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About Yamazumi Chart In general, Yamazumi word was originated from Japanese, and it means “to stack up”. In the world of Lean & Six Sigma, the projected process data is seen as stack bar chart (Yamazumi) to understand the process pain parts (or) areas observed slowness (or) for the visibility of unusual steps (or) non-value adding steps. Yamazumi charts helps in showing a way to identify unwanted activities. (or) It's another tool to enhance the waste elimination in the process. Explanation of Yamazumi Chart with an Example In an Organization, The Digital Products Unit, “Director” has raised a concern with the "Vice President" of Procurement Shared Services about the several delays in order delivery by the suppliers. Specially with IT categories. Surprising part is that, the budget/cost are getting approved immediately when the scope of work and planning are in place. Few orders are getting On time, and some are delayed for months, and it is impacting the production. Digital unit doesn’t have visibility of any activities after the cost approval of the project. Eventually this has become a bigger complaint on delayed orders. VP of Procurement wanted to have a general body meeting with the Director, Procurement Managers, and the Quality Manager to address the issue and narrate the current state of process and possibilities/various areas to improve the efficiency of the process from the IT Need to Delivery. Hence, the VP requested the quality manager to look for the historic events of all the procurement transactions with respect to IT needs. Also advised to produce an “Eloquent 1 Page Visualization” of the data with issues. The Quality Manager after collecting the historic data, has produced below Yamazumi Chart, and found interesting investigations about the delays of some orders. Based on Yamazumi Chart in the general body meeting, below observations were discussed: - - Order delays are only with New Suppliers. - Number of days processing and progressing each step varies for different categories of IT needs i.e. Application Development has less turnaround when compared to Infrastructure & other categories. - Adequate time is required to Securely run RFP/RFQ with potential new suppliers, organizing DEMO’s and selecting the right supplier to fulfil the IT need. - Various Approvals (legal, supplier addition, background checks) are necessary to onboard new supplier to the Company to ensure/avoid/zero any kind of risks & complications. Meeting ended with: - The Identified Red One’s in Yamazumi Chart were shortlisted for further study and process standardization. The Director and the VP has appreciated the quality Manager for this kind of visualization and enlightening the process activities, days it took at each phase, for various categories with New & Existing Suppliers. Thus, The Yamazumi Chart has helped in projecting full picture of IT Procurement from “Needs to Delivery” of all categories. Supplementary Details: - In the recent days it is observed that the analysis, investigations & projections are expected instantaneously with availability of wide varieties of data. Here, Tableau is very helpful in providing the Stack charts/ Yamazumi Charts. Below is a sample picture extracted from Tableau depicting the various sales of IT brands and their price categories at various regions.