Value-Added Work

Value added work consists of the tasks that a customer is willing to pay for. Generally this is something that changes the form, fit, or function of raw materials.

Note that it is very important to consider value from the customer perspective. In some cases, they will value something that could be categorized as waste. Common examples of this occur in healthcare when a patient presses a doctor to run an unnecessary test or prescribe an antibiotic for a viral infection. In both of these examples, the patient views the function as value added while the doctor sees it as a wasteful step.

Also keep in mind that it is not possible to simply stop doing non-value added steps. While these steps would be embarrassing to put on a customer’s bill, they still need to be completed. Transporting components, for example, do not change the form fit or function of the product. However, without an improvement of flow, nothing can be produced without that wasteful transportation.

The long-term goal is to consistently identify and work to eliminate the need to perform wasteful, non-value-added steps.