Process mapping
Map a process end to end with the people involved, on a wall and with Post-it notes, to bring out the waiting, the loops and the waste that nobody sees anymore, then deal with them in an action plan.
This course is intended for team leaders, methods technicians, continuous improvement facilitators and department managers who have a process that "drags" — a change request that takes three weeks, a changeover that overruns, a batch record that gets redone twice — without being able to say where the time goes. By the end, you will know how to define the boundaries of a process, bring the right people together, map it step by step with simple symbols, measure waiting times and rework loops, and leave the room with a dated action plan. The process mapping covered here is the Lean version, close to flow process analysis; it is not the process mapping of an ISO 9001 quality system, which answers a different question.
What you will be able to do
- Distinguish Lean process mapping from VSM and from quality process mapping, and know when to choose it.
- Define the boundaries of a process (start, end, level of detail) and put together a team that includes one or two outsiders.
- Map a process on the wall with the usual symbols and fill in the data for each step: working time, waiting, inspection, constraints.
- Identify and number the Muda, calculate the total lead time, the first-time-right rate and the number of loops.
- Turn the findings into actions with an owner, a deadline, and a criterion that tells you two weeks later whether it worked.
The path
- What a process map shows, and what it is not 4 min
- Preparing the workshop: scope, level of detail, team 4 min
- Drawing the steps on the wall and filling in each Post-it 5 min
- Reading the map: loops, variable waits, unclear roles 4 min
- Solve in session, schedule the rest, close out 4 min
Prerequisites
No prior Lean tool is required. You need to know a process in your shop floor or department closely enough to name its steps and the people involved, and be able to mobilise those people for half a day to a full day.
The closing quiz
The topic ends with a 7-question quiz, and a certificate is issued on success.