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Evaluation
An evaluation of the value stream of the VSM tool
mapping tool
Ibon Serrano Lasa
Industrial Management Department, Mondragon University, 39
Mondragon, Spain
Carlos Ochoa Laburu
Business Organization Department, Polytechnic University College,
University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián, Spain, and
Rodolfo de Castro Vila
Business Organization, Management and Product Design Department,
University of Girona, Girona, Spain

Abstract
Purpose – The value stream mapping (VSM) is a tool created by the lean production movement for
redesigning the productive systems. Since, it was theoretically developed, some cases have been
published where the mentioned tool has been used; however, there is a need to see how it is put into
practice, that is to analyze the level in which theory is able to adapt to real practice, the strengths,
weaknesses and the key aspects to be taken into account by the applicant teams to obtain the highest
performance of the VSM. This paper aims to discuss all of these aspects.
Design/methodology/approach – The methodology used is a case study of a company in which
the process of application of the VSM has been thoroughly analyzed. A team created to improve the
productive system of a manufacture for plastic casings for mobile phones has carried out this
application.
Findings – The research shows that the VSM is a valuable tool for redesigning the productive
systems according to the lean system. Nevertheless, there are some key points for the establishing
teams that have to take into account, as follows: the time and training resources spent, the use of
suitable information systems and a suitable management of the application phases.
Research limitations/implications – The conclusions of this research can be reinforced by the
monitoring of the application process in more company cases.
Practical implications – The conclusions of this research are useful for future practitioners, so that
they may bear in mind the different aspects of planning projects for redesigning productive systems
by using VSM. On the other hand, these conclusions can also be useful for the academic field in order
to enhance the theory of VSM.
Originality/value – The paper is a contribution based on practical references according to a
thoroughly monitoring of a successful case in establishing VSM.
Keywords Value analysis, Business process re-engineering, Team working, Manufacturing systems
Paper type Case study

Introduction Business Process Management

At the present time, manufacturing firms need to redefine and redesign their Journal
Vol. 14 No. 1, 2008
production systems to tackle the competitiveness demanded by the challenges of pp. 39-52
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1463-7154
The research team would like to thank to Maier S. Coop for its support and collaboration. DOI 10.1108/14637150810849391
BPMJ current markets (European Commission, 2004). As a result, it is necessary to have
14,1 practical tools that will support the redesigning process for manufacturing systems
(Marchwinski, 2004).
In this situation, the lean production movement (Womack and Jones, 1996)
developed and presented the value stream mapping (VSM) tool (Rother and Shook,
1998; Pavnaskar et al., 2003) as a functional method aimed at reorganizing production
40 systems with a lean vision.
To date, many cases have been brought to light, mainly highlighting the success of
the tool’s application. However, nothing has been revealed empirically about the actual
practical difficulties the practitioners have had to face, either the keys to obtain a
maximum effectiveness from the tool.
Therefore, the main objective of the research has been to evaluate how the VSM is
put into practice. It is understood that this is a correlation between theory and practice.
That is why this research tries to answer these questions: is really effective VSM in
practice? How much time and resources are necessary for its correct application?
Which are the key aspects for the teams to obtain as much performance in use as
possible? What aspects should the VSM theory improve in order to make it a reference
tool?
So it was by a rigorous case study developed in an industrial company which
manufactures plastic parts that this research evaluated how useful the VSM is and
come up with some pieces of advice for future practitioners.
The paper is structured as follows: firstly there is a brief description of the company
in which the VSM has been established, secondly the VSM, its main characteristics and
other methods focused on redesigning productive systems are described. Once
described the context of the VSM application, the methodology of the research is
explained; this is the research to evaluate the way how VSM is put into practice. As
this methodology is presented the VSM application process is explained and finally,
the results and conclusions of the research are mentioned according to the objectives
previously presented.

Brief description of the company

Maier manufactures plastic components and subunits for the automotive, domestic
appliance and consumer electronics industries in production plants located in a number
of different countries. It is the European leader in the development and manufacturing
of front grilles painted in the bodywork colour, chrome-plated trims, wheel covers and
fuel filler flaps and supplies the top nine car manufacturers in the world.
The lean production philosophy is an important place in Maier’s strategy for the
future. Their level of commitment in relation to this paradigm is reflected in the SMP
(Sistema Maier de Producción – Maier Production System) team, made up of
specialists in lean manufacturing whose function it is to provide backing for the
different plants in the corporation as far as the organization of flows and the design of
production systems from a lean perspective is concerned.
At the production plant that concerns us, over the last few years the telephony
business has taken on a considerable volume. Resources have been assigned, but not
with a production system focus oriented towards the business itself, but based to a
large extent on sharing already existing means, facilities and production equipment,
used in principle for other more important businesses.
 This being the case, the aim of the project has been to carry out an overall redesign Evaluation
of the most important product line in the telephony production system by means of of the VSM tool
re-engineering the production process, in an attempt to re-orientate to a greater extent
towards the actual product line itself.
Table I shows the main characteristics of the selected company.

