Immersive virtual reality to vindicate the application of value stream mapping in an US-based SME.

Value stream mapping (VSM) assists in identifying opportunities for improvement by revealing the inefficiencies in the current state. However, several difficulties appear while evaluating such 'as-is' state for leaner future state. Trial and error method is often employed for continuous improvement to accomplish the desired level of future state. This causes numerous iterations and improper usage of resources which makes lean application costly and inefficient. In order to tackle this, an immersive virtual reality (IVR) approach to visualize and interact with the image of real models in a computer graphics environment is presented in this article. This allows conducting a quick experimentation in a virtual world to reach optimal future state without exhausting resources or incurring additional cost. In order to reinforce applicability and usefulness of the proposed framework, a case study of an US-based SME is also discussed. This paper first illustrates the implementation procedure of VSM in the manufacturing processes to develop current and future states. Data is collected for a year to analyse the current state and then IVR is used to validate results for future state. A reduction of more than 40 % in lead-time, 41 % in floor space and 47 % in manpower is achieved after a period of 3 months of implementing the recommendations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]