VSM

Made Easy

Value Stream Mapping

The Future State Map

Current State Future State Work Plan &

Product Family
Drawing Drawing Implementation

Source: Rother, M., Shook, J., & Lean Enterprise Institute. (2003). Learning to see
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Content Good to Know

• The purpose of value stream mapping is to highlight sources of waste • With the exception of minor
and eliminate then by implementation of a future-state value stream purchases think, “What can
we do with what we have?”
that can become a reality within a short period of time.
Product Family
• Perhaps the most striking problems in our current VSM are the large
amounts of inventory, the unconnected processes (each producing
to its own schedule) pushing their output forward, and the long lead Current State Map
time in comparison to the short processing time.
• The goal is to build a chain of production where the individual
processes are linked to their customer(s) either by continuous flow Future State Map
Trainer
or pull, and each process gets as close as possible to producing only
what its customer(s) need when they need it.
Implementation
• It is found that the most useful aid for helping people draw future-
state maps is by following a list of questions
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Content Good to Know
As you develop your future-state concepts, answer the questions in roughly the following order:
• With the exception of minor
purchases think, “What can
5. At what single point in the production chain (the we do with what we have?”
1. What is the takt time? “pacemaker process”) will you schedule production?
•Based on the available working time of your downstream processes that •Remember that all material transfers downstream of the pacemaker
are closest to the customer? process need to occur as a flow.

2. Will you build to a finished goods supermarket from which 6. How will you level the production mix
the customer pulls, or directly to shipping?
•Based on several factors such as (customer buying patterns, the •At the pacemaker process?
reliability of your processes, the characteristics of your product.
•Building directly to shipping will require either a reliable, short-lead-time,
order-to-delivery stream
7. What increment of work will you consistently release?
3. Where can you use continuous flow processing? Trainer
•To level production volume
•To achieve one piece flow

8. What process improvements will be necessary, for the

value stream to flow?
4. Where will you need to use supermarket pull systems ?
•Note any equipment and procedural improvements that will be
necessary, such as reducing changeover time or improving machine
•To control production of upstream processes? uptime.
•We use the kaizen lightning burst icon to indicate these points in the
process.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #1
Content Good to Know

Question #1: What is Acme’s takt time for the chosen product family? • Try to cycle your pacemaker
process as close as possible
• The takt time calculation starts with the available working time for one shift in Acme’s assembly area, to takt time.

which is 28,800 seconds (8 hours). From this you subtract any non-working time, which is two 10
minute breaks per shift. This time is then divided by the customer demand of 460 units per shift to give a
takt of 60 seconds.

𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒: 28,800 − 1200 = 27,600 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡

𝐴𝑣𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 27,600 sec

𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑡 = =
𝐶𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑑 460 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡 Trainer

𝐴𝑐𝑚𝑒 𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐵𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑡 𝑇𝑎𝑘𝑡 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 60 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑠

• This means Acme needs to produce a steering bracket every 60 seconds in its assembly process.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #2
Content Good to Know

Question #2: Should Acme build steering brackets to a • For custom products you
finished goods supermarket or directly to shipping? may not be able to create a
supermarket of finished
goods.
• The customer’s demand rises and falls somewhat
unpredictably, and Acme is uncertain about the
reliability of future-state changes to be made. So Acme
has opted to begin with a finished goods
supermarket. Option (A) – Selected
The supermarket schedules assembly
• Each of those kanban essentially says, “The customer
has just consumed twenty left-drive (or right drive) Trainer
brackets, please make another 20.”

Option (B)
Production Control schedules assembly
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #3

Question #3: Where can Acme introduce continuous flow?

The “operator-balance chart”

summarizes the current total cycle
times for each process.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #3
Content Good to Know
Question #3: Where can Acme introduce continuous flow? • The higher the variation in
cycle times across different
stations, the more the flow is
interrupted, if batch and
Takt = 60 S Takt = 60 S queue method is followed.

