Social value stream mapping (Socio-VSM): methodology to societal sustainability visualization and assessment in the manufacturing system

Abstract

The extended application of value stream mapping has more recently been clarified to fulfill the triple bottom line requirements in the manufacturing systems. Thus, there is a glaring lack of literature on this sustainable-oriented lean tool, among these minute studies, the research attention has mainly been given to the environmental issues, largely neglecting the societal aspects. To complement and support this narrow body of knowledge, this article is aimed at developing a social value stream mapping methodology, which we refer to as Socio-VSM, for visualizing and assessing the societal sustainability performance in the context of manufacturing. In doing so, it identified and incorporated crucial societal metrics into the proposed approach, which was made based on the conventional value stream mapping method. For validation purposes, a case study entailing a hard disc drive substrate manufacturing industry was applied for the documentation and reporting of results derived from the implementation of the proposed methodology and for testing and making conclusions about its effectiveness. It makes the valuable theoretical and practical contributions to narrow the gap on this long-neglected scope.