TOC LSS—THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS, LEAN AND SIX SIGMA INTEGRATION

Thomas Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” In an era of continuous improvement with overlapping methodologies, you must understand where there is agreement and where there are differences. A seamless, mistake-proof approach is what organizations desire for sustained bottom line improvements.

A deep understanding of the methodologies and the specific environments where they are being applied is essential to sort out what it takes to "Sustain the Gain." This informative session provides an understanding of the key differences between TOC and Lean Six Sigma and the potential negative effects when misalignments are not recognized. You will learn the process for ensuring each improvement is aligned across the methodologies to yield real sustainment.

Velocé LLC - A TOC LSS Simulation
Wednesday, April 16, 11:00am-12:30pm (part 1) & 3:30-5:00pm (part 2)
Presenters: Mark Holt, Bob Mendenhall, David Bergland, Jim Sorosiak

Learn the basics of TOC-LSS with a simple simulation that can be replicated at your work place with ease and be used to train your personnel from working level to executive.

Velocé LLC uses the Design, Activate, Improve, Sustain (DAIS) model to teach Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma concepts that parallel real-world experiences. Teams compete to build, test and ship paper airplanes to a universal customer. They are challenged to identify customer requirements, to understand their internal and external processes and to efficiently deliver a quality product to the customer. Improvement methodologies taught include Drum Buffer Rope (DBR), work-flow analysis, Five Focusing Steps, one-piece flow, batch reduction, Voice of the Customer (VOC), critical to quality (CTQ) measures, and Sigma level.

There are three phases, multiple workstations and external suppliers in the simulation. CTQs and internal metrics will be tracked during each round. Teams compete to improve throughput, minimize investment and reduce operating expenses during each phase using TOC-LSS skills taught during the simulation.

Working effectively, smarter and increasing the throughput of your processes using TOC-LSS principle becomes reality with this effective and practical simulation.

PROJECT MANAGEMENT

To quote Henry David Thoreau, “Men (women) only hit what they aim at.” In projects, verbalizing or agreeing on the content target is often very difficult. Frequently, the project team guesses at the true target or works on ahead without any real clarity. The resulting rework and/or scope creep leads, at the least, to a great deal of frustration and often, to costly project overruns. Theory of Constraints (TOC) Project Management has developed a technique that any project team can use to better solve this fundamental problem called O, D, SC--Objectives, Deliverables and Success Criteria.

In this informative session, you'll learn how to apply these steps in a short meeting of stakeholders for your own projects. You will practice on some real projects from the construction and product development environments to hone your skills. Finally, you'll learn to customize this technique for cultural change-type projects (TOC, Lean Six Sigma, work system, etc.) appreciating the difference in the correct targets for the tactical implementation compared to the ultimate strategic implementation.

Sizing Buffers in Projects: Size Does Matter!
Tuesday, April 15, 3:30-5:00pm
Presenters: Jay Munson, Joe Dale

Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, once said, “I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” Disastrous due date performance has been a problem since the beginning of time. However, when you ask managers if there was enough time allocated to get everything done, they will almost always say, “Yes. But...” Is there a better way of guaranteeing our due dates? The answer is YES: Theory of Constraints (TOC) Project Management has developed techniques for aggregating safety into strategically placed buffers. When sized correctly, buffers protect due dates from the impact of known and unknown sources of variability. However, if buffers are sized incorrectly, the negative consequences for the project and the organization as a whole can be disastrous.

During this session, you'll explore how to properly size your buffers by learning their purpose, the different methods for sizing buffers based on task and iteration variability, other considerations for buffer adjustments, how to know if your buffer is sized correctly and what to do if your projected date won’t meet customer requirements. By the end of this session, you will know how to calculate a reliable buffer that greatly increases the probability of meeting or beating your project commitments.

Project Management in a Lean World
Wednesday, April 16, 11:00am-12:30pm
Presenters: Dee Jacob, Baha Inozu

Like many other improvement methodologies developed for the manufacturing world, Lean is not easily implemented “as-is” to the world of projects. The difficulty lies in looking at projects through the lens of manufacturing and the eyes of industrial engineers when defining productivity, value and waste in projects. This session will help you see through the eyes of TOC with some proven techniques that focus on the right assumptions and interpretations leading to lean projects that meet commitments. We will cover several ways to drive waste out of projects, including starting with the correct project definition--the equivalent of the value stream map for projects--and establishing the behaviors needed to reduce non-productive activity of resources. And perhaps more improtantly, this all results in shorter lead times.

STRATEGIC THINKING

Tired of spending your entire project fighting resistance? Are you ready to overcome resistance and obstacles to success at the same time?

