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Using an Integrated approach of Lean, Six Sigma, and TOC to deliver results in Healthcare

business901 — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 18:45:00 +0000

Bahadir Inozu, Ph.D., the Chief Executive Officer and Dan Chauncey, the Director of Deployment Services for NOVACES joined me in this podcast to discuss an integrated approach for using three industrially based methods, Lean, Six Sigma, and Constraints Management to transform hospital operations. They have just published a book, Performance Improvement for Healthcare that explains how using the right tool for the right problem at the right time from a systems perspective, the authors show how to deliver faster results and greater return on investment.

Scales to any size organization and aligns easily to varying needs
Shortens traditional execution time from adoption to results
Optimizes the utilization of resources required to accomplish the desired goals
Breaks organizational constraints and maximizes organizational efficiency
Sustains the gains and defines a path to self-sufficiency
Achieves a global impact through strategy alignment and focused project selection
Shows how to integrate Constraints Management with Lean and Six Sigma to create a “best of breed” approach
Explains how hospitals can deploy or re-energize their performance improvement program specifically for what’s most important for their particular organization

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Download Podcast: Click and choose options: TOCHealthcare or go to the Business901 iTunes Store.

About Novaces: A management consulting firm that provides performance management, continuous process improvement (CPI), and project management services to both public and private sector organizations. NOVACES helps its clients build capabilities in today’s most effective methodologies to achieve breakthrough operational and financial results.

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The New Knowledge Management Game eBook

business901 — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 02:30:00 +0000

Jack Vinson, a Knowledge Management and Theory of Constraints expert, was my guest on the Business901 Podcast, The New Knowledge Management Game. This is a transcription of the podcast with four pages of additional material that was cut from the podcast.

The New Knowledge Management Game

Jack has been a knowledge management advocate and technology enthusiast and is the president of Knowledge Jolt, Inc., a knowledge management consultancy (2004 – 2007). He is deeply interested in how people work, whether that is as individuals, in small groups or within organizations. Within Knowledge Jolt, he focuses on helping organizations understand how they use their information.

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Bringing New Thoughts to the Supply Chain thru MRP

business901 — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:30:00 +0000

Chad Smith of the Constraints Management Group was the guest on the Business901 Podcast. Chad is currently writing the third revised edition of Orlickys Materials Requirements Planning with Carol Ptak (a former B901 Podcast Guest).

Excerpt from the podcast:

Joe: My customers are not only looking for shortened cycles but they’re also looking for more customization. We need customization and shorter supply chain cycles. That is reality today. Am I wrong?

Chad: No, you are exactly right. That is why I caution people that are in the Lean community or in the TOC community to understand that the solution is not inward facing. It is outward facing. It is the interface or the integration between linkages in the supply chain and that commonly occurs from the manufacture to distributor or manufacture to customer and then manufacture back to all its suppliers.

And let’s face it. Let’s be real here. Global capacity is exceeding global demand right now. So looking for better scheduling techniques inside of four walls, instead of looking for better synchronization techniques across a supply chain or a product structure. In my opinion, is the wrong way to go.

There is a prerequisite order here to getting better. The prerequisite order is…listen to the podcast

Chad Smith is the co-founder and Managing Partner of Constraints Management Group (CMG), a services and technology company specializing in pull-based manufacturing, materials and project management systems for mid-range and large manufacturers. Chad has a wide range of experience in successfully applying pull-based systems within a diverse scope of organizations and industries.

Since the late 1990’s Chad and his partners at CMG have been at the forefront of developing and articulating the concepts behind Actively Synchronized Replenishment as well as building ASR compliant technology (Replenishment+®). Additionally, Chad is an internationally recognized expert in the application and development of the Theory of Constraints (TOC).

This is a podcast that you do not want to miss!

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Theory of Constraints in Services eBook

business901 — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:13:00 +0000

John Arthur Ricketts, a distinguished engineer at IBM was my guest on the Business901 Podcast titled Using the Theory of Constraints in Services. This is a transcription of the podcast.

Using TOC in Services

John is a practitioner and innovator in the field of Theory of Constraints. His book, Reaching The Goal: How Managers Improve a Services Business Using Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints , was published in 2008 by IBM Press. Dr. Eli Goldratt, founder of the Theory of Constraints, said it’s one of the best books ever written on TOC. John is also the author of “Theory of Constraints in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (Chapter 29 of Theory of Constraints Handbook) ,” a chapter in the Theory of Constraints Handbook published in 2010.

