Seeing The Whole

Shingo Research Prize recipient for 2003

For the tens of thousands of users of value-stream mapping at the facility level, Seeing the Whole provides the logical next step, extending the field of view all the way up and down the value stream. In this new action guide, Dan Jones and Jim Womack, co-authors of the best-selling Machine That Changed the World and Lean Thinking provide a management tool for identifying and removing waste along the entire value stream from raw materials to end customer. By identifying all the steps and time required to move a typical product from raw materials to finished goods, the authors show that nearly 90 percent of the actions and 99.99 percent of the time required for the value chain’s Current State create no value. In addition, the mapping method clearly shows demand amplification of orders as they travel up the value stream, steadily growing quality problems, and steadily deteriorating shipping performance at every point up stream from the customer.

Applying the method to a realistic example, the authors show how four firms sharing a value stream can create a win-win-win-win future in which everyone, including the end consumer, can be better off.

The mapping methodology takes managers step-by-step through an improvement process that converts the traditional value stream of isolated, compartmentalized operations into an ideal future-state value stream in which value flows from raw materials to customer in just 6 percent of the time previously needed. The dramatically improved value stream also eliminates unnecessary transport links, inventories, and handoffs, the key drivers of hidden connectivity costs.

Learning to See, which has now sold more than 100,000 copies in 12 languages, popularized Value Stream Mapping. That book teaches lean thinkers to clearly see the value stream consisting of all of the actions required to move information and materials for one product family through one facility. When the current state of the value stream was clearly identified, Learning to See showed how to create a future state with much less waste, much higher quality, and more rapid response to changing consumer demand.

In this Shingo Prize winner "Seeing the Whole", Jones and Womack expand the field of view from the individual facility to the entire value stream from order to delivery.

In addition, the extended mapping method clearly shows demand amplification of orders as they travel up the value stream, steadily growing quality problems, and steadily deteriorating shipping performance at every point up the value stream from the customer. Collectively, the wasted actions and time plus the noise in the information stream and the quality and delivery deficits, present a tremendous opportunity for the four firms sharing this value stream. They can create a win-win-win-win-win future in which everyone, including the end consumer, is better off.

The information in the 96-page book is supported by multiple diagrams, charts, and new mapping icons for extended value streams. The main sections of the book are: -Introduction: Changing Your Focal Plane -Getting Started -The Current State Map -What Makes an Extended Value Stream Lean -Future State 1 -Future State 2 -The Ideal State -Achieving Future States