Process Mapping as a Valuable Tool for Practice Efficiency
This presentation introduces essential Lean tools and techniques used to visualize, analyze, and improve business processes. By combining Process Mapping, Value-Added/Non-Value-Added Analysis, Spaghetti Diagrams, and Visual Management, teams gain powerful insights to identify inefficiencies, reduce waste, and support continuous improvement.
Key Focus Areas:
1. Process Mapping
· Visual breakdown of a workflow from start to finish
· Highlights roles, steps, decision points, and handoffs
· Establishes a shared understanding of how work actually flows versus how it should flow
---
2. Value-Added vs. Non-Value-Added (VA/NVA) Mapping
· Each step is evaluated to determine if it adds value from the customer's perspective
· Value-Added (VA): Steps that change the product/service in a meaningful way
· Non-Value-Added (NVA): Wasteful activities like delays, rework, unnecessary motion
· Aim: Minimize or eliminate NVA steps to streamline processes and reduce cost
---
3. Spaghetti Diagrams
· Maps the physical flow of people, materials, or information through a workspace
· Visually illustrates unnecessary travel, backtracking, or inefficient layouts
· Drives layout redesign or co-location of steps to minimize motion waste
---
4. Visual Management
· Use of visual cues (signs, boards, color coding, KPIs, dashboards) to manage operations at-a-glance
· Promotes transparency, real-time decision-making, and accountability
· Examples: production boards, performance metrics, shadow boards, status indicators
· Enables teams to “see problems” quickly and respond proactively
---