Value stream mapping
Draws the end-to-end flow of a product or a job together with the waiting and inventory in between. The point is to see how much of the total time actually adds value — usually far less than people assume.
Register nowWhen to use it?
- To find where a process waits and where work piles up.
- To see which step cannot keep up with customer demand: does anything exceed takt time?
- To draw the current state and put a future state next to it for comparison.
Step by step
- 1Enter daily demand and shift information in the panel at the top right. Takt time comes from there: how often a piece must come out.
- 2On an empty canvas, create the starter skeleton or start from scratch. Right-click the canvas to add any box.
- 3Write the cycle time with its unit into the process box. If it exceeds takt time the box turns red: that is the bottleneck.
- 4Write the number of waiting pieces into the inventory box; wait time is derived as pieces ÷ daily demand. If you have no count, enter the time directly.
- 5Connect the boxes. Right-click a connection to switch it to push, pull, FIFO, manual information or electronic information. Only material arrows enter the time calculation.
- 6From the menu at the top left, copy the current state as a future state, work on it, and compare the numbers at the bottom.
Keyboard shortcuts (desktop)
Tips
- Flow efficiency at the bottom is value-adding time over total lead time. Single digits are normal; what needs shortening is the waiting, not the work.
- If you leave inventory off the map, the total time looks better than it is — that is where the real information hides.
- Boxes not connected to the chain are excluded from the totals and counted as a warning below. Connect the flow as a single line.
- Put a kaizen burst where you intend to improve; that is how a future state map is read.
Worked example
Example: from order received to goods shipped
A manufacturer measures the time between an order arriving and the goods going onto a lorry. Each step's actual processing time is written separately from the waiting time between steps. The gap changes the picture entirely.
Steps and processing time
- Order entry — 10 minutes
- Credit check — 15 minutes
- Added to production plan — 30 minutes
- Production — 4 hours
- Quality check — 20 minutes
- Packing and dispatch — 40 minutes
Waiting between steps
- After order entry — 1 day
- After credit check — 2 days
- After being planned — 3 days
- After production — 1 day
- After quality — 2 days
Total processing time is about 6 hours; total elapsed time is 9 days. So 99% of the time is waiting. The longest wait is the three days after an order is planned. The answer is unambiguous: speeding up production is pointless, the queue is the problem.
Frequently asked questions
What is value stream mapping (VSM)?
A map of every step a product or a request passes through, with the duration of each step and the waiting time between them. It comes from lean manufacturing. Its purpose is not to go faster but to show where the time is actually going.
What counts as value-adding and non-value-adding?
Anything the customer would willingly pay for adds value — the steps that genuinely change the product. Waiting, moving things around and repeated checks do not. In most processes more than 90% of elapsed time is non-value-adding.
What is the difference between a value stream map and a flowchart?
A flowchart shows the order of steps and the decision points, with no durations. In a value stream map duration is the whole point: processing time and waiting time are written separately for every step and then compared.
Where do I start?
By mapping the current state exactly as it is. The most common mistake is drawing the process as it is supposed to work. If the map does not show reality, the improvements get applied to a process that does not exist. Measure the real durations on the floor.
Is it free?
Yes. Klarsti is free and ad-free right now, and you do not need an account to draw a value stream map.