Running errands is seldom my favorite task. What should take 15 minutes takes 2 hours as I navigate the crowds, the traffic, and all the other things that get in my way and slow me down.

These same types of slowdowns happen everyday in your workplace making the errand run a great analogy for learning how to make your business more efficient.

The purpose of the Errand Run video is twofold. First, get the audience thinking of their jobs in terms of a value stream. That is, a stream of activities that can be split into value adding work and nonvalue adding waste. Second, show the audience how to create value stream maps to identify and eliminate waste through continuous improvement.

Join me as I take the audience on a trip around town trying to meet a customer request within takt time. Driven by my to-do list, we go to the grocery store, the post office, the hardware store, and more. Along the way we learn about lean, the 8 wastes, and value stream mapping.

I challenge you to identify the wastes in my current state value stream and come up with a better future state than I can. If your up for this challenge then hop aboard. It’ll be an exciting, entertaining road trip, and great way to learn about lean and the value stream.