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| Criterion |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |  Engineering Kanban |  Operations Bottleneck Analysis |  Operations Theory of Constraints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | When delivery work dissolves into wait times, handoffs, and hidden effort, Value Stream Mapping makes the actual flow visible. The method exposes bottlenecks, idle time, and feedback loops so lead time and improvement levers become tangible. | When work sits in too many parallel streams, throughput suffers and no one sees the bottlenecks. Kanban makes the flow of work visible and limits overload so a system becomes calmer and more predictable. | For a flow that backs up at one point, the method looks for the capacity limit with the greatest leverage. It explains why extra effort elsewhere barely improves throughput. | For a system that does not get faster despite effort, the method directs attention to the bottleneck. It concentrates improvement on the point that actually limits throughput. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Medium | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | Ongoing | 1-3 h | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend |
Participantsdifferent | 4-10 | 2-12 | 3-8 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list | Kanban board, WIP policies, Flow metrics | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics |
Tags1 shared | LeanFlowWasteDelivery | FlowVisual managementDelivery | FlowMeasurementConstraints | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement |