Leveraging Digital Mixed Model Value Stream Maps: A Leadership Guide to Deploying These Maps to Remove Waste

This guide serves as a roadmap for integrating digital value stream mapping (eVSM) into your Lean deployment to improve production processes. Lean, with its mapping component, value stream mapping (VSM), has endured as a process improvement methodology for more than 25 years. VSM is a metrics-based analytical mapping method with simple calculations for Lean metrics such as Takt Time, VA, NVA, Capacity, OEE, etc., however:

• The calculations and charting associated with value stream maps can be tedious
• It’s hard to keep updating the calculations for “what-if” studies
• Manual calculations can be prone to error.

Digital VSM was introduced as a complement to the initial paper-and-pencil map. The eVSM software has been used to create Digital VSMs for many years, but it has also encountered a couple of hurdles:

• Lean application has expanded and is applied to increasingly complex value streams
• Product variants (mixed models) have proliferated so that many variants are now made with shared resources

Creating and analyzing mixed model value stream maps with only paper and pencil, however, is practically unfeasible. The eVSM program has been revamped for the mixed model production setting and is now accessible as eVSM Mix for creating and analyzing Digital Mix VSMs. The eVSM Mix software reintroduces VSM as a fundamental tool for lean practitioners working in mixed-model situations. This guide illustrates Digital Mix VSMs created with the eVSM Mix software, shows how to use them analytically for “what-if” studies, and highlights best practices for deployment.

With over a decade at The eVSM Group, Girish Hidaduggi has significantly contributed to the evolution of Mix Technology. He oversees product testing, eLearning content creation, and research on integrating environmental factors into value streams. Girish also leads the eVSM Academics division to bridge the gap between academics and industry needs. Girish holds an MBA from Symbiosis University and an engineering degree from Visvesvaraya Technological University.

Jon Fournier, an industrial engineering graduate from Western New England College, has been with The eVSM Group for 12 years and leads software development for the group. He has innovated to allow the software to create and analyze digital mixed model value stream maps. Jon created an eLearning framework that can be used as an authoring environment for learning by doing.

Herman Ranpuria is a co-founder and vice president of operations at The eVSM Group. He has authored comprehensive eLearning materials for digital value stream mapping. A mechanical engineering graduate from the University of Nottingham, he has over 20 years of lean methods application experience, including 8 years in aerodynamics engineering at Rolls-Royce.

Dilesh Patel is Co-founder and CEO of The eVSM Group, Dilesh is an expert in leveraging digital tools for lean deployments. He has a strong background in engineering consulting, software development, and product management from his 20 years working at Siemens. An award-winning innovator, Dilesh holds engineering degrees from MIT and the University of Southampton.