Once the leadership team of the business has made the commitment to embrace Lean as their philosophy and strategy for driving execution of their business strategy, they need to obtain a sensei (an experienced practitioner of Lean who has been there and done that) to teach and facilitate the beginning of the Lean journey. Note that this sensei could be a member or members of the leadership team that fit the sensei requirements.
The next step for the business is to identify and map the full value streams for the portfolio of products and/or services offered. Value Stream Mapping or VSM is the tool for mapping the material flow and information flow through an entire value stream. The map covers the value stream starting at suppliers and ending with customers. It shows the total value-add time and total lead-time through the process.
