.
• 02:05 I'll talk more about benchmarking here in a minute.
• 02:08 If you don't have any other ways to set targets,
• 02:11 I usually start with the old 50% rule, I try to get a 50% improvement.
• 02:16 So cut the cycle time by 50%.
• 02:18 A 50% cut in non-value-added effort.
• 02:21 Cut defect rates by 50%.
• 02:24 Improve your output by at least 50%.
• 02:27 Sometimes there are industry benchmarks, especially for technical performance.
• 02:31 If your product wasn't measuring up to the standard,
• 02:33 set your target to achieve the standard level.
• 02:36 Just be aware that the standard can change quickly.
• 02:40 Targets will help to focus the improvement efforts and provide a measurement for
• 02:44 success for the team.
• 02:46 Nothing is more frustrating to a team who worked their tails off to achieve a major
• 02:50 improvement, only to be told well yeah, that's good, but that's not good enough.
• 02:55 Let them know what the target is so
• 02:57 they can have the destination clearly in front of them.
• 03:01 I mentioned benchmarking, so let's run through this process.
• 03:05 I've done benchmarking studies with a number of companies,
• 03:08 I'll share with you a few of the best practices I've learned.
• 03:11 Benchmarking is described as the process of seeking out and studying the best
• 03:16 internal and external practices that produce superior performance.
• 03:21 You can benchmark products or processes.
• 03:24 And of course market analysts are frequently benchmarking business
• 03:27 performance between companies.
• 03:30 Benchmarking relies on finding the really good ideas of others and
• 03:34 using them to improve our own products and processes.
• 03:39 There's an old saying, don't reinvent the wheel,
• 03:41 that's the principle that we're talking about here.
• 03:44 If there is a good idea out there, use it, borrow shamelessly.
• 03:48 With the obvious caveat that you need to be respectful of intellectual property
• 03:53 rights and personal privacy.
• 03:55 Also, don't just copy, improve, but with the benchmark as a starting point for
• 04:01 your creativity juices to get flowing.
• 04:04 Another monitor I've used is adopt, adapt, advance.
• 04:07 Adopt the benchmark practice, adapt it to your own products or markets, and
• 04:12 use it to advance your organization.
• 04:15 One last point on this topic, let me take you through the benchmarking process flow
• 04:18 diagram that I'm showing here.
• 04:21 Notice that it's not a value stream map, it is a process flow because we definitely
• 04:25 have to make a number of decisions along the way.
• 04:29 We start by defining our performance criteria, what do we want to improve?
• 04:34 I then do an online search to see what is being done in that area right now,
• 04:38 who are some of the leaders?
• 04:41 From that point I decide how to do the analysis, is it a survey, an interview,
• 04:45 site visits?
• 04:47 Once I've determined on the analytical method,
• 04:50 I analyze our current system with that method, in part to de-bug it but also so
• 04:54 I'll have that to compare to the other benchmarked information.
• 04:58 I pick my benchmarking targets for the survey, interviews, or site visits, and
• 05:02 then conduct those.
• 05:04 I then analyze the benchmarks along with the current system.
• 05:07 And based on what I find, I either go back and do more benchmarking, or
• 05:11 possibly go do a more in-depth benchmark analysis with just a few organizations.
• 05:16 And I continue this several times,
• 05:19 until I have enough information to create a report and a presentation.
• 05:24 The To Be map is your specification for process change and improvement,
• 05:29 it's your Lean Six Sigma team's project goal from a process perspective.

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