What's New Across the Mfg Value Platform This Week (July 19, 2026)
What is one point of FPY worth? There's now a calculator for that, and it shows its work. No login required.
Last week the platform learned to answer "what should we do, and in what order?" This week it learned to answer the two questions that come right before that one: "what is this KPI actually worth in dollars?" and "what's the easiest way to add a million to the bottom line?" Both are available to registered users, and one of them is open to everyone, no account needed.
The KPI value calculator: open to the public
Pick a KPI. Pick your industry and revenue scale. Answer one question: could your plant sell more if it made more? The calculator prices a point of improvement in annual EBITDA: one point of First Pass Yield, one point of OEE, one point of scrap rate, converted through the same measure-to-finance-line model that powers the full value analysis, against industry-typical financials.
That sold-out question matters more than it looks. In a plant that can't sell more volume, better FPY earns its keep through rework labor, scrap, and inspection cost. In a sold-out plant it also earns recovered sellable volume, and the number changes accordingly. The calculator is honest about the difference instead of quietly picking the flattering answer.
And every number shows its work. Expand any figure and you get the individual finance-line links in plain English: which measure moves, what dollar base it prices against, and every factor applied along the way. Directional, not a quote, and labeled as such. But nothing hidden.
It's live at valuemaps.com/calculator. Send it to the person who keeps asking you to justify the quality program.
"What's the easiest way to add $1M?"
For signed-in users, ValueMaps now takes a dollar target and searches the entire catalog for the lightest set of moves that adds it. Not the biggest lever, which is what a value-ranked roadmap naturally leads with, but the smallest change your organization has to absorb to clear the number. The engine re-evaluates every candidate as it picks, refuses to fund value-destroying moves to hit a target, and stops the moment the ask is covered. A quick read alongside shows how far down your saved roadmap the same target sits.
One honesty note we insisted on: the target counts only new EBITDA, on top of what your current systems already deliver. No credit for value you already banked.
Both of last week's "coming soon" items shipped
We said two things would make the roadmap sharper, and both are live. The Assumptions page gives you one place to declare what you already own, per system: in place, not present, or needs modernization, along with your own costs and lead times. And the sequence now understands bandwidth, not just budget: an MES rollout consumes several times the organizational change-effort of a policy update, and the roadmap packs its yearly waves accordingly, drawn out on a deployment timeline you can read like a Gantt chart.
And a quieter batch that's mostly about trust
Every one of the 529 use cases now computes net positive value in every operating context, verified by a standing check that reruns after any content change. The yield KPIs got their real formulas, so quality improvements price correctly everywhere. Finance lines on the audit walk explain themselves on hover. Company gap tables carry an alignment signal, so a split team reads differently than a consensus pain point. Capability names show what vendors call the same thing. And you can now delete your account from any of the four sites, with the same result everywhere.
Coming soon
Two threads. Teaching big claims to prove they're proportionate, so a use case that addresses part of a cost line can only claim its part. And letting your survey answers pre-fill what you already own, so the free assessment starts configuring the paid model before you've typed a thing.
Questions, feedback, or want a walkthrough? Reply to this email, or hit the Feedback button on any of the sites. We read everything.
— Tim Stuart, Visual Decisions