Applying value stream management to improve warehouse operation processes – A case study

Abstract

The warehouse under study is an important link in the supply chain of a multinational company. At the moment, wastes still exist in warehouse operation processes, which lead to a low rate of order fulfilment and a low customer’s service level and negatively affect the company’s competitive advantages. This research shows how warehouse operations can be improved by using value stream management as a platform with the objective to reduce the non-value-added time and decrease the lead time and hence reduce the late order rate and increase the customer’s service level. The current state map has been drawn. Non-value-added activities in the current state map are analyzed to define causes and solutions to the problems; then the future state map is drawn. The result shows that the non-value-added time reduces by 50.69%, from 143 (mins) to 70.5 (mins), and the lead time decreases by 19.07%, from 464 (mins) to 375.5 (mins).