Rebalance with Yamazumi

If you’ve never seen one before, the simplest way to think of a Yamazumi chart is as a stacked bar chart that shows the tasks involved in a process and the time taken. Once you start working with them though, you’ll soon realise that there’s so much more to them than just that.

Yamazumi Charts

A Yamazumi chart is a simple and invaluable visual tool that helps you to identify the tasks involved in a process (the process flows) and the time that each of those tasks takes; some tasks will be necessary, others less so. This in turns helps you to:

• See where there’s waste, so you can eliminate it.
• Identify imbalances in work, so you can re-balance them. Our Yamazumi function allows you to move work (JESs) to different places within your process with a simple drag and drop.

You can also use the Yamazumi charts alongside other tools in the system, such as:

• The Skills Matrix: to identify opportunities to re-balance work between areas of similarly skilled staff.
• JESs in the Standardised Work Charts: to move tasks between different areas and make sure they’re still under the takt time (time available to complete the work).

The ultimate results of using Yamazumi charts are less waste, improved workflow, and increased speed and efficiency.