Lean

Value Stream

All the activities — value-adding and not — required to bring a product from raw material to the customer.

A value stream is the complete set of actions, both value-adding and non-value-adding, required to take a product family from raw material (or order) to the customer's hands. It includes material flow and information flow.

Seeing the whole value stream — rather than optimizing isolated steps — is the foundation of lean. It is captured and analyzed with value stream mapping.

Go Deeper
Value Stream Mapping guide→Lean Manufacturing guide→
Related Terms
Value Stream Mapping
A pencil-and-paper method for visualizing material and information flow to expose waste and design a better future state.
Value-Added
Activity that transforms a product in a way the customer is willing to pay for — everything else is waste or necessary non-value-added.
Flow
The smooth, uninterrupted movement of material and information through a value stream with minimal stops or queues.
Lead Time
The total elapsed time from order (or raw material) to delivery (or finished product), including all waiting.
8 Wastes
The eight categories of waste lean targets: Defects, Overproduction, Waiting, Non-utilized talent, Transportation, Inventory, Motion, Extra processing.

Put Value Stream into practice

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