Year
2010
Abstract
The main goals of Value Stream Analysis (VSA) are to improve quality, cost, and delivery of a product or service by eliminating waste. Value Stream Analysis and Value Stream Mapping are often used in industrial settings to evaluate and optimize existing production processes. Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) employs the Lean Six Sigma process improvement approach to streamline and increase efficiencies in many of its business and operations aspects. SNL applied the Value Stream Analysis tool in a novel manner to establish the processes required to stand up an efficient new nuclear materials management organization. SNL anticipated that the Value Stream Analysis process would facilitate significant streamlining of interlinked processes for dealing with overlapping regulatory requirements while also minimizing risks for dealing with nuclear materials in a structured manner. Value Stream Analysis works by bringing the program team together with Value Stream Analysis facilitators and diagramming the process flows from beginning to end, resulting in a Value Stream Map. The planning steps begin by defining the boundaries, defining the value of the various functions, defining the desired outcome, and getting a good understanding of the Product/Service flow and accompanying data requirements. The next step is to map the ideal process envisioned by the program team. This often begins with present-state process steps written on sticky notes posted on the wall and connected by preliminary flow lines. The sticky notes and flow lines are discussed, debated and usually rearranged several times until the team is satisfied that the ideal process is captured. The team then finalizes the ideal Value Stream Map. Knowing that the ideal is usually not realistic considering the many regulatory requirements, the team develops a realistic future state Value Stream Map. Beneficial outcomes of the Value Stream Mapping exercise include a clear, logical and streamlined set of organizational processes, roles and responsibilities and notably, a shared visual image of how each team member’s work and the work of related organizations link into the program. The result is that team members develop a stronger sense of involvement and ownership and work more effectively toward an optimized common team goal. When the program involves a critical issue such as nuclear materials management, all issues relating to human health, safety, security and regulatory issues are properly addressed using this approach. Using this VSA approach has helped SNL in the still-in- progress effort to develop and formalize an effective nuclear material management program. A poster by the same title [2] was presented at the 2009 meeting of the Institute of Nuclear Material Management (INMM) which discussed the original Value Stream mapping exercise. This paper is a follow-on to that presentation and discusses the accomplishments from the action item list generated at the end of that exercise.