VSM and other manufacturing systems’ redesigning-oriented tools 41

Even though diverse applications have been developed in recent years, VSM’s origins
are mainly focused on the analysis and improvement of manufacturing environments
with disconnected flow lines (Rother and Shook, 1998). This framework is defined and
described by Hayes and Wheelwright (1979) in their well-known product-process
matrix.
As regards the application process, VSM is based on five phases put into practice by
a special team created for such a purpose (Rother and Shook, 1998). The phases are:
(1) selection of a product family;
(2) current state mapping;
(3) future state mapping;
(4) defining a working plan; and
(5) achieving the working plan.

Guidelines are needed for the definition of the future state map; lean thinking provides
them to assist users in how this map should be drawn (Rother and Shook, 1998;
Marchwinski and Shook, 2003). These guidelines are summarized below:
.
The production rate must be imposed by the product demand. Takt time is the
concept that reflects such a rate.
.
Establishment of continuous flow where possible (unique product transfer
batches).
.
Employment of pull systems between different work centres when continuous
flow is not possible.
.
Only one process, called the pacemaker process, should command the production
of the different parts. This process will set the pace for the entire value stream.

Properties Maier

Activity Thermoplastic parts

Project description Lean production system redesign
Product family Telephony. TSM-7 family
Number of product line workers (approx.) 80 (Maier . 1,000)
Main manufacturing processes Injection, painting, chromium-plating, assembly
Product-process classification. IVATa classification V
Family’s part quantity 20
Layout type Functional
Production strategy Make to stock Table I.
Main properties of
a
Note: The product-process configuration classification is based on the IVAT structure described by Maier’s production
Hines and Rich (1997) system
BPMJ Downstream this point the items would flow in a First In First Out (FIFO)
14,1 sequence; upstream, the production will be triggered by pull signals.
.
Pacemaker process scheduling will deal with the maximization of production
levelling on mix and volume.
.
Improvement of the overall process efficiency. Projects such as work methods
42 and cycle time improvements, changeover time reductions and maintenance
management could be launched by the VSM team.

Rother and Shook (1998) affirms that the main properties of this technique are nearly
completely in accordance with many of the utilities required for a manufacturing
redesigning tool:
.
The analysis of the initial situation is based on the acquisition and treatment of
numerical data and it uses a graphical interface where is easy to see the
relationship between material and information flows.
.
The systemic vision provided for each product family flow reflects
manufacturing system inefficiencies.
.
The provision of a common language for the team and the unification of lean
concepts and techniques in a unique body.
.
The possibility to be the starting point of the strategic plan for improvement.

But are there other tools or methods focused on redesigning and improvement of the
productive system in the VSM application context? A literature review shows that
existing tools in the area do not cover the same framework as VSM, neither the same
objectives nor the same level or degree of completion of manufacturing systems design.
Some of the most known tools and their characteristics are summarized below.
Process mapping (Paper et al., 2002) based on the flow diagram chart this is a
well-known tool to model any business system or subsystem (Hines and Rich, 1997).
The business process reengineering movement supported this technique for the
following two reasons: first it is based on the measurement and analysis of quantitative
data (Hammer, 1990); and lastly, various possible standardized languages make the tool
practical and useful (Baudin, 2002). However, it is too generic and not too much
adapted to manufacturing systems modelling (Oyarbide, 2003).
The Icam DEFinition Zero (IDEF0) method is a variant of process mapping. It has
been developed and oriented towards modelling manufacturing systems. This tool
makes a functional structured analysis to describe the activities of the manufacturing
system in a hierarchical way (Roboam, 1993). Nevertheless, it is a qualitative tool that
overlooks the quantitative data of the production system (Wu, 1996).
The Graphes à Résultants et Activités Inter relies (GRAI) method is related to the
development of the decision taking system and it is based on hierarchical production
planning (Dougmeints et al., 1983). In addition to not taking into account the material
and information flows, like the IDEF0 method, this is a qualitative tool (Wu, 1996).
The material and information flows’ modelling and simulation software is another
interesting way of redesigning manufacturing systems. In spite of its quantitative
character and correct focus, the software, education and the amount of time needed
could be an important reason for it not being so useful in any company (Oyarbide, 2003).
 Therefore, it can be assured that as the theoretical characteristics show, the VSM Evaluation
has itself an application field and that this is different from other methods and tools of the VSM tool
used to improve productive systems. However, there is a need to evaluate how these
theoretical characteristics are adapted in real practice. This is the main objective of this
study.

