Process Flow Detective

🏥 The Scenario: ClearView Eye Clinic

ClearView Eye Clinic is losing patients. Average visit takes 68 minutes, but patients say "I only saw the doctor for 10 minutes — why was I here over an hour?" The clinic manager hired your team to map the process, classify every step, and redesign it for speed.

📖 Ch. 12 Concept: Opportunity Flow Diagram

An opportunity flow diagram separates value-added steps from non-value-added steps. This reveals where waste hides in a process.

✅ Value-Added (VA)

Steps that are essential even when everything works correctly. The customer would pay for these. They move DOWN the left side of the diagram.

❌ Non-Value-Added (NVA)

Steps that would not be needed if everything worked right the first time. Waste. They move ACROSS the right side of the diagram.

Phase 1: Classify Every Step

For each step in the patient visit, decide: is it Value-Added or Non-Value-Added? Think like a patient — would you PAY for this step?

0 of 14 classified

Phase 2: Eliminate the Waste

For each non-value-added step, choose a Lean fix. Your goal: cut total visit time from 68 minutes to under 30 minutes.

Your Redesigned Process — Bonus Challenge:

Design ONE poka-yoke (mistake-proofing device) that would prevent the biggest waste in this process:

Phase 3: Your Lean Transformation

Here's how your redesigned process compares to the original.

Before (Original)

68 min

14 steps, patient frustrated

After (Your Redesign)

—

Waste Eliminated

—

of non-value-added time removed

📖 Ch. 12 Connection: Opportunity Flow Diagram

What you just did is exactly what the textbook's Exhibit 12.5 demonstrates with the copier example. Value-added steps (take original, place original, select size, select number) flow straight down the left side. Non-value-added steps (copier in use? wait, glass dirty? clean, no paper? find paper, find knife, open box, find help) branch to the right.

In Lean, the goal is to eliminate, simplify, or automate every step that moves to the right. The ideal process is a straight vertical line — pure value, zero waste.

🔗 TIMWOOD Connection

The wastes you found map to the 7 Lean wastes (TIMWOOD): Transport (walking to wrong room), Inventory (stacked paper forms), Motion (searching for charts), Waiting (the biggest one!), Overproduction (redundant paperwork), Over-processing (re-entering data), Defects (wrong chart pulled).

🎤 Interview Tip

"Tell me about an opportunity flow diagram." → "It's a Six Sigma analytical tool that separates value-added steps from non-value-added steps. Value-added steps are essential even when everything works correctly — the customer would pay for them. Non-value-added steps only exist because something went wrong or wasn't designed well. In Lean, the goal is to eliminate every non-value-added step so the process flows straight through with zero waste."