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The purpose of this study is to propose a new mapping tool called Circular Value Stream Mapping (C-VSM) that combines Circular Economy principles with Lean tools to enhance sustainability performance in operations.

To develop the C-VSM tool, the researchers conducted a literature review and a focus group. The tool was then applied to two real case studies in the agri-food sector, specifically analyzing an artichoke and olive oil producer, to assess its validity and effectiveness.

The study introduces the Circular Resource Box (CRB) as a key innovation in the C-VSM tool. This visual representation effectively captures resource circularity and how resources and wastes are managed, making it easy to identify circularity in the production process. By combining qualitative and quantitative information with this visual representation, companies can identify improvement opportunities aligned with the CE.

The research is limited in scope as it focuses on the application of the C-VSM tool in the agri-food sector. Further research could explore its applicability in other industries and settings to understand its broader impact.

The C-VSM tool provides practical benefits to companies seeking to transition from linear to circular production processes. It enables practitioners to identify opportunities to reduce environmental impacts and optimize production operations in line with CE.

The introduction of the C-VSM tool is a novel approach that bridges the gap between Lean Manufacturing and CE concepts, advancing the understanding of how CE thinking can be effectively implemented in operations.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the integrated application of business process modeling and notation (BPMN) and value stream mapping (VSM) to improve knowledge work performance and productivity in police services. In order to explore the application of the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach in police services, this study uses the department of digital crime investigation (DCI) in one Norwegian police district as a case study.

Service process identification was the next step after selecting an appropriate organizational unit for the case study. BPMN-VSM-based current state mapping, including time and waste analyses, was used to determine cycle and lead time and identify value-adding and nonvalue-adding activities. Subsequently, improvement opportunities were identified, and the current state process was re-designed and constructed through future state mapping.

The study results indicate a 44.4% and 83.0% reduction in process cycle and lead time, respectively. This promising result suggests that the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach can support the visualization of bottlenecks and possible causes of increased lead times, followed by the systematic identification and proposals of avenues for future improvement and innovation to remedy the discovered inefficiencies in a complex knowledge-work environment.

This study focused on one department in a Norwegian police district. However, the experience gained can support researchers and practitioners in understanding lean implementation through an integrated BPMN and VSM model, offering a unique insight into the ability to investigate complex systems.

Complex knowledge work processes generally characterize police services due to a high number of activities, resources and stakeholder involvement. Implementing lean thinking in this context is significantly challenging, and the literature on this topic is limited. This study addresses the applicability of the hybrid BPMN-VSM approach in police services with an original public sector case study in Norway.

The evaluation of time-based performance is a valued approach in the lean management thinking which is based on delivering value from customer's perspective. This approach contributes for long-term competitiveness and success in today's business environment. The focus of this study is to analyse the cycle time and manufacturing lead time with value stream mapping (VSM) in the preparatory stage of the textile fabric manufacturing process and to identify and improve the non-value adding activities in the value chain (VC). The study presents an insight on the translation of performance improvement across functions and how upstream supply chain (SC) segments can be linked in the performance improvement program. It also covers how the application of VSM improves visibility and planning flexibility in textile fabric manufacturing process.

The time-based performance was evaluated using VSM and recording of the activity times in the existing process. The impact of the quality of supplier's raw material was also measured contributing to identify the strategy for procurement and the means to establish a feedback system to the upstream segments of the SC. The methodology of VSM, observation of the practice and the expertise of the individuals involved with the process were utilised to develop the value stream maps and to identify value adding activities, non-value adding activities, existing gaps and plans for improvement.

The means for improving the time-based performance were identified and their impact was measured. The factors responsible for improvement are related to the production system and with the procurement strategy. The improvement was achieved in terms of available capacity utilisation, balancing the work flow in the preparatory stages, visibility of the process by measuring its capability and flexibility for the planning function. The study revealed that the effectiveness and enhancement of VSM and related tools should be adopted to address the issue of limiting success rates of long term and repeating application of such tools. Continuous improvement, innovations and the systematic embedding of VSM in the process life cycle provide the ways for achieving long-term success.

The paper presents a real and in-depth study on the application of VSM in the textile manufacturing process. The scope of the study is broad; it covers activities across functions with actual estimates of activity times in the manufacturing process for the focused value streams. It offers researchers the opportunity to analyse the translation of productivity improvement across functions and how upstream SC segments can be linked in a performance improvement program.

