A method to generate energy value-streams in production and logistics in respect of time- and energy-consumption

Abstract

In the industry, Lean Production Systems have been successfully used for years to reduce lead times. The value-stream mapping method (VSM) has proven itself to be the best practice tool for this purpose. With this method process steps can easily be divided into value-adding and non value-adding ones. However, the VSM does not provide any information about the production process energy consumption and, as a consequence, it does not give any hint at how much of the energy used actually serves value-adding purposes. Also transportation and logistics have not been analyzed by their time- and energy-efficiency up to now. Would it be known how much energy is used for value-adding and for necessary process steps, then it would be possible to optimize value-streams in a holistic way, simultaneously considering time- and energy-consumption. This paper describes how the VSM can be extended to an energy value-stream mapping method (EVSM) by maintaining its original character and its inner logic. Furthermore transportation processes and the related time and energy input have been added to the EVSM. © 2013 The Author(s).