This story comes from an old This American Life episode.

In 1970, the Vienna Sausage Company of Chicago moved production from its 19th-century factory into a brand-new, state-of-the-art modern plant. They used the same ingredients. The same recipe. And yet the hot dogs did not taste right.

The color was off.
The texture lacked their signature snap.

Maybe the water on the south side of Chicago was different from the north side. Maybe the temperature in the new smokehouse was wrong. The company searched for over a year and a half without finding the cause.

Finally, during a casual conversation over a few beers at a local bar, someone remembered an old employee named Irving.

At the original factory, Irving’s job was to push a wooden cart around the plant, collecting sausages from different workstations. On his way to the smokehouse, he passed through warmer parts of the building, effectively giving the sausages a long pre-heat before smoking.

In the new modern plant, there was no Irving.

The layout was different. That warming step disappeared. The sausages went straight to the smokehouse cold. The result was different flavor and different color.

To fix the problem, the company eventually built an extra room to replicate Irving’s walk. Once the sausages warmed the same way, the product tasted right again.

The original factory and Irving’s walk were the product of evolution.

Many companies, from startups to long-established organizations, develop processes the same way. Incrementally, through feedback and learning over time. The challenge comes when we try to document, improve, or scale those processes.

When mapping out a value stream, the core question is simple. Where is value created, and where is time wasted?

On the surface, Irving’s walk looks like waste. And that is exactly what happened. It was eliminated.

But Irving’s walk was not waste.
It was essential value.

As companies grow and move workflows to new locations, the real challenge is not eliminating steps. It is knowing which steps matter.

So the question for any Lean effort is this:
What other Irvings are lurking out there?

This American Life. “20 Acts in 60 Minutes.” Episode 241, Act Fourteen. Produced by Chicago Public Media. Originally aired January 17, 2003.