They are vital first steps in developing an action plan to improve your manufacturing operations.

 The VSM should be regarded — to use a football analogy — as akin to putting the game plan together. After a VSM
is created, the team must execute the plan – blocking, tackling, running and passing in order to win the game. In
other words, using what’s learned from creating the VSM to realize an ideal future state of the process. If activities
aren’t following the plan, the coach will alter the plan in order to achieve a positive result. The VSM merely maps out
what the current state is. Then, a plan (based on findings from creating the VSM) is created to improve the business.
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months. 

Three points to keep in mind:

  See and understand the current situation and where the bottlenecks are.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by excess queues of material or documents.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by poor or incomplete data.

We’ve seen many value stream maps (VSM) over the past 20 years, as it has become a common tool. In some
companies it’s a first requirement before a lean effort begins.
In other companies, value stream maps are regarded as burdensome and irrelevant. And that's a shame.
VSMs that are completed with no 'what next' analysis (other than post-its on a craft paper display in a conference
room) serve no purpose. And when employees aren't involved in leveraging the VSM they've created into a better
future state for the company, they will groan and roll their eyes when asked to participate in other VSM workshops.
The level of detail that's included in a VSM – and the team’s ability to interpret ‘current state’ as represented by the
map – can make it difficult to see which improvement efforts can yield the best results. In some companies just
beginning (or restarting) their lean process, some improvements appear so obvious that a map may seem
unnecessary.
ADVERTISING, MOUSE OVER FOR AUDIO

Learn more
However, leaders who highlight the 'quick wins' achieved in the VSM workshop will give their team a sense of
accomplishment. They'll also help participants understand the link between the current state value stream map, and
opportunities to improve the process.

How can we make creating a value stream map less burdensome and more relevant? We’ll first review the basic
structure of a full VSM. Then we’ll talk about why the map must be build with the right level of detail. Finally, we’ll
review how these steps come together in a future state plan.
Value Stream Mapping – the Process
Many companies dedicate key resources for a week or more to complete the mapping process, and then declare their
effort complete. That’s missing the mark, because value stream maps are never meant to be stand alone documents.
The VSM should be regarded — to use a football analogy — as akin to putting the game plan together. After a VSM
is created, the team must execute the plan – blocking, tackling, running and passing in order to win the game. In
other words, using what’s learned from creating the VSM to realize an ideal future state of the process. If activities
aren’t following the plan, the coach will alter the plan in order to achieve a positive result. The VSM merely maps out
what the current state is. Then, a plan (based on findings from creating the VSM) is created to improve the business.
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months. The team should re-
convene to update their value stream map by recording improvements and changing business conditions. The plan is
then compiled for the next six months. Because the same team is revising the VSM within six-month timeframes, the
process becomes less burdensome and more relevant. The VSM communicates the progress the lean initiatives
have made.
How Much Detail to Include?
The level of detail is critical when developing a VSM. The old phrase rings true: “Too much detail – you can’t see the
forest for the trees.” And of course the corollary is also true, “Too little detail – and you can’t see the trees for the
forest.”
The VSM provides the foundation for a plan that should look out no more than six months.
What the VSM is meant to show are all the problems encountered in a process (or, where improvements may have
the biggest benefit). After all, the seminal book that put VSM in the mainstream lean world is titled Learning to See by
Rother and Shook.

Three points to keep in mind:

• See and understand the current situation and where the bottlenecks are.
• See impediments to flow illustrated by excess queues of material or documents.
• See impediments to flow illustrated by poor or incomplete data.
Your improvement goals should drive the level of detail you include in your VSM. For an enterprise-level VSM, teams
focus on identifying opportunities to reduce overall lead time. Process steps and the supporting data should illustrate
opportunities to reduce days and weeks of lead time. If your team is mapping a work-cell process, then process steps
and tasks in seconds, and a discrete count of inventory is required. The VSM should show where the problems are. If
these bottlenecks aren’t readily visible, and you have a lot of information, then you’re too detailed. If your entire value
stream shows only two or three process blocks, then you will probably need to break things down a bit further.
What’s the rule of thumb developed by teams we’ve worked with? They express a process in 20 to 30 steps within
the primary flow. It’s always easier to identify where the team needs to dig a little deeper than it is to consolidate
process steps. It’s also helpful to perform a self-check as you build your map. This can help you identify bottlenecks
in the process before collecting data. If the main process flow already speaks to you about problems, or ideas jump
off the sheet at you, then you know you’re at the correct level of detail. The correct level of detail will also lessen the
burden of data collection and map compilation.
Bringing It All Together
When process data is overlaid on the map, an imbalance of inventory or data will help you see the bottlenecks and
where they’re created. Analyze the opportunities presented by the map. They may be revealed by excess inventory
buildup, material flow knocked out of balance by extended cycle times, quality issues or information flow that enters
the process at the wrong place. As you begin to identify improvement opportunities, it should become clearer where
to focus. Then, target your improvement areas, assign a project manager for each area and prioritize a value stream
plan that can help your organization quickly realize the largest process benefits.

