Theory of Constraints, Lean, Six Sigma Integration

Mark Woeppel is a master of organizational transformation with a lengthy track record of successful turnarounds. He is a recognized expert in the Theory of Constraints, Supply Chain Management, Project Management, and Continuous Improvement. He has earned the founder's implementer certification from the TOC-ICO.

He is an internationally known author, speaker and lecturer on the topics of Theory of Constraints, Drum Buffer Rope, Cost Accounting, Organizational Measurement, and Critical Chain Project Management. He is the author of The Manufacturer's Guide to Implementing the Theory of Constraints, published by APICS/St. Lucie Press, in English, Spanish and Japanese and Projects in Less Time, published by BookSurge in English & Japanese.

On the Business901 podcast, Mark discussed the integration of Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma and how they significantly improve bottom line results. Mark is the president of Pinnacle Strategies and is located in Dallas, Texas.

Listen to the Podcast

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Technorati Tags: Goal,Lean,Six-Sigma,TLS,TOC,Theory of Constraints

Theory of Constraints + Lean + Six Sigma = Ultimate Improvement Cycle

I was getting to write a blog and was visiting several books I had just completed for some background information. I was distracted and saw that I had a couple of LinkedIn invitations and decided to review them instead. One of the invitations was from Bob Sproull. I stopped a second and looked over at the 2 books on the library table. Yep, I was correct Bob Sproull, author of The Ultimate Improvement Cycle was not only on my library table, but in me inbox as well. Being a marketing guy, I wondered, was this an up-sell! Has the world just gotten this small that as virtual strangers, there can be a connection of interest?

I found Bob’s book looking for the latest material on how the Theory of Constraints was developing. I am sure Bob found me because of my recent blogs on the subject. The likely hood of this development and this connection is highly unlikely, may be as recently as 12 months ago.

What caught my interest in Bob’s book The Ultimate Improvement Cycle is that recently there has been an added push from TOC disciples to bring TOC on an equal playing field as Lean and Six Sigma. I find it interesting because bottlenecks and constraints are an integral part of Lean and Six Sigma training but TOC has never seemed to be on an equal platform.

I had Mark Woeppel of Pinnacle Strategies recently, and he has a whitepaper on this subject. It is available for download on his site. He calls the process TLS, Theory of constraints- Lean-Six Sigma. Bob’s book is the first book I have read that specifically addresses the same subject. They take different approaches with similar outcomes. I enjoyed the material in both and encourage you to read them. You can listen to Mark on the Business901 podcast discuss some of the background on his paper.

The Ultimate Improvement Cycle or UIC makes the contention that without all 3 processes, you will significantly reduce your desired outcomes. Most specifically he addresses the need to work on one constraint at a time and using Lean or Six Sigma to correct the constraint. In theory, I have to agree with him that the constraint must be addresses and am a devout believer of that. He is absolutely right because the weakness of TOC may be in the development of the tools to use to do it. Bob also gives a short primer on each disciple. If you are not knowledgeable in one of the three areas or all of them, I believe it would not be a wasted book. It is not a lean or a six sigma book. It heavily leans, sorry for the pun, towards TOC.

The book is well written, giving you tools, charts and formulas to improve your business without breaking up the flow of the written material. I believe that it will take me several months to fully digest the book. Not that I have to re-read it, but using and putting into practice some of the examples that I will incorporate in my philosophy going forward. I will cite these examples in my blog in the upcoming weeks.

Technorati Tags: Lean,Theory of Constraints,Six-Sigma,TOC,Ultimate-Improvement-Cycle

The Ultimate Marketing System – The Forgotten Pillar

Readers of my blog have read my explanations of the Lean Marketing House and how your Marketing Channels determines your number of pillars and the size of each. You can suffice with just one pillar if it is big enough and strong enough to hold up the roof but the other day I realized that I had forgotten to describe what I will now call the Forgotten Pillar. Continuous Learning in the Lean Marketing House means theUltimate Marketing System. This is a term coined by Duct Tape Marketing and actually includes their workbook and CD's explaining their system. Most marketing plans and systems fail if adequate training is not provided.