The TOC Thinking Process “PRT” (pre-requisite tree) provide a tool for you to lead a group through a process of identifying the major hurdles to be overcome while gaining the commitment and cooperation of the group at the same time.

Participate in this workshop and to learn by doing: we'll identify an ambitious target, build a plan, and acquire the commitment we need to get the job done.

Creating an Integrated Business Strategy
Tuesday, April 15, 3:30-5:00pm
Presenter: Dee Jacob

When beginning the journey to Continuous System Improvement, we start with articulating the executable business strategy. However, sitting through another strategy session or strategy rollout can be very frustrating. Either it seems to be the same old version of a previous year’s plan, or the strategy doesn’t address what is really going on, or the strategy is so pie in the sky that people wonder who was smoking what! In addition, the strategy released to one part of the organization frequently conflicts with a different strategy elsewhere. Frustration!

During this informative session, you will see a proven process that yields a common, necessary strategy dealing with today’s reality and creating the executable roadmap for change. Following a case study of the Really Wonderful Products Company, the audience experiences how the process brings a team of managers, with different responsibilities and some organizational dysfunction, from “you-versus-me” to “you and me-versus-the problem.”

Thinking Your Way to Win-Win Solutions
Wednesday, April 16, 3:30-5:00pm
Kathy Austin

Do you find it easy to read conflict clouds but challenging to write and break them?

Do you get into win-lose fights over conflicts that you should be able to resolve? These conflicts take a toll whether they occur at home, work or play. Jonah would say, “Don’t get into win-lose fights over conflicts – break them!”

We will start by reading conflict clouds that you can relate to and move on to exercises that will strengthen your ability to reliably write and break clouds. You will practice the process for finding win-win solutions that will endure compared to win-lose solutions that are only a resting place on the road to lose-lose.

SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS

Every Market Demand-Pull (MDP) design has the same objectives – provide a system that improves both efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency is related to the way that resources accomplish their work and effectiveness is related to the work that the resources are accomplishing. Achieving these objectives requires the use of BUFFERS. But the term “BUFFER” seems to have different definitions. In the component of MDP called Drum-Buffer-Rope, TOC teaches that buffers are actually TIME. In the Replenishment portion of MDP, buffers are thought of as INVENTORY. So...what are buffers, really? The topic can be a bit confusing.

This session is focused on resolving any of that confusion. We will discuss the construct and logic behind Market Demand-Pull, what role buffers play and how those buffers are sized. Furthermore, we will discuss buffer management, the associated decision rules, and how to use buffers to target improvement initiatives. (This is all about Continuous System Improvement, after all!)

APPLYING THE THEORY OF INVENTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING (By its Russian acronym, TRIZ)

Often organizations find themselves in the situation where technological innovation is needed to provide the next breakthrough in market penetration to truly differentiate themselves from their competitors and to gain increased throughput. However, product innovation takes time and most organizations are looking for breakthrough now.

This session will help you discover ways to use TOC and TRIZ together to effectively break the market constraint. First the TOC “Breaking External Constraints” process uses the TOC Thinking Processes to determine quick ways that organizations can change existing policies to provide immediate market differentiation. Often this can be accomplished by simply changing the way they offer existing products. The next breakthrough for the organization comes with the next generation of product innovation. This is where TRIZ can help accelerate the speed to invent a new product or service by providing accelerated education, innovation software tools and analytical services. Once the organization has the next invention scoped, TOC Project Management provides the knowhow for timely product development which insures that the new products will be launched on scope and on time while staying on budget.

An Accelerated Process for Creating Breakthrough Inventions - The Speed to Invent
Wednesday, April 16, 3:30-5:00pm
Presenters: David Bergland, Alla Zusman

Significant product and process improvements can be obtained by producing breakthrough inventions. A process for producing these improvements will be described which uses several of the Theory of Constraints (TOC) thinking process tools together with the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving tools (TRIZ).

Breakthrough inventions are defined as innovative approaches that break chronic conflicts (a.k.a. contradictions in TRIZ.) Chronic conflicts result when an improvement in one system characteristic or feature results in the deterioration of another – for example the acceleration of a car vs. the economical operation. Specific TRIZ principles have been discovered that often provide a path to breaking contradictions rather than settling for trade-offs or compromises.

In this talk, a process will be presented for using Conflict Resolution tools from TOC and Contradiction Analysis and Resolution tools from TRIZ together to produce breakthrough inventions for both products and processes. This combination of TOC and TRIZ processes leverages the knowledge and principles gleaned from the TRIZ analysis of over 2 million patents within the wide range of engineering disciplines.