Value stream: current-state analysis & future-state design
Make material and information flow visible (current state) and use the 7 design questions to draw up a lean target state (future state). Pick an example or build your own value stream with the guided assistant – any number of product variants, drag and drop, and key terms explained in plain language. Customer takt time and lead time are calculated automatically.
Key figures
Calculated automatically from master data and process data.
✓Consistency checks
Automatic check: bottleneck, overproduction, inventories, capacity. Click a finding – you jump straight to the relevant input field and get a hint on what to do. The same findings appear as markers (!/?) on the value stream map.
CURRENT+
Consistency checks
Automatic check: bottleneck, overproduction, inventories, capacity. Click a finding – you jump straight to the relevant input field and get a hint on what to do. The same findings appear as markers (!/?) on the value stream map.
Value stream map
Customer, supplier, production control, processes with data boxes, inventories and lead-time ladder.
Capture the value stream – step by step
All input fields, sorted by step – with explanations for beginners. In step 3 you drag elements into the right order. If you would rather be taken by the hand, switch on guided mode above.
Process data – overview
Quick check of all values. Editing is done in the guided build-up (step 3).
The 7 questions for the future-state value stream
The “7 magic levers” lead from the current state to a lean target state. Technical terms are underlined – hover over them with the mouse.
Solve open problems in the future-state value stream
The points that typically remain unsolved in the flow/cell – with concrete lean measures.
Key terms explained & symbols +
With value stream analysis (value stream mapping, from the Toyota Production System) you make material and information flows visible. Value stream design then draws up the lean future state from it. Here are the most important terms in plain words:
Symbols on the map
Video companion · Questions & answers
All terms and calculations from the two videos – in plain language. Click a question to open the answer. Technical terms are underlined (hover over them).
How saving works +
This HTML file is your document. Everything you enter is written to exactly this file when you save – just like a Word document. If you pass the file on, all analyses are included.
Save (green button or Ctrl+S) saves the current state – without any questions. As long as no working file of your own has been created, the state is kept in the browser and will be there again the next time you open it.
Save as (under »Analyses«) creates a file on your hard drive. This is the only place where you are asked where to save. After that, every further Save writes silently to exactly this file.
The first time: Open the file, click »Analyses« and then Save as. From then on the green button is enough.
Saved automatically: Once an analysis has been saved, the tool saves every further change by itself after a few seconds.
In case something goes wrong: The tool continuously keeps an interim state in the browser. If the browser crashes or you close the window by mistake, your work will be there again the next time you open it.
Note on browsers: Writing directly to the file currently works in Chrome and Edge. In Firefox and Safari everything stays saved in the browser – the file itself then remains unchanged.