Repeating the Process for Continuous Improvement

Building a current state value stream map is your organization’s logical first step, but it should never end there. If
you’ve crafted it correctly, the VSM should challenge the current state of the process you want to improve. The VSM
will help you create a value stream plan to improve the process. And, most important, it will help you execute the
plan.
The value stream plan should be valid for no more than six months, at which time the future state map should be the
current state map.
Validate your current data with time observations, inventory counts and up-to-date quality metrics. Then the process
of creating a value stream plan and future state map for the next six months begins (again). Use your current state
map to identify new improvement opportunities, update your value stream plan, and then create another future state
map incorporating all the ideas from the updated plan. It is a great example of W. Edward Deming’s “Plan-Do-Check-
Act” cycle. 
 When switching on the oxygen pumps, there was an explosion on board of the Apollo 13 space craft. A short circuit in
a small module led to an explosion rendering most of the space craft useless.
For days, the crew frantically worked in cramped quarters trying to return to Earth. Tensions ran high, but, instead of
blaming each other for the mistakes they made, they concentrated on the system of the space craft and how to work
with what was left of it. Only that broad, holistic focus on the system let them survive.

The same is true for your development process. Focus on the whole system instead of blaming each other for slow
releases of new features. Value-Stream-Mapping can help you shift your focus from fixing individual shortcomings to
the optimizing the entire system.
Value-Stream-Mapping is a lean technique
From an idea to product and finally to customer :value stream mapping visualizes the entire operations.It is a
lean technique because by observing the whole picture of development cycle including the steps which are
not adding value .This helps in creating visual model of whole process and thus identifying waste in the
system. One point is really important over here that VSM only maps out what the current state is. Then, a strtategy
is created to improve thecurrent situaution.
How do you make waste visisble

  See and understand the current situation and where the bottlenecks are.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by excess queues of material or documents.

  See impediments to flow illustrated by poor or incomplete data.

It visualizes the whole process from idea to customer release as a series of connected tasks. Both value and non-
value adding tasks should be defined and tracked from customer requirement to delivery.
By looking at the holistic representation of your complete development cycle, and whether or not the individual steps
are adding value, you can create a visual model of your process and easily identify waste in the system.
How do you make waste visible?
To draw a Value-Stream-Map, everyone involved in the process comes together. Choose one feature you recently
worked on. Try to remember the exact steps which resulted in the finished feature:
• Who had the idea and when?
• How long did it take to decide to actually do it?
• What exactly was the first action taken to start design?
• How long did the design take?
• When did the developer get assigned the new feature?
• …
And so on – all the way to release and successful customer adoption.
You’ll come up with a long, chronological list of actions and waiting times between those actions. Now draw that
sequence as a step-diagram. Put the actions as lines above the ground line. And put the waiting times as lines below
the ground line. Mark actions in green and waiting times in red for better visibility.

Now, you’ve got a visual representation of how that one feature came into existence. The longest waiting times
(waste) should quickly become obvious.

Push pull imp

http://carpedia.com/blog/determine-use-push-pull-production-scheduling/

Push-Pull Supply Chains:

Starting from 90s, apparel corporations all over the world have experienced increasing national and international
competition and have initiated horizontal alignment with leaner structure to better address dynamic demand situation
in a capacity surplus environment. (9). The shift has taken place in the marketplace from mass products to
 customized products. In distribution channel, giant retailers like Wall Mart, K-Mart exercise even more power to the
supply chain (10).

As mentioned in previous sections, the disadvantages of Push and Pull supply chains along with changes in global
business landscape have forced companies to look for a new supply chain strategy that takes advantage of the best
of both world. This results into a hybrid of the two systems Push-Pull supply chain system.

