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The
basic step is to examine the process chart and to split the activities
into those that add immediate value to the customer and those that do
not. Refer to the "7 wastes" (see the book "The Lean Toolbox") for guidance.
The concept is to achieve the added value of the product or service
in as small a time as possible. Therefore try to make every value-adding
step continuous with the last value-adding step, without interruptions
for waiting, queuing, or for procedures which assist the company but
not the customer. Stalk refers to this as (the "main sequence".
There
are several guidelines:
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Can
the non-value adding steps be eliminated, simplified, or reduced?
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Can
any activities that delay a value adding activity be simplified
or rescheduled'?
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Are there any activities, particularly non-value adding activities,
which can be done in parallel with the sequence of value adding
activities?
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Can activities that have to be passed from department to department
(and back!) be reorganised into a team activity? Better still, can
one person do it? (What training and backup would be required'?)
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Where are the bottlenecks'? Can the capacity of the bottleneck be
expanded'? Do bottleneck operations keep working, or are they delayed
for minor reasons? (According to Eli Goldratt, author of "The Goal"-
a book on managing bottlenecks -"an hour lost at a bottleneck is an
hour lost for the whole system" and "an hour lost at a non-bottleneck
is merely a mirage".) Are bottleneck operations delayed by non-bottleneck
operations, whether value adding or not?
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