Lean Six Sigma Practitioners always realize that the training is what makes the processes work. Without, old habits stay the same and new habits are never developed. Nor are these new habits expanded to the greatest extent. It happens in marketing too. Marketing that works today is all about authenticity, customer touch points and the connection of those touch points. You have to be everywhere, but you also have to be you. Perfect marketing is less important because people really are seeking you. Even from an organization viewpoint, they are expecting a human and personal experience.

How do you go about creating this new wave of marketing in your organization? My advice is that you have to create a continuous learning cycle within your company. This is best done by starting out with a learning system, a structured program and a Marketing coach. This is self-serving to say the least, but it is what I truly believe.

I use the Duct Tape Marketing System as the learning system and the structured program to get someone started. I am not going to go through the entire program, you can do that here, but it will set you on the road to success and provide a foundation for you to build from. Without going through these necessary steps, you will never fully defined your marketing needs and just continue to respond to the marketing idea of the week. I cannot tell you how many phone calls I get weekly a call from an Ad Rep telling me about the next greatest deal. Please take note: It's not about the money, it's about the target!

Now, the coach is pretty important. I am not going to talk about that even Tiger Woods has a coach, you to keep you on track, hold you accountable and all that garbage. I am going to discuss about someone that has been there done that in the real world. I am also going to mention another cliché: Talk the talk and walk the walk. I can only talk for myself, but I will put myself up against any other coach in the sense that I walk my system. I believe in the Duct Tape Marketing philosophies. I practice them. If you think that is not true, just look at my Tag cloud on the left. Look at my Alexa score, Hubspot rating and Twitter feeds. They are better than the vast majority of corporations and certainly better than 99.5% of other coaches and consultants. Why is that? I simply follow the practices that John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing has taught me. Have I added a few tricks of my own? Certainly - Authenticity, Personalization, Differentiation and building your Core Message is what I have learned in my Continuous Learning cycle. What can you gain from that expereince? You will simply short-circuit your learning curve by having a coach on board!

Technorati Tags: Duct-Tape-Marketing,Lean,Lean-Marketing-House,Six-Sigma

Do you have Continuous Learning going on in your Marketing?

Value Stream Mapping

 

Value stream mapping is a tool that helps you to see and understand the flow of material and information as a product or service makes its way through the value stream. Value stream mapping is typically used in Lean, it differs from the process mapping of Six Sigma.

A value stream map will take into account not only the activity of the product, but the management and information systems that support the basic process. You will gain insight into the decision making flow in addition to the process flow. The basic idea is to first map your process, then above it map the information flow that enables the process to occur.

Why use Software for Value Stream Mapping? I think the use of software that is written specifically for Value Stream Mapping is important. It forces you to make a decision to drill down into the subject as you are doing it versus later in the process. This particular tool is interesting because of the ability to Excel’s powerful scenarios to analyze multiple sets of numbers without needing to redraw an almost identical map over and over again. Take a look at some of the other features.

1. Visually see your entire process flow using the language of Lean to learn to see and eliminate wastes

2. Answer the question How can we make only what we need when we need it?

3. Form a blueprint for Lean implementation to rally your team to eliminate wastes

4. Instant on-line training for Lean concepts and techniques

5. Easily customized written in Excel with all of its familiar formulas and charts

6. Professional deliverables easily stored, emailed, and shared

7. Drill down to swim lane flowcharts and other related documents

8. Import Old comparison data with the click of a button

9. Inexpensive to easily share & collaborate

Did you know you could draw your Value Stream Map in Excel

Value Stream Mapping

Technorati Tags: 6 Sigma,Excel,Lean,Mapping,Six Sigma,Software,Value Stream

Start with Customer’s Need in your Value Stream Mapping

In the book, Learning to See by Mike Rother and John Shook, they recommend a mapping tip of beginning the Value Stream Mapping process by walking downstream from the customer end. This way, they say you will begin with the processes that are linked most directly to the customer. As I was reading, actually re-reading the book, I thought how simple and intelligent that statement was. Starting at the end of the process should be the logical thing to do if you are considering developing a pull system. It is the beginning. This is very similar to my thoughts I expressed in my Mirror Marketing E-book.

