Learning to See: Value Stream Mapping to Add Value and Eliminate MUDA

Value-stream mapping is an overarching tool that gives managers and executives a picture of the entire production process, showing both value and nonvalue-creating activities. Rather than taking a haphazard approach to lean implementation, value-stream mapping establishes a direction for the company. Value-stream maps are the blueprints for lean transformations and Learning to See is an easy-to-read, step-by-step instruction manual that teaches this valuable tool to anyone, regardless of his or her background. This groundbreaking workbook breaks down the important concepts of value-stream mapping into an easily grasped format. The workbook is filled with actual maps, as well as engaging diagrams and illustrations. To encourage you to become actively involved in the learning process, Learning to See contains a case study based on a fictional company, Acme Stamping. Using the information from the case study, you begin by mapping the current state of the value stream, looking for all the sources of waste. After identifying the waste, you draw a map of a leaner future state and a value-stream plan to guide implementation and review progress regularly. Written by Mike Rother and John Shook -- two experts with practical experience -- the workbook makes complicated concepts simple. It teaches you the reasons for introducing a mapping program and how it fits into a lean conversion. With this easy-to-use product, a company gets the tool it needs to understand and use value-stream mapping so it can eliminate waste in production processes.