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The perfect business model can’t be obtained by standing still. This is an error that has forced many businesses to close their doors over the years. To truly reach a point where a business is efficient, there must be an urge for constant improvement. This can be accomplished through the act of implementing value stream mapping. The following entails some of the ways that this type of strategy can improve the way your business functions today and in the future.

Value Stream Mapping

To understand how value stream mapping can help business, you must first understand what it is. This concept came from the philosophy that doing more with less can improve business over the long-term. Through this strategy, companies can get a better understanding of the state of a business in terms of its current design. Through simple design, you can outline the current value chain of the company with the addition of your ideal ‘future state’. Depending on your industry, your map might look a little different. A company that handles many products could find themselves developing a map based on only a handful of their top products.

How It Helps Your Business

A good value stream map is formatted like a flow chart that helps you see where value needs to be eliminated or modified so everything can function more efficiently. This visual representation of your company allows you to see areas of non-value adding activities or waste. Understanding the areas of your company in which waste is an issue can greatly improve not only the day to day production of the business but the experience your customers get as well.

Improved Business

Although value stream mapping can help a business see a quick overview of their company and help them adjust non-value activities, it is only when you evaluate the process that true improvement is manifested. After all, your changes are an estimation of the improvements needed, not a guaranteed outcome. Therefore, one of the best ways you can improve on your map and the business as a whole is to survey the changes made. This can be accomplished through both employee and customer anonymous based surveys.

Implementing a value stream map into your business is a powerful technique that can really create positive change. Simply adhere to the topics listed above for a more detailed and accurate outcome.

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