Flow Process Analysis – How to Do It

There are some commonly used symbols for process analysis, originally introduced in 1947 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and are still in use worldwide today. They’re referred to as ASME symbols. 

There are five symbols that are used to create a process chart or map, and they are: operation, transformation, inspection, delay, and storage.

One important factor to keep in mind is, that these actions (symbols) apply to both physical and non-physical items such as data. It doesn’t matter how it’s conducted, whether it’s a pre-printed sheet or manually drawn, the important attribute is the information.

The information that is produced by this mapping procedure allows us to have a starting point for analysis and the development of improvement plans, thus allowing us to calculate the relative amount of value-added activities (VAA) and non-value added activities (NVAA) further analysis.

Value-added activities are those that are of value from the customer’s point of view, as they’re paying for the service/product. Though to get that product, there are other activities in the process which must be performed that don’t add any value, i.e., like moving materials, these are referred to non-value added activities, they cost the company money; these sorts of activities should be minimised or eliminated where possible.

Learning Objectives:
 •    Examine the uses of creating a process chart or map, and become familiar with the five symbols that are used
 •    Identify and become familiar with how to create a process chart or map 
 •    Compare and contrast the difference between value-added activities (VAA) and non-value-added activities (NVAA)