Client Case Study · Operational Excellence in Manufacturing

Value Stream Mapping and Kaizen in Action: How IMA Consulting Improved Order Fulfillment at Bayview Flowers

Bayview Flowers, a Canadian greenhouse grower supplying major retailers, was losing time and accuracy in the handoffs between its sales, procurement, and production teams. IMA Consulting brought a Lean, data driven approach, using value stream mapping, Kaizen, and root cause analysis to turn a fragmented order fulfillment process into a connected, visible one.

The Challenge: A Fragmented Order Fulfillment Process

Fresh flowers are one of the least forgiving products in retail. Timelines are tight, demand spikes hard around holidays like Easter and Mother’s Day, and a missed handoff can turn perishable inventory into waste. Bayview Flowers needed its order fulfillment process to run like clockwork, but the reality was a series of disconnected steps.

The friction showed up across the operation:

• Orders changing mid stream. Orders were entered and then revised repeatedly, creating upstream waste and late orders that rippled downstream to every team that depended on them.
• Teams working in the dark. Sales, procurement, hard goods, and marketing each held their own view of the plan, with no shared way to see confirmations, comments, or status changes.
• Marketing materials arriving late. Value added services frequently waited on marketing assets, with no agreed service level for requests and turnaround.
• Recurring misshipments. Products reached stores that should not have received them, and store feedback was hard to analyze in any structured way.

Our Approach: Value Stream Mapping and Kaizen

IMA Consulting believes lasting improvement starts with seeing the whole process clearly. Rather than jump to a tool or a quick patch, we used proven Lean methods to understand how work actually flowed and where it broke down.

Mapping the value stream end to end

We ran a value stream mapping exercise across the full order fulfillment process, from initial planning through procurement and production to shipment. We built a heat map of the gaps and obstacles along the way, then prioritized them so the team could focus effort where it mattered most.

Kaizen events and root cause analysis

Through a series of Kaizen events, we brought the people who do the work into the same room to run root cause analysis on the highest priority gaps. That collaborative approach turned frustration into a shared, prioritized list of improvement opportunities, and it made sure the people who would live with the changes helped design them.

Quick wins, tested before rollout

We translated the top opportunities into quick wins, then tested and simulated each one before committing. Every change was measured, refined against feedback, and only then prepared for sign off. This test and learn discipline is what separates real process improvement from good intentions.

The Solution: A Connected, Data Driven Fulfillment Process

The centerpiece of the work was a redesigned planning system that finally connected the teams. We linked three working files, a Remedy Plan, a Hard Goods file, and a Procurement file, so a change made by one team was immediately visible to the others. Key elements included:

• Shared visibility across teams, so sales, procurement, hard goods, and marketing could all see confirmations, comments, and status changes on live goods and hard goods in one connected view.
• Automated notifications that alerted stakeholders when a confirmation or status changed, reducing manual re entry and the risk of a missed update.
• A set of practical KPIs and scorecards, including trackers for shipments versus quality checks, inventory counts against purchase orders, sales workflow status, marketing turnaround service levels, misshipments, and structured store feedback.
• Clearer requirements for the future ERP, defined from the real process rather than guesswork, so any future system investment would be grounded in how the business actually runs.

We also supported an end to end planning pilot for the Walmart business, applying the same mapped process and shared file approach to one of Bayview’s most demanding retail relationships.

The Results: Operational Excellence That Sticks

By mapping the value stream, running disciplined Kaizen events, and building a connected planning system, IMA helped Bayview Flowers close or mitigate the gaps its own stakeholders had identified. Teams that had worked in isolation could now see one another’s confirmations and comments in real time. Automated notifications cut down on manual updates and missed changes. And a clear set of KPIs gave leadership the visibility to manage the fulfillment process by data rather than by firefighting. Most importantly, the improvements were designed and tested with the people who use them every day, which is what makes operational excellence last.

You cannot improve what you cannot see. Mapping the value stream gave Bayview Flowers a shared picture of the whole process, and that shared picture is where real change began.

Why It Worked

Process improvement fails when it is handed down from the outside. IMA’s value was in the method and the facilitation: mapping the value stream so everyone could see the waste, using Kaizen and root cause analysis to get to the true drivers, and testing quick wins with the team before rollout. That combination of Lean rigor and hands on collaboration is how a fragmented process becomes a dependable one.

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