The study offers useful insight for the managers in textile manufacturing and other sectors for improving the time-based performance and achieving higher utilisation of capacity. It identified the production factors and their impact on warping and sizing cycle time in selected value streams and those which share common activities. It also identified the directions for future research when repeating the application of VSM in the continuous improvement cycle. Furthermore, since the industries need to progress towards advanced systems including Industry 4.0 standards, adoption of advanced VSM tool with relevant technology can align their production systems to develop the required capability. This will also bring a sustainable competitive advantage in the system.

The focused sector is stagnant in terms of productivity and innovation. The adoption of the advanced tools can facilitate the implementation of continuous improvement and innovation strategies.

The main focus of this study is to analyse and improve the cycle time in the preparatory stage of the fabric manufacturing process. This has impact on other important and tangible measures including capacity utilisation and work flow and intangible measures including production planning flexibility and process visibility. The improvement impact is across departments.

Lean manufacturing (LM) is prevalent in the manufacturing industry; thus, focusing on fast and accurate lean tool implementation is the new paradigm in manufacturing. Value stream mapping (VSM) is one of the many LM tools. It is understood that combining LM implementation with VSM tools can generate better outcomes. This paper aims to develop an expert system for optimal sequencing of VSM tools for lean implementation.

A proposed artificial neural network (ANN) model is based on the analytic network process (ANP) devised for this study. It will facilitate the selection of VSM tools in an optimal sequence.

Considering different types of wastes and their level of occurrence, organizations need a set of specific tools that will be effective in the elimination of these wastes. The developed ANP model computes a level of interrelation between wastes and VSM tools. The ANN is designed and trained by data obtained from numerous case studies, so it can predict the accurate sequence of VSM tools for any new case data set.

The design and use of the ANN model provide an integrated result of both empirical and practical cases, which is more accurate because all viable aspects are then considered. The proposed modeling approach is validated through implementation in an automobile manufacturing company. It has resulted in benefits, namely, reduction in bias, time required, effort required and complexity of the decision process. More importantly, according to all performance criteria and subcriteria, the main goal of this research was satisfied by increasing the accuracy of selecting the appropriate VSM tools and their optimal sequence for lean implementation.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce the viable system model (VSM) as a valuable tool to the food industry. A sugarcane supply chain was used to evaluate VSM's applicability to the food industry by exploring how VSM can help to understand its complexity.

VSM and qualitative research methods were combined in an interactive manner to produce a VSM diagnosis.

The VSM diagnosis highlighted that while continuity of the system is not at risk, many improvement opportunities exist. For example, the local mill management lacks autonomy, essential operational measurement cannot be realised, coordination is deficient and a vision or identity for the mill area and a joint effort to engage in strategic considerations is missing. Miller-grower fragmentation surfaced as one cause of these shortcomings.

Although VSM revealed shortcomings, it was unable to facilitate interventions for improvement. VSM's capacity in dealing with shortcomings should be strengthened and the merit of VSM in other food-related supply systems should be investigated.

Millers and growers need to become genuine partners and work jointly on the issues that challenge the system to realise the full potential that is embedded in the system.

VSM has not been applied in the sugar industry context and the amount of researches that explore sugarcane supply chains holistically is limited.

Viable system model (VSM) is a powerful tool mainly used to describe, solve and control systems’ complex problems autonomously. It enables systems to be flexible so that they can survive by rapidly responding and adapting their behaviors to any expected or even unexpected changes in the surrounding environment. This study aims to provide a literature review of the VSM as a conceptual framework for designing viable systems, and its applications in the field of higher education (HE).

The review is based on explaining “What is organizational cybernetics?”, clarifying the principles of the VSM as a rational model for designing viable organizations, discussing its drawbacks and the extended VSM, and then presenting a literature review of VSM applications in HE based on papers mainly published from 1993 to 2017.

Although there are many contributions provided by applying the VSM in HE, the previous developed models used Beer’s framework with its drawbacks without referring to some important factors neglected within it which are discussed in this review.

The study presents a summary of previous research on this topic and clarifies the essential issues needed to be addressed to design viable systems. Based on the gaps identified in the literature, some issues have been emphasized to be addressed in future research.

Value stream mapping (VSM) is a lean manufacturing (LM) tool used for analyzing material and information flow on a specific product family. The purpose of this article is to address the importance of VSM in LM environment in an Indian auto components industry.

The case study approach has been used to show the applicability and importance of VSM in an Indian auto components company, in which the current state of manufacturing is mapped with the help of VSM symbols. According to the current state mapping, the study conducted analysis and identifies the area of improvement needed in terms of work in process, lead time and cycle time. The study further implemented kaizen on the current state map and developed future state map while including these kaizens.

