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📋 Toolbox Talk  ·  Continuous Improvement

Value Stream Mapping:
See the Whole Process

How to map the flow of materials and information from order to delivery, see where time is lost, and design a better future state.

✅ Updated October 2026📚 Lean & continuous improvement🏭 Warehouse · logistics · manufacturingukworkrights.co.uk

Talk 6 of 7 in the Continuous Improvement series  ·  a working method, not legal guidance

What it is

A whole process on one page

  • A value stream is every step, value-adding or not, that takes a product or service from order to customer
  • A value stream map shows those steps on one page, with the material flow and the information flow
  • The current state map shows how the process really works today — not how the procedure says it works
  • The future state map shows how it should work after improvement
  • It uses simple standard symbols: process boxes, stock triangles, push arrows and a timeline along the bottom
  • The method was popularised by the book Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook

Why one page?

Many problems sit between departments, not inside them. A one-page map lets everyone see the whole flow and the hand-offs where time is lost.
Why it matters

What a map shows you

  • The whole flow, not just one department's piece of it
  • Waiting: work often spends far longer waiting than being worked on
  • The bottleneck, and the stock that piles up around it
  • Information problems — late orders, re-keying, conflicting schedules
  • A shared picture to plan improvements in the right order
  • It stops teams improving one step in a way that hurts another

Lead time and value-added time

Lead time is how long one item takes from start to finish. Value-added time is the part of that when something the customer pays for is actually happening. The gap between them is the opportunity.
How to do it

Reading a value stream map

  • Process box: one step, with a data box underneath — cycle time, changeover time, uptime, people
  • Stock triangle (marked I for inventory): material waiting between steps, with the quantity
  • Push arrow (striped): work pushed to the next step whether it is needed or not
  • Supermarket and pull arrow: a controlled stock that the next step pulls from
  • Information flow across the top: orders, forecasts and schedules
  • Timeline along the bottom: waiting time on the high steps, processing time on the low steps, added up

Start with a pencil

Draw the first map by hand, on paper, as a team, while walking the process. Software can come later.
How to do it

Mapping step by step

1
Pick one product family

Products that go through mostly the same steps.

2
Walk the process

From the customer end back to the start, with a pencil and a stopwatch.

3
Draw the current state

Process boxes, data, stock, information flow and the timeline.

4
Add up the timeline

Total lead time compared with total value-added time.

5
Mark the waste

Stock piles, waiting, push, bottlenecks and re-keying.

6
Draw the future state and plan it

A better flow, plus an action plan with owners and dates.

⚠ Map what is, not what should be

Map what you see on the walk, workarounds included. A map of the official procedure hides the problems you are looking for.
Worked example  ·  Warehouse

From order to dispatch

  • Steps mapped: order received → pick list released → pick → pack → despatch check → load
  • Current state: orders released in two big waves a day, so picked orders queued at pack for hours, and the despatch check was re-keyed onto a separate sheet
  • Timeline (example figures): lead time about 9 hours per order, hands-on time about 12 minutes
  • Future state: smaller hourly waves, packing in the order trailers leave, and the despatch check done on the scanner at pack
  • Action plan: three changes, each with an owner and a date, tested one at a time

What changed

The map showed the delay was in the release pattern, not slow picking — so nobody was told to pick faster. The fix was in the information flow.
Worked example  ·  Manufacturing

Steel brackets from coil to customer

  • Steps mapped: cut → press → weld → paint → pack
  • Current state: stock piled before every step, and each step worked from its own weekly schedule
  • Timeline (example figures): about 12 days of stock waiting across the stream, about 4 minutes of processing per bracket
  • Future state: cut and press linked by a small supermarket, one schedule point at weld, paint batches set by what pack pulls
  • The map showed paint was the bottleneck, so improvement started there

What changed

Instead of every department improving its own step, the team agreed the order of improvements from one shared picture.
Common mistakes

What goes wrong

  • Mapping from the office or from the procedure, not from a walk
  • Mapping everything instead of one product family
  • Too much detail — a value stream map is the big picture; detailed process maps come later
  • A beautiful map and no action plan
  • Leaving out the information flow, which is often where the delay is
  • Using the map to judge departments instead of fixing the flow between them

⚠ Watch for this

If the future state has no owners or dates, it is a poster, not a plan.
Try it this week

A 30-minute mini map

1
Pick one simple flow

For example, a returned item from arrival to back on the shelf.