Mirror Marketing E-Book

In a marketing perspective, how often do we really consider what our customer is real needs are. I find it interesting in a recent study by Rain Today they cited that the number one reason that most professional service sales are lost is CLARITY! I think it might also be said for many product opportunities. It might not be directly, but if your product or offer was fully understood before the purchase decision was made, would that improve your closing rate?

So do things become clearer walking backwards? Try this old golf trick, walk your favorite golf course backwards. Does the out of bounds, elevations and other danger seem entirely different? Why not put yourself in your customer shoes? In Six Sigma perspective, we call this process Voice of Customer, but do we really consider the metrics of delivery performance, number of defects, invoice accuracy and other views that the customer is experiencing.

If you have a customer that will take the time with you, try having him draw a process map of your product. Or just blue sky the different experiences that he has with your organization. How accurate are they? After that, have them draw a future state. What would they like to see from your organization? Are you willing to deliver that experience?

What is Value Stream Mapping?
Value stream mapping is a tool that helps you to see and understand the flow of material and information as a product or service makes its way through the value stream. Value stream mapping is typically used in Lean, it differs from the process mapping of Six Sigma.

From Lean Six Sigma

A value stream map will take into account not only the activity of the product, but the management and information systems that support the basic process. You will gain insight into the decision making flow in addition to the process flow. The basic idea is to first map your process, then above it map the information flow that enables the process to occur.

Related Information: Did you know you could draw your Value Stream Map in Excel

Technorati Tags: Kaizen,Six-Sigma,Value-Stream-Mapping. Lean

Lean Value Solutions Podcast

Technorati Tags: Lean,Six Sigma,Software,Turnaround,Transformation

Tom DeForge discusses the disciplined approach and analysis tools taught to him during his 8 year tenure by the Shingijutsu consulting group, who are considered 2nd tier consultants to the father of The Toyota Production System, Taiichi Ohno . Tom has been implement these Lean Principles for over 20 years and is currently a Principal Partner in Lean Value Solutions International, he has built a successful practice over the past 11 years by leading several organizations to a lean enterprise Implementation strategy. Tom was also instrumental in forging relationships with other providers which assist in bringing his clients the latest in technology in terms of operational shop floor analytics, which assist in accelerating the Lean improvement efforts. One of his most proudest moments, was that LVSI now has one of the original founding members of the Shingijutsu consulting group, Sensai Akira Takenaka, as a LVSI Senior Consultant.

I first became acquainted with Tom because of the work he did in the Lean Turnaround that took place at PAS Technologies. Bob Weiner, CEO of PAS spoke very highly of LVSI and the role that Lean Value Solutions played in the successful implementation of Lean at his organization. Tom also discussed a new software package designed for "Driving Lean Behavior through real time analytics.

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Related Posts:

PAS Technologies CEO, Bob Weiner discusses a Lean Transformation

It takes guts, to start with lean training in a turnaround!

Use a Template to increase training results!

Never start with a BLANK PIECE OF PAPER, Never. I cannot think of a single thing that would hinder your training, creativity and more importantly results. I believe that is one of the reasons mindmaps work so well. You start at least with a way to make an outline. Just think how hard it is to get started in most "Idea Session." Once the first couple of ideas are on the board things start moving rather briskly. It works the same way in other formal training. Start with pictures, outlines and of course, document your training process to make it efficient. A few thoughts below from the Systems2win newsletter this week.

A common topic in the lean speaker circuit these days is "how to infuse a lean culture?" Some speakers suggest to simplify everything by "going back to just using pencil and paper". We look forward to seeing how their clients compete with companies that instead choose to empower their lean leaders with: Fill-in-the-blanks Word and Excel templates; Online training, and now; Personalized in-house instructor training - using TWI methods.

As our grandfathers used to say..."The race doesn't always go to the fastest, strongest, and best-prepared... but that's the way to bet."

TWI Training Within Industry: Check out our new free online training for TWI Training Within Industry - a field-proven method to train a worker to perform ANY type of job - with close to 100% of participating firms reporting at least: 25% increased production; 25% decrease in training time; 25% decrease in labor hours; 25% decrease in employee grievances.

Lean Training tools: The Lean Training tools bundle contains Word and Excel templates that make it easy to implement TWI training methods.

