Intro: Welcome to the E6S-Methods podcast with Jacob and Aaron, brought to you by E6S Industries, your source for expert training, consulting, and leadership in business performance and continuous improvement methods, like Lean and Six Sigma. In this episode number 81, we finish off our discussion of those "Value Streams in 'Critical Condition - Part 2'" Find the path. Here we go. http://bit.ly/E6S-081; http://bit.ly/E6S-iTunes

Objection 1: the value stream can't change. The customer, engineers or management won't allow it… etc.

Counter 1: this is the typical response to all change. Without change nothing improves.

Objection 2: it doesn't matter where the waste is, we need to eliminate all of it.

Counter 2: Listen further and check out the show notes. If we don't change your mind, contact us

Listeners may want to check out episodes 44 and 45 on Value Stream Essentials as well as episodes 60 and 61 on Value Stream Mapping (VSM) for more basic background on this topic.

I Other aspects of complex VSMs

a. slack in non-critical paths

i. will create more WIP if not producing just-in-time to meet up with the critical path

ii. more flexibility in scheduling and deciding where to let the WIP pile up

1. best in the pre-processed state

a. why spend the time/money before you have to? (cash flow)

b. focus on the transactions that have not fallen through, deals fall through

II Non-branching VSMs... Only one path

a. One way to improve is to move long steps to a parallel path

i. Really long process steps

ii. NVA that cannot be eliminated

1. QC inspections

2. regulatory requirements

3. machine setups (change-over)

a. partial prep in parallel (while machine is still running

b. Chemical VSM example

i. Turn 12-day lead time to two days

ii. One major improvement was to move some inspection to a parallel path; packaged before inspection completed;

1. NVA but couldn't eliminate

2. Risk that product could fail.

a. But: long-term history showed it never failed

b. And since it was a test for contamination, if it failed it would need to be discarded anyway. No rework. Only lose the time it took to package.

***Value Streams in Critical Condition***

Outro: Thanks for listening to episode 81 of the E6S-Methods Podcast. If you would like to be a guest on the podcast, contact us through our website. Join our mailing list! Subscribe to past and future episodes on iTunes or stream us live on-demand with Stitcher Radio. Find outlines and graphics for all shows and more at www.E6S-Methods.com. “Journey Through Success”