Trainer

The “operator-balance chart” summarizes Weld/Assembly cell cycle times after

the current total cycle times for each process kaizen
process.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #3

Question #3: Where can Acme introduce continuous flow?

The “operator-balance chart”

summarizes the current total cycle
times for each process.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Q1-Q3

First View of the Future-State Map Showing Takt Time, Weld/Assembly Cell,
and the Finished-Goods Supermarket
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #4
Content Good to Know
Question #4. Where will Acme need to use supermarket pull systems? • Until changeover time on the
stamping press is greatly
reduced, replenishing what is
withdrawn from the
stamping supermarket on a
bin-for-bin basis is clearly not
practical.

Trainer
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #4
Content Good to Know
Question #4. Where will Acme need to use supermarket pull systems? • Until changeover time on the
• Two additional supermarkets – one for stamped parts and one for coils – are necessary to complete Acme’s in-plant stamping press is greatly
value stream for steering brackets. reduced, replenishing what is
withdrawn from the
• Stamped Parts Supermarket: stamping supermarket on a
bin-for-bin basis is clearly not
practical.
Withdrawal Kanban

• We need to set up a supermarket and use withdrawals from that supermarket

(pull) to control stamping’s production of left-drive and right-drive parts.
• Containers for the stamped parts should be sized (about one hour consumption)
to allow close-to-the-fingertips placement in the cell to help reduce cycle time and
Changeovers. Picking from another container will trigger Withdrawal Kanban.
Trainer
Production Kanban

• To achieve “every part every day”, stamping’s target batch size for steering
brackets would be approximately 600 LH and 320 RH pieces (Daily Requirement).
Supermarket will hold (maximum) this quantity + 0.5 Day (Safety).
• In this case the production kanban is brought to the stamping press whenever the
number of bins remaining in the supermarket drops to a trigger (“minimum”)
points.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #4
Content Good to Know
Question #4. Where will Acme need to use supermarket pull systems? • Until changeover time on the
stamping press is greatly
reduced, replenishing what is
Batch withdrawn from the
stamping supermarket on a
60 bin-for-bin basis is clearly not
practical.

Stamping Weld + Assembly

Trainer

The stamped-parts supermarket, withdrawal and signal kanban, and kanban flows
(dotted lines) are shown.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #4
Content Good to Know
Question #4. Where will Acme need to use supermarket pull systems? • Until changeover time on the
• Coils Supermarket: stamping press is greatly
reduced, replenishing what is
• To build a plant-level lean value stream the future state map must also requires withdrawn from the
stamping supermarket on a
another supermarket at the receiving dock, which holds coils of steel. bin-for-bin basis is clearly not
practical.
• Until coordinated with Supplier, Acme can attach an internal withdrawal kanban
to every coil and send those kanban to its own production control department
whenever another coil is used. Production control can then order coils daily based
on actual usage.
• Currently the steel supplier is shipping coils weekly. By lining up other customers
along a “milk run” delivery, it may be possible to get the necessary amount of steel
on a daily basis. Simply moving to daily delivery eliminates most of coils Trainer

inventory at Acme.
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #4
Content Good to Know
Question #4. Where will Acme need to use supermarket pull systems? • Until changeover time on the
stamping press is greatly
reduced, replenishing what is
withdrawn from the
stamping supermarket on a
bin-for-bin basis is clearly not
practical.

Trainer

Improvements Achieved So Far

VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Q1-Q4

Second View of the Future-State Map Showing Stamping and Raw Material Supermarkets
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #5
Content Good to Know
Question #5: What single point in the production chain (the pacemaker process) should • The bottleneck process
Acme schedule? (process with longest cycle
time) is usually considered as
• This will be indirect scheduling for the work cell, as we decided to schedule the shipping process for the time the pacemaker process
being
• We cannot schedule any further upstream (at the stamping process) because we are planning to introduce a pull
system between stamping and weld/assembly.
• This single scheduling point will regulate Acme’s entire steering-bracket value stream.

