For supply chain, plant operations and distribution managers who are dealing with the challenges of ensuring availability of the right products at the right place and time — while maintaining profitable operations, the TOC Supply Chain Solution enables the organization to:

• Rapidly respond to actual market demand
• Improve on-time deliveries
• Reduce the need for overtime and expediting
• Better utilize capacity to meet customer expectations

Theory of Constraints Project Management

Putting the Solution into Place - Identifying "How to Cause the Change?"

For many organizations, projects are “what we do for a living.” Projects are their business. In such environments, changing how people manage projects is tantamount to changing the basic fabric of the business. Clearly, one must approach such change with great care. The right people must be brought into the picture at the right time, in just the right way. The process must move slowly enough to permit identification of essential changes, yet fast enough that it does not lose the momentum that is necessary to sustain continued progress. The Goldratt Institute has developed a very robust implementation process consisting of six distinct phases. Each phase builds upon the next and each is specifically designed around a logical progression of obtaining the true support and collaboration of the participants.

In the first phase, senior management learns what changes are required and what their roles need to be in facilitating that change. In order for change to succeed, they need to be in consensus that they will continue to champion the change for the long term.

Once they are aligned, management needs to inform the organization about what will change, why the change is necessary, how the organization and each of its people will benefit, and when and how they will be “brought on board.” Following the informational briefing, the hard work begins.

There is a third phase, where previously trained experts begin to use the generic solution to identify areas where customization will be required to address the unique needs of the organization. In order to minimize disruption to the organization, only a few necessary people are brought into the activities of Phase three.

During the fourth phase, the rest of the organization is brought into the picture. People are trained and begin to participate in their designated roles. This is also the phase where the readiness of all support systems is verified.

The fifth phase is more of an event than a phase of significant time duration. It is analogous to “throwing the switch” to take the system “live.” This is the point at which TOC Project Management truly becomes the “way we do our work.” If everything has been done properly up to that point, much of the chaos has now been driven out of the organization, setting up the final stage.

The sixth phase begins the process of ongoing improvement. A this stage, the organization has so much visibility to every aspect of its project management system that people can begin to systematically pinpoint and implement changes that will bring the most improvement to the bottom line.