VALUE STREAM MAPPINGIN THE ROMANIAN FOOTWEAR INDUSTRY

Cost reduction, productivity increase and creating value for the client are just a few of the arguments that managers use when they adopt Lean philosophy. Businesses’ concern is to create products that have value in the eyes of the client, continuously analyzing the existing value stream in order to improve it. Value stream mapping (VSM) is a technique used to visually present the chain of processes, within the company, necessary to obtain the product. Due to the many advantages and to the ease of use experienced by Toyota since the ’80, VSM use has constantly increased as this activity improvement technique was discovered by managers. The article presents a case study of the application of VSM in footwear industry.