Push-Pull is also termed as synchronous supply chain. In this strategy, the initial stages of the supply chain are
operated based on Push system, and the final stages are operated on Pull strategy. The interface between the Push-
based stages and the Pull-based stages is referred as the Push-Pull boundary. 

Consider the case of Morarjee Brembana Ltd., the leader in 100 percent cotton high-value shirting fabric
manufacturer, which out-sources greige yarn based on forecast, and weaves and processes to produce qualities as
per actual demand of customers. This implies that supply chain of Morarjee Brembana is divided into two parts. The
Push part is the part of the Morarjee supply chain prior to weaving, while the Pull part is the part of the supply chain
that starts with weaving and is based on actual customer demand. Indeed, demand for yarn is an aggregation of
demand of all finished products that use this component. Since aggregate forecasts are more accurate, uncertainty in
component demand is much smaller than uncertainty in finished goods demand. This, of course, leads to safety stock
reduction. 

Postponement, or delayed differentiation, in product design is also an excellent example of a Push-Pull strategy. In
postponement, the firm designs the product and the manufacturing process so that actual product differentiation can
be deferred as much as possible down the pipeline when actual demand is known. Thus, the portion of the supply
chain prior to product differentiation is typically based on push strategy, and the portion of the supply chain starting
from the time of differentiation is based on Pull system. Postponement can be done based on time, place and form.

Conclusion:

Following insights are arrived at from the above discussions: 

 Design of supply chain configuration depends on clock-speed of organization. Clock-speed of organization is

the speed with which the product-portfolio and process change in response to market demand. So, organization
having low clock-speed, i.e. with relatively stable demand may have push oriented supply chain. On the other hand, a
high clock-speed organization with variable market demand may have pull oriented supply chain.

 In the Push portion of a Push-Pull supply chain strategy the focus is on cost while in the Pull portion of the
strategy, the focus is on service levels.

 In a Push-Pull strategy, the Push part is applied to the portion of the supply chain where long-term forecasts
have small uncertainty and variability. On the other hand, the Pull part is applied to the portion of the supply chain
where uncertainty and variability are high and therefore decisions are made only in response to real demand. 

 In a Push-Pull supply chain, inventory is minimized as it is designed to eliminate the safety stock by make-
to-order and long cycle-time is reduced by pre-arranging/ pre-manufacturing part of the supply.
 It is found that management of apparel supply chain moves from push to pull and finally to synchronous
system. However, all three kinds of supply chain management co-exist in apparel industry as appropriate supply
chain strategy depends on the industry, the company, and individual products. The higher the uncertainty in customer
demand, the better to manage that part through Pull strategy 
 
high-volume, low-mix such as disposable syringe assembly, medical hand gloves,bandages,consumer
electronics,like statandard keybords for PC
low-volume, high-mix operation, such as diagnostic equipment manufacturing like bp machine. The aerospace
industry defines high mix/low volume. Specialized technology products for narrower markets

“In low-volume, high-mix environments, the the main chllenges /cost drivers are inventories and internal cycle times
“There is a high opportunity in most high-mix environments to dramatically improve customer fulfillment and reduce
in-process inventories (and thus, slash operating costs) by better managing the way products are produced—from
assembly cell creation to employee engagement to quick changeover capability,” Penkala points out.

“In a high-volume, low-mix environment, opportunities improving process and equipment reliability and measure
performance using overall equipment effectiveness,” says Penkala. “Asset reliability and efficiency are the key cost
drivers, so kaizen activities are targeted at here to improving throughput and increase
profitability. Automated systems are more commonly found in these environments, so maintaining and improving
uptime is essential.

“The concept of kaizen remains the same [no matter the volume],” says Sammy Obara, president of Honsha
Associates, an alumni association of former Toyota Motor Corp. engineers and managers. “If you eliminate waste,
you do it at the root cause. Then you standardize so it doesn’t come back. Then you do yokoten (horizontal
deployment) so other processes, product families and production sites can all benefit from that kaizen.

A high volume / low mix manufacturer producing consumer electronics for a broad global market has different
leverage points within the supply chain than does a low volume / high mix manufacturer who builds specialized
technology products for a narrower market. When comparing supply chain metrics between these two types of
manufacturing companies a huge contrast becomes readily evident as shown in Figure 1. Each metric is defined and
measured on a scale of 1 to 5 in a metrics scorecard where rating of 5 is the optimal score relative to the industry.
The criterion for the ratings is listed below in Table 1.

