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| Criterion |  Operations Waste Analysis |  Operations Bottleneck Analysis |  Operations Root Cause Analysis |  Delivery Value Stream Mapping |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a process that keeps people busy but creates little value, the method exposes waste. It directs attention to unnecessary movement, waiting times, rework, and overdelivery. | 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. | When a problem keeps recurring and the cause stays unclear, the method exposes the underlying mechanism. It separates symptom, guess, and robust explanation from one another. | 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. |
Complexitydifferent | Low | Medium | Medium | Medium |
Timedifferent | 45-120 min | 1-3 h | 1-4 h | 1-3 h |
Participantsdifferent | 2-8 | 3-8 | 3-8 | 4-10 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop | Workshop + async | Workshop + async | Workshop |
Outputdifferent | Waste Map, Prioritized Waste, Improvement Backlog | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures | Problem Statement, Cause Hypotheses, Confirmed Causes, Action Plan | Current-state map, Future-state map, Bottleneck list |
Tagsno overlap | WasteLeanProcess improvement | FlowMeasurementConstraints | Root causeProblem solvingQualityIncident | LeanFlowWasteDelivery |