Charles Bates

Sunnen Products realigned its organizational structure from one focused on functions to one based on value streams.

In a functional organizational structure, the focus is on individual functional efficiency and not the efficiency of the whole. A value stream, on the other hand, is made up of all the activities to go from raw material to finished goods, order to cash, and concept to product launch for a product family (in Sunnen’s case).

According to Karen Broyles, director of operations at Sunnen, the company realized these benefits after implementing a value stream structure.

Lead time reductions.
The ability to release work to the shop floor daily.
Improved delivery time.
The elimination of transactions for time reporting.
Increased output without added labor.
The elimination of part shortages.
The elimination of work-in-process component issues.