Breaking the Constraints to World-class Performance


Book Description

This text explains how to identify and optimize the system contraints that may inhibit an organization's overall performance. It includes examples, success stories and real-life corporation case studies, including: Bethlehem Steel, Ford, GM and America On-Line.




The World of the Theory of Constraints


Book Description

The Theory of Constraints (TOC) - as developed by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt - has seen a rapid expansion since the publication of his book, The Goal. As with most fast growing areas, you can quickly feel out of touch with new developments. The World of the Theory of Constraints provides a summary of recently published research on TOC. The authors explored databases, and sought out papers and books drawing on as wide a range as possible. Aside from the works by Dr. Goldratt himself, the authors focus on items published since 1990, highlighting the most recent developments in TOC. The scope of the material covers works containing specific reference to TOC, including Synchronous Manufacturing and Constraint Management. The book is organized into three sections. The first section contains an analysis and interpretation of the results of the search. The second provides abstracts on all the material. The third supplies author, keyword, and subject indexes along with a list of books, journals, websites, and publishers. Extensively researched and referenced, The World of the Theory of Constraints furnishes comprehensive material on TOC. The multi-search approach has made this arguably the most exhaustive bibliography on this subject available. If you are researching TOC, this is the best place to start. If you use or teach TOC, you will want this resource. Features




The Focus and Leverage Improvement Book


Book Description

Companies all over the world try their best to improve their business by implementing efforts such as Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing, or a combination of the two methodologies. Logic would tell you that these two methods would be the right approach because you would have an improvement method that, through Lean, reduces waste and make value flow, while Six Sigma reduces and controls variation. If this were true, then why is it that many of these initiatives simply aren’t delivering quantifiable bottom-line results? After having studied many of these on-going improvement efforts, the author believes that these efforts are missing an important focusing mechanism. That is, most of these improvement efforts attempt to improve "everything" rather than finding that key part of the system that should be assessed and improved, the constraining factor, and then focusing the improvement efforts there and only there. The hallmark of this book is how to first locate this constraining factor and then determine the best way to exploit it to generate extreme profits, radically improve on-time delivery of products or services and increase market share by outperforming your competition at rates you never expected possible. How do we do this? By combining Lean and Six Sigma with the Theory of Constraints. This book demonstrates both the basics of improvement (i.e. results) with the "how to" (i.e. the methodology) in a very simple format that everyone within your organization will understand.




The Ultimate Improvement Cycle


Book Description

Recognizing the need to implement quality and eliminate waste, companies embrace Lean, Six Sigma, or a combination of the two, typically taking a broad approach that seeks to remediate every process, critical or not. When this happens, efforts become distracted, improvements indefinitely delayed, and results mediocre at best. The Ultimate Improvement Cycle (UIC) integrates Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints into a combined strategy that will help you immediately focus your efforts on those areas that will make the greatest difference. The book presents basic laws of factory physics that show why the UIC delivers significant bottom-line improvement while other initiatives so often fail. It explains to you why focusing your efforts on apparent problems rather than systemic concerns is wasted effort. Focus on key areas and take improvement to the next level The Ultimate Improvement Cycle: Maximizing Profits through the Integration of Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints show you how to draw the best from Lean and Six Sigma by employing principles drawn from the Theory of Constraints. This approach will ensure that your effort is focused in the right place, at the right time, using the right tools, and the right amount of resources. This multi-pronged approach addresses cost accounting, variation, waste, and performance measurements. But most importantly, it focuses your organization on the right areas to optimize. Applying years of hands-on work in many environments, Bob Sproull has developed a unique proven method that capitalizes on a time-release formula for evoking the key tools that improvement requires. He shows you how to take advantage of the cyclical nature of improvement to implement change that is perpetually effective, and his approach does not require more resources than you have on hand. Although originally developed in manufacturing, the UIC works equally well in any environment whether it be manufacturing or service-oriented, including Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM).




The Logical Thinking Process


Book Description

A major rewrite of Dettmer's classic Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, this new edition presents a whole new approach to building and applying logic trees. The logical thinking process referred to in the title is nothing less than a broadly applicable, systems-level approach to policy analysis. Dettmer has streamlined the process of constructing the logic trees while simultaneously ensuring that the results are more logically sound and closer representations of reality than ever before. He explains an easier, more logically sound way to integrate Current Reality Trees with Evaporating Clouds. His new version of the thinking process "retires" the Transition Tree in favor of the marriage of a more detailed Prerequisite Tree and critical chain project management. This book contains new examples of logic trees from a variety of real-world applications. Most of the diagrams and illustrations are new and improved. Explanations and procedures for constructing the logic trees are considerably simplified.




The Secret to Maximizing Profitability


Book Description

This book fully details, as the title suggests, the real secret to maximizing an organization's profitability. While many companies have implemented improvement initiatives such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, there is a missing link which, when discovered and implemented, will take these same companies to profit levels not seen before. This missing link is the Theory of Constraints, and when it’s combined with Lean and Six Sigma, true transformational improvements are sure to follow. In this book, the author walks you through the step-by-step method on how to combine these three methodologies with the result being significant improvements to flow, major improvements in variation, substantial reductions in waste, superior on-time delivery, and ultimately, maximized profitability. He has been using this integrated methodology for many years and each time, the results realized were well beyond what the leadership teams had experienced previously. The genesis behind this combined improvement cycle is based upon many years of analysis of both failures and successes using Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints as stand-alone improvement initiatives. By integrating Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints into a single improvement cycle, the author has developed a recipe that will maximize your return on investment, cash flow, and net profit. The Secret to Maximizing Profitability is both stimulating and thought provoking, but more importantly it will provide your organization with a roadmap for maximizing the use of your resources to achieve more bottom-line improvement than you ever imagined possible.




