Service Value Stream Management (SVSM): Developing Lean Thinking in the Service Industry

This paper presents a comprehensive lean approach, based on Value Stream Management (VSM), which makes it possible to enhance the performance of a service, by spotting and tackling its criticalities. The study is motivated by the growing need to extend lean concepts to the service industry and, on the other hand, by a lack of operating tools capable to support technical staff in this effort. Specifically, to tailor VSM to the specific requirements of pure services, substantial modifications were made: 1) for a detailed map of the process new icons were created, 2) most of the lean approaches were adapted/modified and 3) concepts such as Takt-Time and Pitch have been redefined in a more suitable way. To validate the approach, an application concerning an enrolment process is presented. Results demonstrate the quality of the approach and confirm the significant improvements that can be obtained with the application of lean thinking to the service context.