Walking the shop or office floor with a paper and pencil to collect data and observe actual conditions is how value-stream mapping (VSM) is done. But for a long time, members of the Lean Community have been sharing these hand-drawn maps by creating their own electronic templates from scratch in various software programs. eVSM makes the process of turning hand-drawn maps into electronic ones easier and faster.

As a companion – not a substitute – to paper-and-pencil mapping, the software allows lean practitioners to easily create, modify, and disseminate electronic value-stream maps.

The new Lexicon, first published in January 2003, is 125 pages, containing 61 illustrations and 193 key terms from A3 Report to Yokoten. The Lexicon already covers such key lean enterprise terms as jidoka, kanban, kaizen, lean consumption, lean production, lean enterprise, pull production, standardized work, takt time, Toyota Production System, and value-stream mapping. It also has a simple, one-page guide to pronouncing Japanese terms. This is an electronic download version.

At the request of some of our readers we have posted the most commonly used mapping icons so that they can be downloaded for Excel spreadsheets. Download here »

Related Resources:

Books:

SEEING THE WHOLE VALUE STREAM, 2ND ED. by Dan Jones and Jim Womack with D. Brunt, M. Lovejoy $50.00

Workshops:

• Value-Stream Mapping for Manufacturing Learn how to use this fundamental initial step in a lean transformation to create the "blueprints" for applying other tools and targeting kaizen events most effectively. Learn more >
• Value-Stream Mapping for the Office and Service Understand how to adapt the value-stream mapping tool to administrative, professional, and transactional activities. Learn more >

Articles:

• Value-Stream Mapping at FAA Office Improves Information Flow by Chet Marchwinski
• Value-Stream Mapping by Jim Womack
• Value-Stream Mapping for the Office and Service by Joseph Dager