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Making your numbers meaningful with Throughput Accounting

business901 — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Dr. Charlene Spoede Budd was my guest on the Business901 Podcast titled Developing Predictive Measures with Throughput Accounting and as you would expect our discussion was about the Theory of Constraints Through-put Accounting methods and the application of the knowledge that we gain from this information. This is a transcription of the podcast.

Throughput Accounting –

Dr. Budd was a contributor to the recent Theory of Constraints Handbook on two separate subjects:

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Using the Theory of Constraints in Services

business901 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 03:00:00 +0000

The Business901 Podcast featured John Arthur Ricketts, a distinguished engineer at IBM Corporate Headquarters. As a consulting partner and technical executive, he has dealt with many services management issues, including those faced by clients in their own services businesses. His work in applied analytics led him to become a focal point on Theory of Constraints (TOC), and then to delve deeply into its potential for services management.

John is very informative with a practical approach to applying TOC to services. I believe anyone involved in continuous improvement field will benefit from this podcast.

John is a practitioner and innovator in the field of Theory of Constraints. His book, Reaching The Goal: How Managers Improve a Services Business Using Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints , was published in 2008 by IBM Press. Reviewers on Amazon.com soon gave it a five-star rating. And Dr. Eli Goldratt, founder of the Theory of Constraints, said it’s one of the best books ever written on TOC. John is also the author of “Theory of Constraints in Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services (Chapter 29 of Theory of Constraints Handbook) ,” a chapter in the Theory of Constraints Handbook published in 2010.

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Thinking Process and System Thinking in Management eBook

business901 — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:00:00 +0000

This is a transcription of a podcast with Bill Dettmer, Senior Partner of Goal Systems International. Bill is the author of The Logical Thinking Process: A Systems Approach to Complex Problem Solving ) and Strategic Navigation: A Systems Approach to Business Strategy, two books around which Goal Systems International’s internationally renowned Thinking Process Course is based. An excerpt form the book.

Joe: One of the things that ? and this is going to be my Six Sigma side coming out. Don’t you have to support all this with data? You can’t be intuitive about everything because sometimes just the outward appearance of something lies to you if you don’t have the supporting data.

Bill: Yes, you’re absolutely right. Where does the data become most important? The data is most important in the identification of the problem. It’s not in the creation of the solution because that’s a projection of what should happen in the future. It’s not in the establishment of the goal and the necessary conditions because those are value judgments. But, when you start to analyze what the problem is, in other words when you’re building the current reality tree, that’s where data become really important. One of the key lessons I try to convey in my thinking process courses is the most critical of all of the categories of legitimate reservation is entity existence.

Systemizing your Approach to Management with Bill Dettmer

Thinking Process and System Thinking in Management eBook

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Developing Predictive Measures with Throughput Accounting

business901 — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Dr. Charlene Spoede Budd was my guest on the Business901 Podcast and as you would expect our discussion was about the Theory of Constraints Through-put Accounting methods and the application of the knowledge that we gain from this information. We discussed the use of accounting throughout the organization for developing predictive measures versus reactive. This is not your regular accounting discussion.

Dr. Budd was a contributor to the recent Theory of Constraints Handbook on two separate subjects:

Charlene Spoede Budd is a Professor Emeritus from Baylor University, where she taught management accounting and project management classes for a number of years. She is certified in all areas of the Theory of Constraints and is the Chair of the Finance and Metrics Committee of the Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization. Her research has been published primarily in practitioner journals and she has been awarded three Certificates of Merit for articles published in Strategic Finance. Dr. Budd has co-authored two accounting textbooks with her most recent book, A Practical Guide to Earned Value Project Management.

The subject matter may seem a tad dry but give this podcast a chance, I do not think you will be disappointed!

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Using Theory of Constraints to handle Uncertainty in Decision Making

business901 — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 14:00:00 +0000

This is a transcription of a podcast I had with noted Theory of Constraints author and expert Eli Schragenheim . Eli as been part of the Theory of Constraints movement practically from the beginning. He started working with Dr. Goldratt as a programmer to program a game for adults that would teach them how to think over 25 years ago. During the podcast we dove into the subject of Uncertainty! A great discussion, that affects our everyday life and how it relates to forecasting and even our intuition.

Uncertainty in Decision Making

He is the author of Management Dilemmas: The Theory of Constraints Approach to Problem Identification and Solutions. He recently collaborated with William Detmer and Wayne Patterson on the book Supply Chain Management at Warp Speed: Integrating the System from End to End. The new book contains much of the new development of TOC and operations.

