A Brilliant Strategy Without Operational Excellence is Doomed Production is an Engine for Profit The production function can be a potent profit-generating machine. Traditionally, managers have regarded the production function as a necessary evil, a prerequisite to the real business of making money. This perspective is widely echoed in textbooks: the goal of production is “to […]
Production: the Key to a Competitive Edge Read More »
To increase output, whether in a disaster or in everyday pressures, you must challenge your assumptions to find solutions. Usually, the solution is not obvious (otherwise, it would have been implemented, right?), so you have to dig deeper. Challenging assumptions helps us see where we can change the process. There is still more to get out
Challenge Your Assumptions about the Process Read More »
The more contractors or departments involved in a project, the more chances for variation and, often, more confusion. There is always the opportunity for misalignment and miscommunication. The larger the organization, the more opportunity for missing cues on priorities and direction. For the process owner, the challenge is to align a team to drive progress towards
Manage and Align Performance by Applying Uniform Standards Read More »
Ugh. Another project meeting. We’ve all been there, annoyed when our reminder goes off (if you still use them!) reminding us of our 8th meeting of the day. We’re annoyed because there are so many meetings and these meetings never seem to get anywhere. The same stories, the same excuses. Well, at the close of the
Blind Spot 2 – Death by Meeting Read More »
To increase output, whether in a disaster or in everyday pressures, you must challenge your assumptions to find solutions. Usually, the solution is not obvious (otherwise, it would have been implemented, right?), so you have to dig deeper. Challenging assumptions helps us see where we can change the process. There is still more to get out
Challenge Your Assumptions about the Process Read More »
What if you can’t simply reallocate resources to maximize flow because the constraint is the process or a machine itself? Sometimes it takes a little more creativity to identify how to exploit the constraint (the drum), but just because a machine is the constraint does not mean the fix is more expensive equipment. The key to
Focus on the Constraint Read More »
Knowing what (and where) the drum is for your process does not mean that you should run out and buy more capacity to fix it. In my previous blog post, I discussed that before you react to an increase of demand and making any changes in the process, you first need to analyze the process and
Rebalance Resources to Maximize Flow Read More »
What is the first thing to do to increase output when you need more, yesterday? Often, when output needs to increase, we learn that this heightened sense of urgency creates rushed decisions and frantic behavior. This leads to the obvious and time-tested band-ads: adding another shift, throwing overtime at the problem or buying another machine. As
Make the Invisible Visible – Look for “The Drum” Read More »
The process helped BP save more than $200 million by identifying key measurements and planning the bottleneck into the operation.
Theory of Constraints Tapped to Accelerate BP’s Gulf of Mexico Cleanup Read More »
Last week, I did an interview with Joe Dager of Business 901 on the topic of the integration of Theory of Constraints with Lean and Six Sigma. We discuss how it all fits together and the biggest problem facing managers who want to implement a continuous improvement program.
Theory of Constraints Lean Six Sigma Podcast Read More »