Research methodology 43
In order to find the answers, the adopted research methodology was based on the case
study strategy (Eisenhardt, 1989). We considered this methodology because it was the
best way to have high validity with practitioners (the ultimate user of research) and
also fits well with the refinement theory objective. Voss et al. (2002) emphasizes it is
important that case research is conducted and published because it is not only good at
investigating questions of how and why, but it is also particularly suitable for
developing new theories and ideas and can also be used for theory testing and
refinement and it is an excellent means for the development of theory in operations
management (McCutcheon and Meredith, 1993). Many of the breakthrough concepts
and theories in operations management, from lean production to manufacturing
strategy, have been developed through field case research. Finally, case research
enriches not only theory, but also the researchers themselves (Voss et al., 2002).
So, following the guidelines provided by the case study methodology, the research
team exhaustively monitored the development of the VSM application process in Maier
to analyze how effective the technique was and to analyze the keys to its correct
application.
As a first step, a special team was created with specific figures to manage the VSM
process (Rother and Shook, 1998):
.
The value stream manager would be in charge of the product family with which
the VSM process would be carried out. The person who should report about the
development of the process to the general management of the firm.
.
The facilitator would be the person who knew the production process best. This
role would be responsible for providing the required data and information.
.
The coordinator would be the one to collect the required data and manage the
documentary files and act as secretary in the different meetings.
.
Finally, the lean specialist would be the one to assume by the principal
researcher. Its main function would be to guide the team in technical lean aspects
and to provide training about the tool. Nonetheless it should not interfere in the
team’s decisions as literature on case studies suggests (Yin, 1993).

The team selection was considered by special evaluation in order to assure every
member had the required capabilities to start the VSM process. After each team was
created, special additional educational training about lean manufacturing concepts and
VSM were imparted to its members in several special workshops. After that, the
aforementioned five major steps were carried out.
Each team member had a number of hours assigned to develop the first four stages.
These hours were defined on the basis of the modest literature written about this fact
that suggests a duration of a few days to complete the first four steps of the process
(Keyte, 2002; Womack, 2001). The number of hours assigned for each of the members
BPMJ was 24 hours for value stream manager, facilitator and lean specialist; and 68 hours for
14,1 the coordinator.
Foreseeing that the toughest step would be the collecting of production data, the
coordinator would be the person that would have more hours to develop his tasks. In
addition, three-months (12 weeks) of lead-time were established to work on the first
four stages of the process as a whole. The assigned time would be integrated into the
44 three-month period as the team considered correctly. Last of all, once the working plan
was defined, in six months the research team would evaluate how the plan was going.
As determined by the case research methodology, the whole process would be
monitored and controlled by the researchers, who would combine different ways to
collect the process data. As a matter of fact, the results and conclusions reached are
mainly derived from the exhaustive observation of each one of the application process
phases, as well as from the triangulation obtained by different semi structured
interviews obtained from the teams responsible.

Project development
The company team carried out the production system redesign project following the
five phases established by VSM.

Selection of a product family

The business unit in charge of telephony production, currently manufactures different
plastic parts that make up mobile phone bodies, button units and keypads. The models
of mobile phones for which these parts are currently being manufactured include the
family of products corresponding to the TSM-7, a type of top range telephone, which is
a new product, involves a complex process and for which the demand is currently low
but with a pronounced upward trend forecast over the next few years.
The most important components of each TSM-7 telephone due to the complexity of
their routes are:
. Front cover. Front part of the mobile phone body.
.
Back cover. Back part of the mobile phone cover.
.
Battery cover. Mobile phone battery cover.

