A new value stream mapping approach for complex production systems

Value Stream Mapping is the most used tool to map material and information flows. Unfortunately, this technique can be effectively used in systems characterized by linear product routings. When the production process is complex (job shop), the VSM application is not easy to use. In this paper, a new framework for a structured application of VSM to products with complex bill of material requiring no-linear value streams is presented. The framework is based on seven iterative steps and integrates the classic VSM technique with different tools. The basic idea is to execute a preliminary analysis to identify the longer “critical production path". Then, performance improvements are searched considering all possible sharing with others secondary paths as possible constraints. At this point a new path may become the critical one: the analysis proceeds iteratively until the optimum is reached.