Book Talk: Using Hoshin Kanri to Improve the Value Stream

Sometimes one plus one is more than two. That can be the case when you link two separate lean tools. And that is the focus of Using Hoshin Kanri to Improve the Value Stream, a new book by Elizabeth Cudney.

The title makes it pretty clear which tools the books discusses. Cudney points out that organizations often fail at improvement because they go after symptomatic problems rather than the faulty system-wide processes at the root of those problems. She shows how to avoid this common misstep by using value stream mapping to create a current-state map.

But then comes the challenge of creating a future-state map – and, more importantly, achieving the goals of that future state. And that is where hoshin kanri – policy deployment – comes in.

Cudney - an assistant professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology who also has manufacturing experience – contends that hoshin kanri is not only a methodology, but an approach that will catch people’s attention, encourage their involvement and increase the momentum of improvement.

The book includes both a “Leancyclopedia” and a lean glossary.

Do you have a question or comment about a book(s) that you would like addressed in Book Talk? Email me directly at Ralph.bernstein@taylorandfrancis.com.