Trainer

Weld + Assembly
Shipping

3
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #6
Content Good to Know
Question #6: How should Acme level the production mix at the pacemaker process? • Enabling such frequent
• When the daily delivery is made to the assembly plant, 30 trays/Kanban(s) of left-drive brackets (600 pieces) and 16 changeovers in the cell will
probably require keeping all
trays /Kanban(s) of right-drive brackets (320 pieces) are typically loaded onto the truck at one time. fixtures and component
varieties ready, near the
• If we are not careful, the 46 production kanban removed from these trays before loading will be sent back to the operator’s fingertips.
weld/assembly cell in a batch. • However, when all
components are kept on the
• If this happens the weld/assembly cell will probably batch-produce these parts. That is, the cell will produce all 30 line you may need some
failsafe devices to prevent
trays of left-drive brackets, and then change over to make the 16 trays of right-drive brackets, which would look the wrong ones from being
like this: assembled.

Trainer
• Instead, if the weld/assembly cell levels the mix of brackets it produces evenly over the shift, then the stamping
press (with a shortened setup time) will have plenty of time to react to the cell’s pulls for left-drive and right-drive
parts.
• With leveling, which requires much more frequent changeovers, the cell’s production mix of trays of brackets
would look like this:
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #7
Content Good to Know
Question #7: What consistent increment of work should Acme release and take away at • Enabling such frequent
the pacemaker process? changeovers in the cell will
probably require keeping all
• How will Acme provide takt image to the weld/assembly cell, and how frequently will it fixtures and component
check production there? varieties ready, near the
operator’s fingertips.
• A natural increment of welding/assembly work in Acme’s case is the 60 second takt time x
20 pieces per tray = 20 minutes. This is the steering-bracket pitch, which corresponds to • However, when all
one kanban for one tray of 20 steering brackets. components are kept on the
line you may need some
• What this pitch means is that Acme will practice paced release of work instruction and failsafe devices to prevent
paced withdrawal of finished goods at its weld/assembly cell. the wrong ones from being
assembled.
• Every 20 minutes, a material handler brings the next kanban to the weld/assembly cell
and moves the just-finished tray to finished goods area.
• Each column in Acme’s steering-bracket load-leveling box represents a 20-minute pitch Trainer
increment. The two rows are designated for left-drive and right-drive kanban.
• If a tray is not finished at the 20-minute pitch increment, then Acme knows there is a
production problem (for example a problem with the spot welding equipment) that needs
attention
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #6 & #7
Content Good to Know

• Enabling such frequent

changeovers in the cell will
probably require keeping all
fixtures and component
varieties ready, near the
operator’s fingertips.
• However, when all
components are kept on the
line you may need some
failsafe devices to prevent
the wrong ones from being
assembled.

Trainer
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Answering Key Question #8
Content Good to Know
Question # 8: What process improvements will be necessary for Acme’s value stream to • We mark these items on our
flow as the future-state design describes? future-state map with the
kaizen lightning burst icon.
• Achieving the material and information flows we envision for Acme Stamping requires the
following process improvements:
• Reduction in changeover time and batch sizes at the stamping press, to allow faster response to
downstream usage. The goals are “every part every day” and then “every part every shift”.
• Elimination of the long time (10 minutes) required to change between left-drive and right-drive
fixtures in welding, to make possible continuous flow and mixed production from welding through
assembly.
• Improvement in on-demand uptime of the second spot-weld machine, as it will now be tied to
other processes in a continuous flow.
• Elimination of waste in the weld/assembly cell, to reduce total work content down to 168 Trainer
seconds or less. (Which allows use of 3 operators at the current demand level.)
VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Achievements
Content Good to Know

• We mark these items on our

future-state map with the
kaizen lightning burst icon.

Trainer

Improvements Achieved After Levelling

VSM
Made Easy
The Future State Map
Drawing the Future VSM – Q1-Q8

Acme Stamping Steering Bracket Future State