A high volume / low mix

manufacturer producing standard PC
motherboards, for example, can be
expected to have relatively stable and predictable end-product demand. It will have a smaller supply base providing
many standard ship-to-stock components and materials. High volumes can be leveraged to reduce the ordering
frequency and subsequently run a more efficient supply chain operation with high inventory turns and little exposure
to excess and obsolete inventory.

In contrast to the generally robust supply chain performance in the well established high volume / low mix
businesses, the same is not true for the fiber optic components and subsystems manufacturers. They operate in a
very low volume / very high mix environment, facing constant demand volatility as product forecasts oscillate. This
type of manufacturer relies on a large supplier base, each providing unique components for specialized products
making the supply base and internal operations management unwieldy and exposure to excess and obsolete
inventory a big challenge.

For the low volume / high mix manufacturer, supply chain optimization requires innovative approaches to match the
performance demonstrated in high volume / low mix environments.

PUSH VS. PULL INVENTORY MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

33
Shares
19

november 13, 2014 by brian sutter 0 comments

Most companies have a better chance to profit and satisfy customers when inventory managers develop an effective
and efficient inventory management strategy. The right strategy ensures access to the right products, and it also
helps control costs associated with buying and storing goods. Understanding the difference
between push and pull inventory management models can help you develop the right system for your own unique
business.
PUSH, PULL & HYBRID MODELS
Push inventory strategy should have backed by excellent forecasts;. Normal apprel industry like jeans manufacturer
are either manufactured or ordered in advance to meet anticipated demand. For that one must have accurate,
historical sales records and hope prior sales will predict future demand where as Pull strategy (JIT) fits well where
products are customized and typically require personalization at the consumer level. These products are mostly
branded (Zara)and consumers place high emphasis on personalization aspects, examples being custom handbags,
custom shoes, computers, and even some cars.(Panit in case of BMW)

Now a days we can see hybrid approach in case of sporting goods like Nike ,Adidas where they are main sponspor of
major sports (NBA ,NFL) where they have to have to wait till some team or team players will come out as star durinfg
that particular season .They prepare T-shirts and Jerseys haf way and than those comes at USA centre and here
they complete with remaining stuff like putting current hot player or Team name.

high-volume, low-mix companies examples are medical companies such as disposable syringe assembly, medical
hand gloves,bandages and consumer electronics companies ,like statandard keybords for PC
low-volume, high-mix operation oriented companies are specialized proucts for narrow markets diagnostic equipment
manufacturing companies like bp machine, and Aerospace

The pull inventory model simply relies upon the ability to order or make products as they are requested by customers.
This inventory method is also called just-in-time or JIT.  Advantages of a pull system include the fact that businesses
aren’t spending money ordering or storing finished products until after customers have already purchased. However,
this model is only effective when every link in the company’s supply chain operate according to this model rather than
the more traditional pushing of stock in a top-down approach.
Some businesses use a hybrid push-pull method to properly manage inventory. To be successful, companies require
a sophisticated inventory control system to track products and supplies currently in stock with the ability to properly
forecast future demand. This model is also known as a lean inventory strategy—companies rely heavily on
forecasting and constantly adjust inventory levels based on actual sales.

The pull system was identified as a crucial tool to decrease the level of inventories and improve the availability of the
components for assembly. The components are produced by machining department and provided to the warehousing

The second context in which a push/pull concept can be seen is the point in a supply chain where demand is fulfilled
through orders on suppliers (replenishment) and beyond which demand is fulfilled through stock (inventory) in the
supply chain. For example, consider a typical retail operation. Should the company directly replenish the stores as the
stocks on the shelves deplete? Or, should the company replenish the stores from a warehouse that stocks inventory
and then replenish its warehouses by placing orders on suppliers? In the first case, when stores are directly
replenished by orders placed on the suppliers, the company saves on the warehousing expense altogether, though it
may carry higher inventories as it manages several hundred stores, each individually carrying inventories to avoid the
risk of stock-outs. In the second case, the company can build a warehouses to optimize inventory to hedge against
the stock-out risk, but adds the cost of creating and maintaining a warehouse. 
In both of these scenarios as well, the company is dealing with balancing the cost of inventory against the cost of
resources and fulfillment-time. 