The study clearly shows that the VSM brings out the positive impact on process ratio, TAKT time, process inventory level, line speed, total lead and process time and reduced man power. It is helping the company in satisfying their customers with respect to quality, cost and delivery.

The main limitation of the study is the confined focus on a single industry. The case should be extended to other industries in order to support the findings and for the purpose of the wider generalization.

The results obtained from the study will help other industries and sectors to implement VSM in LM environment.

The article deals with a real case study, which shows application of VSM for implementing lean principles.

This paper aims to apply lean manufacturing using value stream mapping (VSM) in the manufacturing organization (automotive suspension and fastening components section). To validate the VSM approach, simulation has been done.

VSM approach has been used to implement lean stages in the U-bolt section. Current state map was prepared and future state map has been implemented. Further, simulation has been done to compare current state and future state maps.

It has been found that there is 87.59% reduction in cycle time (C/T), 76.47% reduction in work-in-process (WIP) inventory, 95.41% reduction in production lead time, 66.08% increase in value added (VA) ratio, 95.78% reduction in non-value added (NVA) time, 57.14% reduction in the number of operators and 70.67% reduction in change over (C/O) time for the U-bolt section. Simulated and VSM of current and future state has observed error of 5 s.

This study is based on automotive manufacturing industry situated in northern part of India. The outcome of this study is applicable only to the selected product of the manufacturing company.

This paper deals with case study part which reflects the true picture of implementation of Lean manufacturing (LM) tools in the organization.

In most cases, the conventional assessment of value streams is based on key performance indicators (KPIs) like the share of added value, the degree of flow or a comprehensive lead time analysis. To evaluate cross-enterprise value streams of manufacturing, business or service processes in detail, a holistic methodology is needed. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

In this research paper, the assessment of value streams within complex cross-company networks is described. After a presentation of relevant KPIs in the fields of value stream management (VSM) and supply chain management (SCM), an approach for a cross-enterprise evaluation of value streams on different levels of detail is shown. In addition, the use of an absolute VSM evaluation, in contrast to a relative VSM assessment, is examined.

Based on a uniform and well-balanced set of KPIs and other VSM and SCM parameters, a performance assessment on different levels of value stream detail is enabled. Further investigations reveal the advantages of a relative compared with an absolute VSM assessment.

In addition to a comprehensive overview of existing KPIs for a value stream assessment beyond company borders, a holistic and multi-level VSM approach is presented in this paper. In contrast to existing VSM approaches, the described method allows an evaluation and subsequent improvement of value streams within supply chain networks. Up to now, the presented approach for the assessment of cross-enterprise value streams has only been tested in specific industrial environments. In future, the proposed methodology shall also be validated for other process types like business, service or further manufacturing processes.

The described cross-company performance measurement approach shows a high practical relevance for organizations operating in supply chain networks. Due to the integrated use of different VSM parameters, the evaluation of highly interconnected value streams across corporate boundaries is facilitated. By means of a case study, the proposed methodology is validated under real industry conditions and proves its practical applicability.

One of the novel features of this research is the extension of the traditional VSM method with respect to a relative evaluation of value streams based on a set of significant KPIs. In addition, the allocation of these KPIs to different value stream layers and categories leads to an innovative approach for a multi-level assessment according to the needs of the specific VSM application, e.g. a more standardized use of VSM in complex supply chain networks.

This paper proposes an integrated value stream mapping (VSM) for a complex assembly line to improve the leanness of a complex automotive component manufacturing organization.

This study depicts the application of VSM at the case organization, where top management is concerned about the challenges of higher cycle time and lower productivity. Gemba walks were conducted to establish the concept of “walk the flow, create the flow” along the assembly line. The multi-hierarchical cross-functional team developed the current value stream map to know the “as-is” state. Then, the team analysed the current VSM and proposed the future VSM for the “to-be” state.

The integrated VSM shows different processes and work cells, various wastes, non-value-added activities, cycle time, uptime and the material and information flows for both products of the assembly line on the same map. The integrated VSM reduced cycle time, non-value-added activities, work in process inventory and improved line efficiency and production per labour hour for both the products, simultaneously.

The limitation of the study is that the study focussed only on the application of VSM for one complex assembly only. Future research may be conducted using the developed integrated VSM approach in other complex production environments.

Managers can identify and reduce system waste by incorporating the concept of integrated VSM in a complex production or assembly environment where two or more products are being manufactured/assembled with low similarity.

The application of VSM for assembly lines is highly challenging because of merging flows, a large number of child parts in the lines and assembly of more than one product on the same line.