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Value Stream Management: Eight Steps to Planning, Mapping, and Sustaining Lean Improvements Don Tapping, Tom Luyster and Tom Shuker Productivity Press 2002 169 pp. (paperback) ISBN 1-56327-245-8 $45.00
Seven-tape Video Series Don Tapping, Tom Fibrizio and the Productivity Development Team Productivity Press 2001 ISBN 1-56327-257-1 $1,995.00 "Facilitator guide" ITEM* VSMFG-C22 Ring binder $150 209 pp. "Participant guide" ITEM# VSMPG-C22 $19.95 161 pp.
In order to stay competitive, organizations have to deliver not only what customers want but do so when they want it, while generating a surplus for the organization in the process. The Toyota Production System philosophy and practices adopted to minimize waste and maximize flow was labeled as "lean production" by James P. Womack et al. (1991) in their book The Machine That Changed the World. Value stream (VS) management is a planning system that has evolved in the USA, based on the Toyota System.
The three authors of the book under review here have over 60 years of combined experience in industries and have first-hand experience of implementing lean methodologies in a number of industries. For example, Don Tapping directed the lean implementation for Eaton Aerospace Division for over five years, Tom Shuker has participated in lean implementation in General Motors-Toyota assembly plant, and Tom Luyster has worked as a consultant implementing lean programs in Asia, Europe, South America, and the USA.
The book comprises ten chapters: an overview of VS management, an introduction and a chapter each on explanations of the eight steps. In the overview, it is pointed out that "many organizations are doing lean without necessarily becoming lean" by not linking improvement efforts to an overall strategy.
In the introductory chapter, it is emphasized that VS management is about putting people first: reducing the speed and effort required of workers and not making people work faster or...