Therefore, in making the push-pull decisions, companies are primarily balancing the cost of inventory, resources, and
fulfillment cycle-time. The factors that generally affect these conditions are as following. While no generic
determinations can be made, understanding the concept of balancing these costs and the factors governing them
provides an objective method for making such decisions. 

 Demand Variability: When the product demand is certain, stable, and can be forecasted with relatively high
accuracy, then a push strategy may work well. But when demand uncertainty is high, consider pull strategies for
managing demand. Low demand variability provides an opportunity to create highly efficient manufacturing or
distribution processes that may not be very flexible but minimize the cost of unit production. High demand variability
works against such efficiencies. 
 Product Variability: The products that are customized and typically require personalization at the consumer
level, will do well with a pull strategy for effective demand management. These products are typically branded and
consumers place high emphasis on personalization aspects, examples being custom handbags, custom shoes,
computers, and even some cars. Some industrial products like rolled steel can fall in this category as well. However,
the fulfillment lead-time must be managed to be competitive. When the products are utilitarian, they lend themselves
to push strategies for manufacturing as well as supply chains. 
 Economies of Scale: The product characteristics described above generally also describe the economies of
scale. With manufacturing based on large economies of scale (and hence no or low customization), push strategies
are generally compatible, otherwise consider pull strategies. 
 Manufacturing Setup Changes: When the manufacturing setup changes are expensive and time-consuming,
a push-based strategy should be evaluated. Consider pull strategies when setup changes are quick and do not affect
the manufacturing efficiencies substantially. 
 Lead-time: Lead-time in this context means the lead-time to fulfill demand. This can be a replenishment,
manufacturing, or distribution lead-time or a combination of these, depending on the specific situation. Higher lead-
time generally favor push-systems to build inventory so that end-demand can be fulfilled relatively quickly. 

The push/pull decisions afford a balance between the responsiveness (agility) and cost (lean). Pull systems must be
responsive to be effective, push systems are generally more cost effective though they not have the same amount of
flexibility as the pull-systems may have. Of course, all systems are generally a combination of the push & pull
strategies to be most effective. We will discuss these aspects of push/pull concepts in the next post. 

Want to know more about supply chain processes? How they work and what 

Push type" means Make to Stock in which the production is not based on actual demand. "Pull type" means Make To
Order in which the production is based on actual demand. In supply chain management, it is important to carry out
processes halfway between push type and pull type or by a combination of push type and pull type.

Supply Chain Management (SCM) is to create a solution i.e. "supply" for a goal or issue, i.e. "demand". Supply chain
models of "Push type" and "Pull type" are opposite in terms of a demand and supply relationship. "Push type" is
represented by "Make to Stock" (MTS) in which the production is not based on actual demand and "Pull type" is
represented by "Make To Order" (MTO) in which the production is based on actual demand.

One of the major reasons why supply chain management currently receives so much attention is that information
technology enables the shifting of a production and sales business model from "Push type" to "Pull type". Pull-type
supply chain management is based on the demand side such as Just-in-Time (JIT) and CRP (Continuous
Replenishment Program) or actual demand assigned to later processes. Therefore, unlike the Push-type method it is
not Make to Stock, which is based on demand forecast. While inventory is kept to a minimum, products can be
supplied with short lead times and at high speed. At the point where "Pull type" starts to supply operations triggered
by actual demand, it is like an elevator. An elevator starts when a button is pressed even if there is only one
passenger. On the other hand, the "Push type" can be considered as an escalator. An escalator continues to supply
(push) regardless of whether there is actual demand (passenger). In addition, "Push type" corresponds to a model for
trains, buses, and airplanes for which supply (push) is based on demand forecast by time period and route. There
may be various forms between "Push type" and "Pull type" depending on inventory forms of materials, work in
progress (WIP), and finished items and how to deal with the actual demand in supply chain management.

In the case of sushi, there are boxed sushi sold in a shop, sushi ordered at the counter in a sushi restaurant, and
sushi for which an order starts from purchasing live fishes. The place and form which fish for sushi are held in varies
from downstream to upstream in a supply chain. An extreme example of a pull-type supply chain sushi restaurant that
is unconcerned about lead times is the one that goes fishing when an order is received.

Push starte

Value stream mapping :focus on both information and materials flowgy