Learning to See

Much more important, these simple maps - often drawn on scrap paper - showed where steps could be eliminated, flows smoothed, and pull systems introduced in order to create a truly lean value stream for each product family.

In 1998 John teamed with Mike Rother of the University of Michigan to write down Toyota's mapping methodology for the first time in Learning to See. This simple tool makes it possible for you to see through the clutter of a complex plant. You'll soon be able to identify all of the processing steps along the path from raw materials to finished goods for each product and all of the information flows going back from the customer through the plant and upstream to suppliers. With this knowledge in hand it is much easier to envision a "future state" for each product family in which wasteful actions are eliminated and production can be pulled smoothly ahead by the customer.

In plain language and with detailed drawings, this workbook explains everything you will need to know to create accurate current-state and future- state maps for each of your product families and then to turn the current state into the future state rapidly and sustainably.

In Learning to See you will find:

• A foreword by Jim Womack and Dan Jones explaining the need for this tool.
• An introduction by Mike Rother and John Shook describing how they discovered the mapping tool in their study of Toyota.
• Guidance on identifying your product families.
• A detailed explanation of how to draw a current-state map.
• A practice case permitting you to draw a current-state map on your own, with feedback from Mike and John in the appendix on how you did.
• A detailed explanation of how to draw a future-state map.
• A second practice case permitting you to draw a future-state map, with "the answer" provided in the appendix.
• Guidance on how to designate a manager for each value stream.
• Advice on breaking implementation into easy steps.
• An explanation of how to use the yearly value stream plan to guide each product family through successive future states.

More than 50,000 copies of Learning to See have been sold in the past two years. Readers from across the world report that value stream mapping has been an invaluable tool to start their lean transformation and to make the best use of kaizen events.

The journey towards lean can be difficult and filled with obstacles. Where does someone begin? What are the non-value-adding processes that can be eliminated? These are difficult questions to answer if you don’t have the proper tools.

Value stream mapping is an excellent place to start the lean journey and understand the sources of waste in a company’s operation. It’s an overarching product that gives managers and executives a picture of the entire production process, both value and non-value adding activities. Rather than taking a haphazard approach to lean implementation, value stream mapping establishes a direction for the company.

Beginning with a forward by James Womack and Dan Jones, Learning to See breaks down the important concepts of value stream mapping into an easy to understand format. The manual, a Shingo Prize Winner, is filled with actual value stream maps, as well as engaging diagrams and illustrations.

To encourage readers to become actively involved in the learning process, Learning to See contains a case study based on a fictional company - Acme Stamping. The reader begins by mapping the current state of the value stream and looks for all sources of waste in the value stream. After the waste identified, a map is developed with the projected future value stream.

Throughout the manual, Learning to See teaches readers the key concepts of value stream mapping. Written by two experts in the lean field, Mike Rother and John Shook, the workbook makes complicated concepts simple. It teaches reasons for introducing a mapping program and how it fits into a lean conversion.

With this easy to follow and engaging product, a company gets the tools it needs to understand a value stream mapping program, so it can eliminate waste in the production process. Start the lean journey and reduce waste that is costing your company money with value stream mapping.