An ideal state value stream map is, as its name suggests, the most ideal version of any process. The first line of reaction that you’ll probably face when talking about these ideal states includes awkward silence, astonished laughter, and exclamations such as “impossible”, “are you kidding me”! If you experience something along these lines, just relax! If anything, it shows that you are indeed looking at an ideal state. Most importantly, your ideal state map should align with the fifth Lean principle – ‘perfection’.
While looking for an ideal state, do not overthink the journey! Ask yourself if you are capable of reaching the goal. If not today, then tomorrow you will be! Therefore, to reach the ideal state, you need several interim ‘future state’ milestones. Each future state must take you a step closer to the desired ideal state. Here’s what the process should look like:
Figure 1: Several Future State iterations lead to an Ideal State
To gain a better grasp over the concept of an ideal state value stream map, let’s fire our imagination! Look at a map with value-added steps only. The data boxes comprise ‘perfect’ scores. Some of these may pertain to the following areas:
- Firstly, quality should be at 100%.
- Secondly, the cycle time should be equal to or slightly less than the takt time.
- Thirdly, waiting or queue time between steps should be zero or predefined to a minimal value.
- Fourthly, the inventory between the steps should also be zero or predefined to a minimal value.
Lastly, there should be a prevalence of pull production instead of push production in most areas.
An ideal state is your vision of the process – and there shouldn’t be any compromise in the vision! Most importantly, it is important to dream. If we don’t dream, we won’t know where we’re heading. Consequently, we won’t be able to define the necessary milestones. These milestones are what keep us going! They represent the future state of our process. Your ideal state could also be to remove an entire process by automating it! If you look around, isn’t it all that’s happening today?
In the case of an ideal state, consider an example of a BPO company as shown in the table below. This company lists the steps from a current state value stream map and defines the ideal state for each one of them:
Table: Example of a BPO company identifying VA & NVA activities to define their ideal state
This company lists various Kaizen ideas for each of the non-value-added activities to achieve the Ideal state. There are various steps to define an ideal state. The first step in defining an ideal state is to recognize a non-value-add step and address it as such. This rule is crucial because it acts as the starting point!
Questions to ask while creating your Ideal State:
Firstly, about creating your ideal state, start with these questions:
- Why do we need this step?
- What if we do not have this step?
- What’s going to happen if this step is removed?
- What to put in place to remove this step?
- Can we do it tomorrow?
- How long will it take? Meanwhile, in what ways can we reduce the time and effort in this step?
As long as you’re thinking along these lines, you’re all set to define the ideal state! Above all, remember to let go of the status quo and the conflicted feelings surrounding the translation of the ideal state into reality. The reason that it’s called an ‘ideal state’ is that you’ll face numerous hurdles. The goal should be to overcome these!