2
Walk it with a colleague

Note each step and every place items wait.

3
Draw boxes and triangles

On a sheet of paper or a whiteboard.

4
Estimate the timeline

Total time against hands-on time. Circle the biggest wait.

Bring it back

Where was the biggest wait? Was it where everyone expected? What would it take to halve it?
Over to you

Discussion questions

  • Where does work wait longest in our process?
  • Which hand-offs between teams cause the most delay or rework?
  • Where is information re-typed or copied between systems or sheets?
  • Which step sets the pace for everyone else?
  • Who would need to be in the room to draw our map properly?

For the presenter

Sketch your own process on a whiteboard during the discussion — even a rough map gets people talking about the hand-offs.
Quick check

Check your understanding

1
A current state map shows:

A) How the procedure says it works    B) How the process really works today    C) The ideal process

2
What does a triangle marked I usually show?

A) An inspection    B) Stock waiting between steps    C) Information

3
Lead time is:

A) Time spent processing    B) Total time from start to finish    C) Time at the bottleneck

4
What should a future state map come with?

A) An action plan with owners and dates    B) A new logo    C) Nothing else

Answers

1 B  ·  2 B  ·  3 B  ·  4 A
Common questions

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a value stream map and a process map?
A value stream map shows the whole flow from order to customer on one page, including information flow, stock and a timeline. A process map shows the detailed steps of one part. A value stream map shows where to look; a process map helps you dig in.
Do we need special software?
No. Paper, pencil and sticky notes are the best way to start, because the team can draw the map together while walking the process.
How often should we redraw the map?
Once the future state is reached, it becomes the new current state — map it again and look for the next improvement. Redraw it whenever the process changes significantly.
For whoever runs this talk

Delivery notes & attendance record

Suggested length: 15 minutes. A toolbox talk is a short briefing on one topic, given by a supervisor or team leader to the people doing the work.

Before you start

Bring a large sheet of paper or a whiteboard and some sticky notes. Choose a simple flow from your site to sketch with the team.

How to run it

Explain what a map is and how to read it (slides 2 to 4), use the example closest to your site, then sketch a rough current state of your own flow together.

Where this fits

Talk 6 of the Continuous Improvement series. It uses the wastes from Lean Basics (talk 1) and the timings from Process Observation (talk 7).

The worked examples are illustrations to start a discussion, not real case studies or measured results.

Attendance record
TopicValue Stream Mapping: See the Whole Process
Date
Site / location
Delivered by
Actions agreed
Next talk due
Attendees
NameSignature

Use the Print handout button to print this record. General guidance on a working method — not legal, health and safety or HR advice. Before changing how a job is done, check the risk assessment and safe system of work for that job, and involve the people who do it.

Continuous Improvement series

Keep
improving

Seven short talks that build on each other. Run them in order, or pick the one your team needs next.

Next talk
Process Observation
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-timestudies.html
After that
Lean Basics
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-lean.html
The full series
All 7 talks
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-talks.html#continuous-improvement
This talk
Value Stream Mapping
ukworkrights.co.uk/toolbox-vsm.html

General guidance on a working method — not legal advice · Updated October 2026 · © UK Work Rights Ltd · Company No. 17228507 · ICO Registration No. ZC239465 · Registered office: 71–75 Shelton Street, Covent Garden, London, WC2H 9JQ  ·  hello@ukworkrights.co.uk
Directed and published by Matt Thompson, founder
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