You can contact Eli Schrangenheim through his e-mail @ elyakim@netvision.net.il

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Removing Uncertainty in your Decision Marketing

business901 — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 13:02:29 +0000

I had great pleasure having Eli Schragenheim on the Business901 Podcast. Eli has been part of the Theory of Constraints movement practically from the beginning. He started working with Dr. Goldratt as a programmer to program a game for adults that would teach them how to think over 25 years ago. During the podcast we dove into the subject of Uncertainty! A great discussion, that affects our everyday life and how it relates to forecasting and even our intuition.

From the Podcast: We cannot really predict the future. We can predict some reasonable range of the future needed to make a decision. This is hard for forecasting. Forecasting is an unbelievably important tool for managers, but again they need to understand what does it mean and what does it contain and how wrong could it be.

In the past 25 years, Eli Schragenheim has taught, spoken at conferences, and consulted in more than 15 countries, including the United States, Canada, India, China, and Japan. He has also developed software simulation tools especially designed to experience the thinking of TOC, and consultant with several application software companies to develop the right TOC functionality in their own packages. Mr. Schragenheim was a partner in the A. Y. Goldratt Institute and is now a Director of Goldratt schools.

You can contact Eli Schrangenheim through his e-mail @ elyakim@netvision.net.il

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Theory of Constraints Supply Chain Thinking

business901 — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:24:45 +0000

This a transcription of the Business901 podcast that featured Amir Schragenheim, President of Inherent Simplicity, a software firm specializing in TOC software for Production & Distribution environments. Inherent Simplicity is the exclusive software supplier for Production & Distribution software to Goldratt Consulting, Eli Goldratt’s consulting firm, in their Viable Vision strategic projects.

Implementing the TOC Supply Chain Solution

Related Podcast:: Implementing the TOC Supply Chain Solution

Amir’s Website: Inherent Simplicity

Related TOC Books:
Isn’t It Obvious?
Theory of Constraints Handbook

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Your Internal Marketing Constraint is still Important

business901 — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 02:45:00 +0000

Finding your internal marketing constraint is still important. Most people consider that their constraint in marketing is the number of prospects and in today’s economy it is very true. I believe that places an even great emphasis on managing your Work in Process or prospects. It does little good to increase prospects if you are not effectively handling them internally. Think about, if you are doing a poor job of following up do you need to do a poor job of following up with more prospects. In fact, it will just get worse and your conversion factors may decrease from 10% to 5%. What would that mean? It would mean doubling your prospects would only maintain the same revenue. I could also argue that it may even do worse than that because expenses and discounts may increase.

As a result, why start with increasing prospects? This short video is an overview on how to use a Marketing Kanban to find your internal marketing constraint.

Getting a handle on your FLOW is important.

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Theory of Constraints from The Goal to Now – eBook

business901 — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:06:00 +0000

Theory of Constraints Handbook authors John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III were part of my recent podcasts Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints. and the TOC Thinking Process Discussion. We covered so much material during the interview that I split the discussion to 2 parts. This eBook covers both podcasts.

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TOC Thinking Process Discussion

business901 — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 12:16:00 +0000

Theory of Constraints Handbook authors John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III were part of my recent podcast Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints. We covered so much material during the interview that I split the discussion to 2 parts. The one preceding and another on the Thinking Processes of TOC. I enjoyed the conversation, I hope you do.

An excerpt from the podcast::

Joe: When we talk about lean problem solving, we talk about the five why’s, but the thinking process that the Theory of Constraints uses is a whole different level of thinking, is it not? I mean it goes much, much further than you can with lets say the five Why concept.

Jim: Yes, I agree with you, but if you took the five why concept, the early use of the thinking tools and the current reality tree in particular, both would ask why but in TOC you would validate that that cause really existed before you asked the second "why". Then when you ask the second Why, you would validate that that cause existed. So I look at the five "why’s" and what we call the Snowflake Effect, or Diving Down to identify a core problem as being very similar, except TOC is like a person that wears a belt and suspenders. TOC wants to ensure that that cause really exists and validate that cause exists before they ask the second or the third or the fourth Why.

John: We go through categories of what we call legitimate reservation, which are also documented in the book, in reviewing the logic so that we can assure that it’s solid.

So the picture we see of the current reality expressed in logical cause and effect construct is really right on the money. It accounts for causes of all of the undesirable effects that we’ve been able to identify in the environment.

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