ANALYSING THE VALUE OF INFORMATION FLOW BY USING THE VALUE ADDED HEAT MAP

Inadequate internal communication and insufficient information transfer is already recognized as a non-value-adding waste. To achieve a higher value creation, an identification and categorization of information transfer is necessary. Common methods are unsuitable especially for visualizing information media disruptions and lead to errors in the added value. Moreover, media disruptions mostly cause redundancy and additional effort, which are reflected in non-value added activities. The Value Added Heat Map is a visualization tool that categorizes and visualize the information flow different from other visualization tools e.g. the value stream analysis. The first step in categorizing the information flow using the Value Added Heat Map is the value analysis of the information transmission. In a second step, the information flow is visualized in the factory layout depending on the value. The innovative method Value Added Heat Map is described and exemplarily applied to an information flow of a production shop floor. The results show that the Value Added Heat Map method can contribute to a better transparency of the often not fully documented internal information flows. This innovative approach enables the visualization of media disruptions via colour transitions and thus helps value added processes by identifying and eliminating possible sources of waste.