The Value Stream Hierarchical Model: A Practical Tool to Apply the Lean Thinking Concepts at All the Firms’ Levels

The increasing competition in the global markets is pushing many manufacturers to start the lean transformation with the final goal of being a Lean Enterprise, which applies the Lean thinking concepts at all its levels, from production to management. The biggest problem in this transition is to have a tool that consistently measures the undergoing evolution in the value stream selected, regardless of its extent, in order to take the subsequent actions needed. The main objective of this paper is to provide such a tool, the Value Stream Hierarchical Model (VSH Model), which could fit with every kind of manufacturing enterprise taking into account also the recent shift to industry 4.0 and the related new technologies available. In addition, another purpose of the model is to provide a scalable point of view that allows to “zoom in” on the company entity, based on the desired level of detail and the related information required. The VSH Model has born as a mix of the architectures existent in literature (ARIS, CIMOSA, PERA), which describe the enterprise from different point of views and levels, and the Lean Thinking concepts, starting from the Lean production tools and variables, passing through the Lean Accounting variables and ending with the Lean Management KPIs. The VSH model has already been applied to practical cases, consisting of a group of companies, as part of the industrial research carried out in Italy by the Politecnico di Torino.