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Future state value stream map worksheet
A future state value stream map shows how a product family should flow once waste is taken out: continuous flow where it can be, supermarket pull where it cannot, and one pacemaker process that gets the customer schedule. Mike Rother and John Shook's Learning to See builds it from eight questions answered in order, from takt time to the improvements the design needs. This worksheet works those eight questions with numbers. Page 1 has a box for each question with its inputs and arithmetic: takt time, the finished goods choice, each process's cycle time against takt, supermarket kanbans, the pacemaker, the mix in packs a day, pitch, an EPEI check on changeover time, a current against future table for lead time, process cycle efficiency and WIP days, and the list of improvements. Page 2 explains how to answer each question beside a worked example. The Excel version does the arithmetic and checks that the packs fit the pitches, that the mix adds up to demand and that no step runs over takt.
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When to use it
When to use a future state worksheet
- Right after the current-state map is drawn, before anyone lists improvement ideas.
- In a value stream mapping workshop, to give the team one question at a time.
- When a future-state map exists but nobody can say what the takt, the pacemaker or the pitch is.
- To check whether a planned changeover cut, supermarket or cell actually moves the lead time.
How to fill it in
- 1
Start from the current state
Have the current-state map and its numbers beside you: demand, cycle times, the inventory at each point and the lead time. The lead time worksheet gives you those in one table.
- 2
Work out takt and decide where finished goods go
Takt = available working time a day ÷ customer demand a day, with breaks taken out. Then decide between a finished goods supermarket and shipping directly, and size the store in days.
- 3
Mark flow, FIFO and supermarkets
Compare each process's cycle time with takt. Join the steps that can run one piece at a time; where flow has to stop, use a FIFO lane or size a supermarket with the kanban formula.
- 4
Choose the pacemaker, level the mix and set the pitch
Pick the one process that gets the schedule, usually the last step of flow. Turn each product's demand into packs a day, spread them through the day, and set pitch = takt × pack-out quantity.
- 5
Check changeovers with the EPEI
For each process that feeds a supermarket, work out the time left for changeovers and how often it can make every part. If the answer is too long, a changeover cut goes on the improvement list.
- 6
Compare current and future, then list the improvements
Write the future inventory at each point and compare lead time, process cycle efficiency and WIP days with today. Every change the design depends on becomes a kaizen burst with an owner and a month.
What's on the worksheet
The eight future-state questions, in order
From Learning to See. On the sheet each question has its own box with the inputs and the arithmetic, and the last one becomes the list of improvements; answer them in this order, because each answer depends on the ones before it.
Demand and flow
Questions 1 to 3: the pace, and where material can move one piece at a time
- 1What is the takt time for this product family?
- 2Will you build to a finished goods store or directly to shipping?
- 3Where can you use continuous flow processing?
Pull and scheduling
Questions 4 to 6: how the gaps in flow are controlled, and the one point that gets the schedule
- 4Where will you need to use supermarket pull systems?
- 5At what single point in the production chain will you schedule production (the pacemaker process)?
- 6How will you level the production mix at the pacemaker process?
Release and improvements
Questions 7 and 8: the rhythm at the pacemaker, and what has to change to get there
- 7What increment of work will you consistently release and take away at the pacemaker process (the pitch)?
- 8What process improvements will be necessary to achieve the future state?
A filled-in example
Illustrative, not a benchmarkAn example: the steel bracket family from the lead time worksheet, 400 a day, two 8-hour shifts with 20 minutes of breaks each (illustrative numbers).
- Takt = 2 × 460 min × 60 = 55,200 s ÷ 400 = 138 s. The team builds to a finished goods supermarket of 1 day and ships daily instead of weekly.
- Assembly and packing become one cell and the pacemaker. Welding feeds painting through a FIFO lane of at most 140. Supermarkets: stamped parts 400 × 1 day × 1.1 ÷ 20 = 22 kanbans, painted parts 400 × 0.5 × 1.1 ÷ 20 = 11 kanbans.
- Four bracket types at 200, 100, 60 and 40 a day are 10, 5, 3 and 2 boxes of 20. Pitch = 138 s × 20 = 2,760 s = 46 minutes, 20 pitches a day for 20 boxes.
- EPEI at the press: 55,200 s × 85% uptime − 800 s of run time − 36,000 s of other parts = 10,120 s for changeovers. Four part numbers × 60 minutes = 14,400 s, so 1.42 days, every 2 days. At 20 minutes it is 0.47, so every part every day.
Inventory falls from 6,800 to 2,000 brackets and lead time from 17.00 to 5.00 days, while process cycle efficiency rises from 0.011% to 0.038%. WIP between processes drops from 8.00 to 2.00 days. Six improvements went on the list, led by the press changeover cut from 60 to 20 minutes that lets stamping make every part every day.
Common mistakes
Listing improvements before designing the flow
Kaizen bursts on a current-state map are a wish list. Answer takt, flow, pull and the pacemaker first, and the improvement list falls out of the gaps.
Scheduling more than one process
If every process gets its own schedule, they drift apart and inventory builds between them. Send the schedule to the pacemaker only and let the rest pull or flow.
A supermarket downstream of the pacemaker
Downstream of the pacemaker, material should move in flow or a FIFO lane. A supermarket there means the schedule point is in the wrong place.
Ignoring changeover time
A level mix needs frequent changeovers. Check the EPEI of every process that feeds a supermarket, or the supermarket ends up sized for batches of a week.
Download the template
Free to use: print it, copy it and edit it for your team. Enter your name and work email once to download.
Run this template in LeanSuite
In LeanSuite the current-state map built from video can be branched into future-state scenarios with kaizen bursts and compared side by side, with an AI-recommended future-state map as the starting point.
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Future state value stream map worksheet: common questions
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