ABSTRACT
Value stream mapping (VSM) is a fl owcharting method originally created in the Toyota Production System (TPS) to document the entire process (of a company or a department) on a single sheet of paper to encourage dialogue and understand the process better. First, you create a current-state map of how the value presently fl ows in your organization. Then, utilizing the principles of Lean, you envision a better state for how value should fl ow in an optimum manner in your organization: this is future-state VSM. Kaizen activities, which are events to overcome defi ciencies in the current state that will allow the company to reach the future state, are identifi ed for implementation on the current-state map. The future-state map illustrates the ideal state after the changes are implemented. The future-state map represents how your processes should fl ow.