It is worth highlighting that the final product sent to the customer is not the assembled
mobile phone (set of front, back and battery covers). The final product consists of each
of these parts separately. So, finally a decision was made to draw a map for the TSM-7
that included the three main components (front, back and battery cover), which
followed a process that was slightly different.
Current state mapping
Figure 1 shows the current state map prepared.
The most outstanding features of the current system are as follows.
Demand. The customer transmits some monthly purchasing forecasts in a totally
informal way without making any sort of commitment. This demand can vary
significantly from month-to-month. As regards to day-to-day demand, this is quite
uniform in terms of the total volume of parts, but not in terms of each reference. Orders
are placed on a daily basis and Maier does not know until the day before which
references and quantities it has to send from its finished product stock to the customer.
 Current State map TSM7
Demand= 3500 u/day
3500 Front Q
Forecast Verbal forecast 3500 Back
COMPANY 70.000 u/mounth 3500 Battery

Orders
Telephony Unit
Plastic Planning t
Supplier Paint Inspection
Daily Planning
Automotive Unit CUSTOMER
Planning Daily

Fortnight Daily
Frequency

TAMPOGRAPHY
+ ASSEMBLY 1 shipment/day
INJECTION C/T=12”
(9 machines)
8000 units C/O=10’
C/T=10”
C/O=80’ Workers=3
Batch=22000 Cap. 5500 u/day Nºshift=3
Workers=4 FTT=97%
N°shift=3 OEE=82% INSPECTION
PAINTING Cap. 11000 u 2
FTT=97% Nºref=5
C/T=1.7” times/week C/T=10”
OEE=79%
N° ref=11 Batch=11000 C/O=5’
Front (35000) Workers=5 PAINT Batch=
Cap. 5500 u/day
Back (35000) 11000 N°shift=3 INSPECTION Workers=8 2500 x3 =
units FTT=81% 1800 units N°shift=2
Battery(35000) 7500units
EPE(TSM7)=6days OEE=47.1% OEE=90%
N° ref=250 N°ref=36
0 units Cap. 5500 u/day ASSEMBLY
C/T=14.4”
COMMON C/O=5’
Workers=2
FRONT EPE (TSM7) = 6 days N°shift=3
8500 units FTT=97%
BACK OEE=82%
N° ref=5
BATTERY DTD = 26 days

17 DAYS 3 DAYS 5 DAYS 0.17 DAYS 0.7 DAYS

10 sec. 1.7 sec. 14,4 sec. 10 sec.
Evaluation

TSM-7’s current state map

Figure 1.
of the VSM tool

45
BPMJ Physical system. The nine plastic injection machines are used for different telephony
14,1 families and other types of small volume parts. Any of the nine machines can inject any
of the references.
The paint installation is not only shared with the automotive business unit, but
the scheduling of the installation also depends on that last unit. The tampoprinting,
assembly and final inspection installations are specifically dedicated to the different
46 parts of the TSM-7. It should also be highlighted that an operation with low-value
added like paintwork inspection is outsourced to an outside plant, which means a
significant delay in the lead time and a lack of continuity in the flow.
As there are shared resources, the distance between the different centres of
operation means that work has to be done on the basis of significant transfer batches,
which means that in-process stock is built up throughout the logistics process and the
flow is slowed down.
Information system. A brief analysis of the scheduling system shows how
complex it is. In addition to schedule almost all the points in the production system,
the fact that different people plan these points make the system much more
complicated. In addition to this, the painting operation for the mobile phones is
carried out using a painting installation that belongs to another business unit,
subordinating the planning of telephony to the freeing of painting capacity by the
automotive business unit.
As can be seen from the map (Figure 1), for a work content per part of quite a lot less
than 1 minute, the presence time in the system is around 26 days. The improvement
target approved by the team for the redesign was the reduction of the manufacturing
lead time from the original 26 to 20 days.

Future state mapping

The map devised for the future is shown in Figure 2.
The guidelines for lean action provided by VSM will be used to explain the
properties of the map:
Takt time calculation. The takt time for the TSM-7 is about 15 seconds per unit.
Anyway, the time that will be established as the definitive reference in the future state
map will be 10 seconds per unit. An initial overcapacity is forecast to be able to meet
market fluctuations in a flexible way (Jin-Hai et al., 2003).
Continuous flow. To summarize the load-capacity analysis of the nine existing
machines, two machines will be used to inject any of the components of the TSM-7.
Another important decision concerning this point is the internalization and automation
of operations with low-value added that are carried out at outside plants, like the paint
inspection work.
Pull systems. The aim is to create a single supermarket pull system between the
paint and injection installations for the TSM-7. On the other hand, the rest of the pull
systems to be implemented will be of the sequential type or based on FIFO lines,
always downstream from the pacemaker process.
Pacemaker process. For this case it was decided that the pacemaker process should
coincide with the system’s bottleneck, the painting process. So the bottleneck will only
be planned with the programme most suitable for maximizing the system’s
throughput, as advocated by the TOC (Goldratt and Fox, 1986). From this point,
 Future State map TSM7
Demand = 3500 u/day
3500 Front Q
3500 Back
Forecast Verbal forecast
COMPANY 70.000 u/mounth 3500 Battery