Symbian for Software Leaders


Book Description

As a co-founder of Symbian and former executive of Psion Software, David Wood has been actively involved in well over 100 smartphone development projects worldwide. Over the time spent on these projects, he has come to understand the key issues which determine the difference between successful and unsuccessful projects for Symbian OS. This book highlights and explains: How to tame the awesome inner complexity of smartphone technology Optimal project team organisation, combining agility and reliability The design and the philosophy behind key features of Symbian OS The potential trouble spots of smartphone integration, testing, and optimisation How to receive the full benefit of the diverse skills in the extensive Symbian partner ecosystem The methods that are most likely to deliver commercial success when using Symbian OS The wider significance of Symbian OS skills and expertise in the evolving mobile marketplace The particular importance of software leaders in bringing breakthrough smartphone products to the market




The TLS Continuum Field Guide


Book Description

This book provides a roadmap for implementing a powerful technique will reduce waste and accelerate flow within a process -- The TLS Continuum methodology. The letters TLS stand for the three components of the continuum. The letter T stands for the Theory of Constraints. Created by Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt in his book The Goal, it is a critically thinking-based system for determining where the obstacles lie within your organization. Through the use of various tools, it asks you to determine where the obstacles are in the process. The purpose of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) involvement in the continuum is to determine what needs to be changed, how to change it and how to accomplish the change. TOC operates at the level of the chain looking for the weakest link. It is in essence the hypothesis of the problem-solving method overall. The letter L stands for Lean. Most organizations are familiar with the concept of Lean. It is centered around removing waste from the organizational processes so that the customer receives their orders faster. Understand that faster may not mean cheaper or better quality, it means only that we expedite the process. The final letter is S and it represents the concepts of Six Sigma. The primary goal here is remove variation from the processes. If we combine the three letters of the acronym what we find that the TLS continuum is organized around a process in itself. We use the Theory of Constraints to locate and identify the obstacles within the system. What is holding up the process? Where is the weakest link in the process? With the introduction of TOC, the system asks you to elevate the obstacles and determine how to remove them. We use Lean to do what it is meant to do and that is to remove the obstacles. We have identified the obstacle and determined through the critical thinking tools how to remove that obstacle and then use the Lean tools to actually remove the waste. Finally, the system utilizes the Six Sigma tools to create the standard of work and remove any variation from the process. When we do this, we have completed the improvement process by creating a progressive system for resolving the problems that occur within many organizations. It is an evidence-based effort to identify, remove and improve the system so the problem does not recur.




Being Right Is Not Enough!


Book Description

Most people assume that being right should be enough to be followed and respected as leaders. However, anyone attempting to lead any type of organization (family, business, sports, etc.) knows by experience that this is not so. Usually, the blame is placed on external factors, like the lack of the right team or circumstances. After several failing experiences, frustration and cynicism creep in about the possibility of successfully implementing any improvement initiative. What is the use of being right if nobody listens to us? What is the point of being wise and powerful if the rest of the world thinks we are mad? This book summarizes twenty years of practical experience searching for the most powerful complements to go beyond "Being right" in order to significantly improve our performance as leaders and change agents. It explains how, after developing a good solution, leaders could also be able to sell their ideas to their own people and create the truly collaborative working environments in which continuous improvement can set roots and flourish.




Simplified TRIZ


Book Description

The revised and updated third edition of Simplified TRIZ: New Problem Solving Applications for Technical and Business Professionals, 3rd Edition continues to demystify TRIZ (systematic innovation), the internationally acclaimed problem solving technique. It demonstrates how TRIZ can be used as a stand alone methodology or used to enhance Lean, Six Sigma, and other systems of organizational improvement. Simplified TRIZ 3rd Edition once again strikes the perfect balance between overly complex and overly simplified, making the effective application of TRIZ accessible to a wide audience. In addition to numerous exercises, worksheets, and tables that further illustrate the concepts of this multinational method, this indispensible volume: Presents a new model for problem solving based on four TRIZ tenets ― contradictions, resources, ideality, and patterns of evolution ― elucidated for better understanding and application Contains three new chapters: Functional analysis - Emphasizes a "how to" approach to functional analysis that strongly improves your ability to define the problem to be solved, radically enhancing the value of the creative solutions that TRIZ makes possible. Innovative solutions for difficult challenges – Two detailed case studies sharing the experiences in solving challenging problems in innovative ways Systematic Innovation on the fly – How to utilize individual innovation tools for quick innovative effect Multiple other new case studies throughout The addition of Lean in the chapter on integrated methodologies More links between chapters increasing the understanding of application More application examples demonstrating application techniques of professionals Clarifies how the patterns of evolution are used to generate both "what-if" scenarios, and real-world forecasts with remarkable accuracy. Illustrates how small and large companies, government agencies, and other groups of people are using TRIZ and achieving significant results and gives you step-by-step instructions on bringing TRIZ into your organization. With the valuable tools explained within these pages you will be able to find innovative solutions to problems, understand the natural evolution of systems, and develop more and better ideas faster.