Turn Your Value Stream Maps into a Live Data Model

In four steps: define the product family, arrange the process steps in their actual sequence, collect the metrics for each step and derive the future state from them. On paper or in a drawing, this produces a picture; the metrics sit alongside it in a table and must be updated manually after every change. In Polaris VSM, they are attached to the corresponding process step: when a step changes, lead time and flow ratio are recalculated automatically.

Calculation. All three represent a value stream map as a picture — you maintain lead times, inventory and takt times alongside it in a table and update them manually after every change. There is also the question of versions: when several people edit the files, it soon becomes unclear which file is current. Polaris VSM connects the symbol and the data record — each process step carries its metrics, the model recalculates with every change, and everyone works with the same version.

That depends on the data stored for each process step. Processing, setup and waiting times, together with inventory, determine the lead time across the entire value stream; relating it to value-adding time gives the flow ratio. Polaris VSM calculates both values directly from the model and updates them with every change, rather than requiring updates in a separate table.

For the first value stream, the process steps, approximate processing times and the inventory between them are enough — in other words, what is collected in an on-site workshop anyway. An ERP or MES connection is not needed to get started; it becomes worthwhile only when the value stream needs to be kept continuously up to date. Polaris VSM can therefore be started without a system connection; the collected data is retained if the value stream is connected later.

Value stream mapping represents the current state, while the future state value stream represents the intended target state. They can only be compared if both are calculated using the same metrics — otherwise, you are comparing two pictures. In Polaris VSM, both states sit side by side in the same model, so the effect of a planned improvement is visible as a number before it is implemented.