Orders
Telephony Unit
Planning
t
Plastic
Supplier
Automotive Unit CUSTOMER
Daily Planning

PULL
TAMPOGRAPHY
+ ASSEMBLY
Fortnight
Frequency C/T = 12”
SMED 1 shipment/day
C/O = 10’
Workers = 3 Max. 1.000 u
Nºshift = 3
INJECTION FTT = 97%
(2 machines) FO OEE = 90%
FIF
O
FI
C/T = 10” Nº ref = 5
OEE
C/O = 80’
Batch = INSPECTION
Workers = 0.5 PAINTING Max. 11.000 u C/T = 10”
2 machines N°shift = 3 AUTOMATE INBOUND
C/T = 1.7” C/O = 5’
FTT = 99% FIFO
Batch = 11,000 PAINT Batch =
OEE = 85% FIFO
Workers = 5 INSPECTION Max. 3500 x 3
N° ref = 3 Workers = 8
Front Nºshift = 3 N°shift = 2
2 days
Back FTT = 95% OEE = 90%
Battery OEE = 70% FIFO N° ref = 36
EPE = 2 days Nº ref = 250 ASSEMBLY
FIF C/T = 14.4”
O
C/O =
Workers = 2
FO

COMMON
FI

Carrier Nºshift = 3
FTT = 97%
FRONT OEE = 82% Max. 1.000 u
Max. Painting Nº ref = 5
Batch
BACK
DTD = 20days
BATTERY

17 DAYS 2 DAYS 1 DAY 0.1 days 0.5 days

10 sec. 1.7 sec. 14.4 sec. 10 sec.
Evaluation

TSM-7’s future state map

Figure 2.
of the VSM tool

47
BPMJ the aforementioned FIFO lines will be established downstream, as will the supermarket
14,1 pull systems upstream.
Levelling out production. In this case, the production mix will come from the
optimum programme for the bottleneck. The production volume will continue to be
daily. In principle, ideas like pitch or the heijunka panel do not fit in.
Improvement in efficiency. Short-term plans to improve efficiency have not been set
48 up, but it is clear that methods for reducing changeover times for both the injectors and
tampoprinting stations will be applied in the future. In the tampoprinting stations, a
plan focusing on overall equipment efficiency is also required.

Planning
Based on the analysis of the future state mapping, an improvement plan has been
deployed for the next few months focusing on the new design established in the future
state map and aimed at meeting the main target of reducing and establishing
manufacturing lead time at 22 days for the first six months of the implementation,
being able to reduce it to 20 days by the end of the year.
The improvement plans can be divided into three sections:
(1) development of a detailed design of a new plant layout;
(2) physical conditioning of the factory building; at first, this work will be given to
an engineering company; and
(3) start up of a continuous improvement dynamic, aimed above all at increasing
the efficiency of the different production equipment mentioned above.

Execution
The first review was carried out six months after the establishment of the plan
(Table II). In short, it can be seen that the target proposed of reducing the lead time to
22 days within six months has been met. The calculations concerning finalizing the
details of the design of the new environment have been completed, the outside work
has been brought to Maier and the initial contacts have been made with the
engineering firm. The main obstacle came from the temporary economic situation of
the company, which to a certain extent put a brake on the investments planned for the
new system.

Research results
Results are structured according to the matters explained as objectives of the study in
the section “Introduction”: firstly, the efficacy of the tool is analyzed; secondly, the time
and resources needed for the application are explained; thirdly, the key aspects
considered to obtain a higher efficiency in their use are described; and finally, the
points to reinforce the VSM to obtain a higher potential on its practical applications are
also described.

