Introduction to Project Management the TOC Way

There are two different types of project management efforts: the stand-alone project and the multi-project. Whether your organization manages stand alone or multiple projects, those projects are small or large, their customers internal or external, in product development, construction, design, IT or service; they are difficult to manage due to uncertainty and the fact that they involve three different and opposing commitments - due date, budget, and content.

Introduction to TOC Project Management lays out the fundamentals and practicalities of implementing the common sense approaches in Dr. Goldratt's book Critical Chain in an entertaining and interactive way. This one-day program lays out the underlying root conflict that leads to many of the problems of project management environments, such as:

• Existing project work is not complete before new projects require a shifting in priorities
• The organization is too slow responding to important opportunities
• Managers feel constant pressure to increase staff to handle peak project loads.
• Promised lead times are longer than desired
• There are difficulties completing projects on time, within budget and with full content
• There is too much rework activity
• Some projects are abandoned or completed without the organization gaining the promised benefit
• Project Managers and Resource Managers have frequent conflicts about priorities and resource commitments
• Problems in one project cascade into problems in other projects

The day continues by taking the participants systematically through the direction of the solution (often referred to as Critical Chain and Multi-Project Management) as well as the framework for implementing the solution in the highly successful AGI Way.

Who should attend?

• Anyone who has read Critical Chain and wants to understand the underlying processes
• Anyone who is struggling in managing any aspect of project management (head of engineering, project resource management, head of project management office, business head)
• Anyone who is responsible for improving the project management processes
• Anyone who has to manage project customer service

Introduction to Strategic Planning the TOC Way

If you're at all familiar with the Theory of Constraints (TOC), you know that for an organization to effectively and efficiently achieve its goal now and in the future, all of its parts must be aligned and working in synchrony towards the organization's goal - from the boardroom to the frontlines. Yet, how do our organizations do their planning?

We've seen the failure of corporate visions, missions and strategies that are "thrown over the wall" for the rest of the organization to "make it happen…or else!" We've struggled - often unsuccessfully - to meet marketing and sales plans that were derived from statistics, forecasting or simply wishful thinking rather than founded on solid logic of exactly how to increase the markets' perception of value for our offerings. And we've rarely seen the results promised by operational plans that were built by individual departments in isolation of other departments. As long as our planning fails to acknowledge the inherent interconnectedness of all of an organization's parts, our organizations will never achieve the results wanted…or promised!

In this session, a process will be presented for devising and deploying integrated strategic plans that quickly synchronize all levels and functions of an organization around achieving its common goal. This process relies on the systematic, but selectively rigorous, facilitation of the TOC Thinking Processes (TP) and Six Steps of Consensus, resulting in a plan that everyone in the organization is committed to making a success. Finally, to ensure proper implementation, the resulting plan is converted into a project plan that is scheduled and managed using Critical Chain Project Management.

Introduction to Supply Chain Management the TOC Way

There are many different types of supply chains for organizations to manage. No matter whether supply chains are small or large, internal or external, or in manufacturing, service, or distribution; they are difficult to manage due to statistical fluctuations and dependent events.

Introduction to Supply Chain - The TOC Way lays out the fundamentals and practicalities of implementing the common sense approaches in Dr. Goldratt's books in an entertaining and interactive way. This one-day program lays out the underlying root conflict that leads to many of the problems of supply chains (both internal and external), such as:

• Due dates are often missed
• There is too much overtime
• Original plans have a very limited life
• Priorities are constantly shuffled
• It is difficult to respond to urgent customer orders
• There are frequent materials/parts shortages
• There is too much expediting
• Production lead times are too long
• Inventory levels too high
• In spite of high inventories, we're short of the inventory we need now
• Too many missed sales to the end user/consumer
• There are too many emergency shipments
• The amount of returned product is too high
• Too many orders are shipped incomplete

The day continues by taking the participants systematically through the direction of the integrated solutions (often referred to as Drum, Buffer, Rope and Buffer Management, and Replenishment) as well as the framework for implementing these solutions internally and externally.

Who should attend?

• Anyone who has read The Goal and It's Not Luck and wants to understand the underlying processes.
• Anyone who is struggling in managing any aspect of a supply chain (production, distribution, resource management).
• Anyone who is responsible for improving the supply chain.
• Anyone who has to manage customer service.

Overview of TOC

The Theory of Constraints, via its five step focusing process, its Thinking Processes and its proven logistical solutions, provides the framework for a full, cross-functional integration of an organization's capabilities into an Enterprise Wide Solution designed to deliver bottom line (goal and necessary conditions) results by addressing the organization's constraints, thus positioning the organization to become a market leader through providing:

• Fast, Reliable Availability of its' Products/ Services, and
• Product/Service offerings that the market acknowledges clearly meet their needs.

The TOC logistical solutions are well defined, proven solutions to manage production, distribution and project environments, centered on a constraining physical resource or set of resources. When properly applied they provide the template or foundation for an organization to create a customized solution, tailored to fit a specific environment. Implementation of any of the logistical solutions requires an adjustment in what information is collected and how it is used to make decisions around all aspects of investment, staffing, marketing and compensation incentive plans. An additional solution necessary to compliment all logistical solutions includes the re-engineering of accounting information used to make management decisions.

The TOC Thinking Processes can be broken into two basic categories, strategic thinking tools and tactical thinking tools. The strategic thinking tools provide the framework for an organization to create breakthrough solutions by identifying and solving the non-physical constraints (policies, measures, beliefs and work practices) that block an organization from improvement or implementation of the logistical solutions. The strategic tools are also used to define the direction of major initiatives, including innovative, high-value market offers and even the direction of the organization itself. The tactical tools are designed to allow the organization to quickly resolve conflict and create solutions in the "day to day" operating environment. They enable a company to effectively address the common causes responsible for the repetitive "fires" that consume so much valuable time. The tools are specifically designed to provide the necessary communication to initiate conflict resolution, empower actions to subordinate to and exploit the constraining resources, identify resource contention across functions and align and focus improvements. They are extremely powerful when used in combination with the logistical solutions and a key component to creating a new culture centered on "win-win" conflict resolution and problem solving.

For "Jonahs" Only - Market Strategy
If an organization's performance is constrained by a lack of sales, the immediate need is often a market strategy designed to provide bottom-line value to a targeted set of potential customers. A TOC based market strategy uses cause-effect relationships as the basis of gathering necessary data and structuring an offering. This robust process ensures that real market problems are being addressed and at the same time provides a framework around which the supplying company can align their organization. Proper internal alignment enables the supplier to provide fast, reliable delivery of the offering, thus creating an entry barrier for competition and assuring for themselves a competitive advantage for a window of time.

This one-day working session will use real examples and hands-on exercises to increase the understanding of the participants in this important area of TOC. Topics covered will include:

• Determination of Target Markets
• Components of Market Offer Design
• Market Offer Implementation