In order to promote the application of Lean Six Sigma concepts in Chinese local enterprises, the Lean Six Sigma Initiative (LSSI), in conjunction with Lean Enterprise China (LEC), is organizing a series of online public lectures through online lectures by a wide range of Lean Six Sigma experts and scholars for the vast majority of lean practitioners in the manufacturing, service and education industries, to systematically explain the principles of Lean tools and methods of implementation.

UL's Lean Six Sigma training and consulting leader for Greater China and South Asia.

Lean Enterprise China (LEC) Senior Consultant

"Shingo Prize Certified Consultant

Instructor for the University of Michigan's “Toyota Way” program.

Ph.D. candidate in Management Science, with research interests in Industrial Engineering and Organizational Behavior.

Translated Lean management classics including “Learning Insights”, “Goldmine II” and “Lean Express”.

To realize lean production management, the most basic one is to eliminate waste, and in the production and operation activities of the enterprise, to eliminate waste, it is necessary to identify the two basic components of enterprise production: value-added and non-value-added activities. Statistical research has found that value-added activities account for about 5% of the production and operation activities of an enterprise. Necessary but non-value-added activities account for about 60%, and the remaining 35% is waste. Value Stream Management is the process of identifying and eliminating wastes, reducing costs, and maximizing marginal profits by mapping and analyzing the value stream. ......

This seminar focuses on the new edition of the book “Learning to Observe”, and takes “Value Stream Mapping (VSM)” as the entry point to discuss how to drive improvement through observation, and truly integrate Lean concepts into daily operation, so as to enhance organizational efficiency and on-site perceptiveness.

Re-understanding the value of “observation” in Lean

Liu Jian pointed out that the book “Learning to Observe” has systematically upgraded the most basic “on-site observation” of Lean, emphasizing that “seeing problems in the process” is the first step of improvement, and also the most difficult step. Lean is not the first tool, but the first “see the waste” vision.

Value process mapping (VSM) role positioning upgrade

From being a visualization tool in the early days to becoming a “dialogue framework” for strategy implementation, VSM is being used by more and more enterprises for cross-functional collaboration, resource allocation and improvement of priority identification. Through hand-drawing, process walking, and operational beat analysis, VSM helps companies identify the boundaries of value creation and waste.

Common Misconceptions and Suggestions in Practice

Combined with the actual cases in the process of his own counseling enterprises, Liu Jian shared the common problems in the front-line promotion of value process mapping, including:

“Drawing but not changing”: the diagram is beautifully drawn, but there is no improvement to follow up;

“Split responsibilities”: cross-departmental processes cannot form a consensus;

“Diagram is too complicated”: grassroots staff can't understand or use it.

He emphasized that the diagram is a carrier, and more importantly, it is through it to establish a “common understanding of the process”.

The methodological framework of the Learning Observatory

Mr. Liu Jian sorted out the four stages proposed in the new version of Learning Observation:

Define the purpose: Define the problem to be solved before observation;

On-site research: building perception through “Gemba Walk”;

Structured Recording: using methods such as value flow charts to organize the current situation;

Reflection and action: identifying gaps and developing a plan for improvement.