Monday 25 January 2016

How to identify the opportunities at BIG PICTURE perspective

       In an organization, throughout the value chain, there are numerous opportunities for value improvement or waste elimination/reduction. Since the resource availability and time is being a constraint, it is wise to focus on the critical or constraint facilities to improve so that overall value enhancement will be improved

    Most of the organizations are tuned to do improvements, but in localized areas or in an assorted manner which results in an INCREMENTAL improvement in the value chain.

When the team from different cross functions identify the macro-level opportunities to improve the roadmap, it gives focus and direction to the entire team to work upon. In this way, team engagement will also be improved.

There are two methods by  which we can identify the constraint or opportunities at the organization level

1. By past data and experience
2. Applying Value Stream Mapping

     1.By past data and experience:

With past experience and data, the team can identify the constraint facilities with the following criteria
The facility which is giving the lowest output and affecting the plant output
The facility which is producing a higher percentage of total revenue
The facility which is utilized very low and affecting the entire flow
The facility which is producing inconsistency quality output and affects the lead time

2. Applying Value Stream Mapping :

Value stream mapping is a visualization tool derived from the Toyota production system of lean manufacturing.

Using VSM methodology, when we map the activities end to end, we can identify the waste in the system.