Lean and Fit

Jan. 14, 2013
if your supply chain has a lot of fat and is unresponsive or slow, you need to do a diagnostic just like you would go to a doctor for a checkup if you felt the same way.

As is typical this time of year, many people made the New Year’s resolution to lose a little weight. That’s why I couldn’t help but notice a recent study that countered this argument stating that a little extra weight is actually good for you (“Being overweight may protect against premature death, study suggests”).

From what I’ve heard and read about the study, one of the reasons they came to this conclusion was that many of those who were thin in the study, were sick or dying as “experts questioned the study's methodology, noting some of thin people included may have had serious diseases that took away their weight, such as cancer, or have been smokers.” I guess that shows that as the saying goes, sometimes “figures lie and liars figure”!

So how does this relate to your supply chain? Well, if your supply chain has a lot of fat and is unresponsive or slow, you need to do a diagnostic just like you would go to a doctor for a checkup if you felt the same way.

A great tool for this is a Value Stream Map (VSM). Unlike a typical Process Flow Map, a VSM identifies and quantifies the value added and non-value added activities in a value stream for a product or family of products or services. It enables you to quantify the waste or “fat” in your processes and helps in prioritizing improvement projects.

So with that in mind, maybe it would be a good New Year’s “business” resolution to trim the fat in your supply chain!

Popular Sponsored Recommendations

Discover How an Eye Tracking Study Improves Training Procedures

Oct. 29, 2023
Did you know that your training processes can be streamlined by visualizing and analyzing key skills within your employee base? Find out how we use eye tracking to capture advanced...

The Power of Customer Journey Mapping

May 30, 2023
Looking to develop your own customer journey map? We surveyed 400 companies nationwide to help explain what makes journey maps an effective decision-making tool, how to use a ...

Are You Positioned To Tackle Supply Chain Risk?

Sept. 20, 2023
Supply chain disruption is here to stay, but you can keep ahead of potential issues — and identify new opportunities — by regularly assessing your suppliers. Download our supplier...

Shifting Your Business from Products to Service-Based Business Models: Generating Predictable Revenues

Oct. 27, 2023
Executive summary on a recent IndustryWeek-hosted webinar sponsored by SAP

Voice your opinion!

To join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of IndustryWeek, create an account today!