Author: Mike Rother and John Shook

Publication Date: 1999

Book Description: What’s the key message?

Learning to See is a practical, hands-on exercise in using value stream mapping to improve a manufacturing operation. Noted Toyota Production System experts Mike Rother and John Shook step through the process of using value stream maps to see waste in an example assembly plant. The book guides the reader through the process of documenting the current state and then applying lean principles to create an improved future state.

After a brief introduction to the tool, the Current-State Mapping section details the ways in which material and information flows are depicted as well as how process data are collected. The section begins by introducing the concepts using an example plant and then invites the reader to create his or her own current state map using a provided data set.

The Lean Value Stream section then explains 7 guidelines for removing waste from a value stream. These 7 guidelines provide a framework for driving value stream improvements and focus on the core lean principles of takt, flow, and pull. The application of these guidelines takes much of the guesswork out of establishing the future state.

In the Future-State Map section the authors pose a series of 8 questions to be answered in discovering the future state process. In this Socratic way, the 7 principles are practically applied to the example current state. The reader is then invited once again to put the lessons into practical application using the current state map created earlier.

Finally, Achieving The Future State provides guidance on creating an action plan to make the improvements happen. This involves breaking up a large amount of change into more manageable chunks.

How does it contribute to the lean knowledge base?

This is a very comprehensive and practical guide to the use of value stream mapping in a manufacturing environment. The use of the 7 guidelines to characterize a lean value stream provides a key set of True North rules to guide a lean transformation. And the 8 questions are a recipe for applying those guidelines. The descriptions of a lean value stream in operation are a ready template for improvement.

What are the highlights? What works?

For the novice lean practitioner, the concepts of value stream mapping and lean transformation can seem vague and abstract. By focusing on specific, well thought out examples this book makes the process of effective value stream mapping very easy to understand. In doing so, it distills the core lean principles into simple, easy to apply rules. The examples, rich with clear illustrations, then show how the true impact of applying these rules can be measured and quantified. This book is as close as it gets to a “manual” for lean transformation and can be used as reference over and over again along the journey.

What are the weaknesses? What’s missing?

In order to make the examples easy to digest, much of the real world complexity has been intentionally removed. While this helps to maintain clarity of the basic concepts it may leave some skeptics wondering how this applies to their organization. Mapping of value streams with higher levels of complexity will require further study and practice.

Another limitation of this book is that it deals exclusively with product manufacturing. Although this is a good place to start for many organizations, those in service or transactional industries will likely not get as much value from this study. It is beyond the scope of this text to translate the value stream concepts into transactional terms.

How should I read this to get the most out of it?

Learning to See is written and formatted as a workbook and should be studied as one. Maximum value will only be derived from this book by completing the exercises on one’s own, checking the results against those in the book, and delving deeper into any differences.