Initial Anticipated Anticipated Real

Main goal state state state six months later state six months later
Table II.
Objective consecution Lead time reduction (in days) 26 20 22 22
VSM efficacy Evaluation
The most important result in terms of validating the tool was the success of the of the VSM tool
application (Table II). However, the research project based on the case study also
obtained important information to endorse and complete the conclusions of the
research. As mentioned above, these results came from two main sources of
information: observation of the process and interviews carried out with members of the
implementation team. 49
As far as the evaluation of VSM as a technique for redesigning production systems
is concerned, interviewing the team served to rate it as excellent for production process
re-engineering. The team was very satisfied with the methodology provided and the
results obtained and thought that the methodology would be very useful for any
subsequent redesigning of the production system. The main strengths of the VSM
mentioned by the team were the advantages gained by clearly showing up any waste,
the use of a standardized language and the corpus that lean techniques acquire based
on VSM.

Time and resources needed

As regards the time and resources invested by the time, Table III summarizes the
data obtained from the observation of each stage of the process. In short, the
most costly stage was the creation of the current state map, the toughest job
was that done by the coordinator and the total project lead time from the
selection of the product family to the deployment of the implementation lasted
approximately ten weeks; therefore, the initially estimated and planned deadline
was a good choice.

Key aspects for a higher efficiency on its use

Related to the previous section about the time and resources needed, the impressions of
the team obtained through interviews also pointed to the development of the current
state map as the most costly stage, due to the work involved in gathering the process
data, which however, was facilitated to a great extent by consulting the company’s
information systems. Thus, the use of this resource was considered an important help
and a key aspect to speed up the VSM application process. These information systems
were used in two fields: first, as contrast and validation for the information gathered
together in the plant by the coordinator, and second, as suppliers of information
processing which require a statistical analysis to obtain indicators of the family
products in an aggregated level.

Number of team meetings 5

Team hours in meetings 8
Value stream manager (hours) 6
Facilitator (hours) 12
Coordinator (hours) 76
Lean specialist (hours) 9
Lead time (weeks) 10 Table III.
Deviation in relation to planning (12 weeks) 0 Work load of the VSM
Most costly stage Current state map application process
BPMJ Another point highlighted in the interview was the need to involve management. The
14,1 team underlined the need to keep the board of directors informed and involved in the
process, this can help speeding up the process of taking decisions related to aspects
were some investments should be done. Up to this point, the team emphasized the
importance for the management to have some knowledge about the productive aspects
about the company and the lean production philosophy.
50
Limitations of VSM
The following main weakness was mentioned by the interviews: the lack of training in
several lean concepts on the part of company personnel. In this section, we highlight
the doubts of the team when taking some decisions, like the establishment of the
pacemaker as point of scheduling. This was a point not taken into account with high
criteria by theory. On the other hand, the levelling of the production mix and volume
called heijunka systems (Marchwinski and Shook, 2003) has not been internalized by
the team members, this aspect is needed to have a higher theoretical and informative
contribution.

Conclusions
VSM has shown itself to be a suitable tool for redesigning production systems. This is
vouched for by the results obtained in the application project and the information
obtained from the exhaustive monitoring of the case.
As the main keys to ensuring the success of its application, the following aspects
should be mentioned:
.
Having a team ready with established roles in accordance with what the VSM
technique advises.
.
The need to involve management in decision making and showing the
importance of the project to the company.
.
Exhaustive monitoring of the stages of VSM. In this regard, it is important to set
aside time for the dedication required by the application. The time involved in
the TSM-7 project could serve as an initial reference.
.
The importance of information systems for obtaining, comparing and processing
data concerning the production flow. This resource is of great value for two main
reasons: on the one hand, it speeds up the data acquisition process for drawing
up the current state map and, on the other, it endorses the data obtained in the
production plant itself.
.
Finally, it is necessary to highlight the training of the team to be able to achieve
more ambitious future state maps, which would include more innovative
concepts from the lean production paradigm as well as other conceptual contexts
such as the TOC approach.

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BPMJ About the authors
Ibon Serrano Lasa is a Lecturer at Mondragon University. His main research field focuses on the
14,1 design and improvement of manufacturing systems, Industrial Management Department,
Mondragon University, Mondragon, Gipuzkoa (Spain). Ibon Serrano Lasa is the corresponding
author and can be contacted at: iserrano@eps.mondragon.edu
Carlos Ochoa Laburu, MSc Professor at the University of the Basque Country. His research is
mainly oriented towards Production and Operations Management, Business Organization
52 Department, Polytechnic University College, University of the Basque Country, San Sebastián,
Gipuzkoa (Spain).
Rodolfo de Castro Vila, PhD, Professor at the University of Girona. His research is focused on
Lean Thinking in Production and Operations Management and in Supply Chain Management,
Business Organization, Management and Product Design Department, University of Girona,
Girona (Spain).

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