Job Instructions

The Job Instructions template makes it easy to create professional-looking Work Instructions - with picture-within-a-picture, arrows to point things out, colors and fonts, user-defined headers and footers, and you can have active hyperlinks to related documents - even within your ISO 9000-controlled PDF finished training deliverable.

Training & Skills Matrix

The Training & Skills Matrix goes way beyond the rudimentary cross-training matrix that your grandfather needed to invent when TWI was first introduced as a means to quickly ramp up US military capacity for World War II.

Use TWI to train your people to use their Systems2win templates: The Help page for every one of the templates now contains a section to train and encourage your own in-house instructor(s) to use the TWI Job Instruction training methods to teach your people how to get the most from their continuous improvement power tools.

Used with Permission from Systems2Win.

Technorati Tags: Lean,Training,Templates,Software,Six-Sigma,Online

Combining the Theory of Constraints and Lean Six Sigma

 

Bob Sproull was my guest on the Business901 podcast. Bob is an experienced manufacturing executive with a distinguished track record of achieving improvement goals in Manufacturing, MRO, Quality, Product Development, and Engineering. His experience base ranges from low-volume custom products (truck bodies) to process industries (tires) to service industries (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul). He is a nationally known speaker and author on problem-solving and statistical techniques, as well as his latest book on implementing an integrated Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints.

Our discussion centered around The Ultimate Improvement Cycle: Maximizing Profits through the Integration of Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints show you how to draw the best from Lean and Six Sigma by employing principles drawn from the Theory of Constraints. This approach will ensure that your effort is focused in the right place, at the right time, using the right tools, and the right amount of resources. This multi-pronged approach addresses cost accounting, variation, waste, and performance measurements. But most importantly, it focuses your organization on the right areas to optimize.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking on the Podcast link on the right or download the podcast from the Business901 ITunes store. The site offers visitors the opportunity to listen to current business and nonprofit topics such as discussions on Social Media, Lean Six Sigma and Marketing.

About Sproull Consulting
Unlike most other consulting companies, we don’t believe that simultaneously attacking every facet of your operation and attempting to implement across-the-board improvements offers the most expeditious or optimum return on your investment $'s. Instead, we believe that there are only a few key leverage points in your business that limit your ability to increase throughput, revenue and profits. We identify these leverage points and make them the focus of the improvement efforts. We understand that you have limited resources and you don't want them wasted on improvement efforts that yield only minimal bottom line improvement. By identifying and leveraging the right area of focus, the improvement results that you realize are significantly better and hit the bottom line at a much faster rate than any other approach on the market today.

About Business901
http://Business901.com provides direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma marketing and organized referral marketing. Business901 has designed their services and product offerings so that they are implementable systems that work in the real, not enough time, not enough people world we operate in. We provide tools that simplify the marketing process, not complicate it. Joe Dager, President of Business901 is a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Duct Tape Marketing authorized coach.

P.S. During the podcast we discussed the value of Value Stream Mapping.

Listen to the Podcast here.

Technorati Tags: TOC,Theory of Constraints,Lean,Six Sigma,Performance-Improvement,Continuous-Improvement,value-stream-mapping

If you are Act Customer, you should be considering Swiftpage!

Disclaimer: I do represent Swiftpage and act as an affiliate resource for them.

As an ACT! by Sage customer, you already understand the importance of knowing as much as you can about your customers. To take this knowledge to another level, join the thousands of people who use Swiftpage to perform comprehensive management of email campaigns, and enhance their marketing and sales efforts.

Create graphical email templates with Swiftpage using its simple online editor, or import your own HTML.

Then send these emails directly to your ACT! Contacts, Look Ups, Groups and Companies - from yourself or on behalf of your sales team members.

Easily track who opened, clicked, bounced and more.

Swiftpage also provides intelligence about your customers. A customer who has opened previous emails from you five times and has clicked on three links, is likely more interested than someone who opened an email once and didn't click any link.

Snapshot by Swiftpage places important information about your customer, both from data in ACT! by Sage and from internet sources like LinkedIn into a display that's intuitive to read and use.

It's a long established marketing practice to continue to contact prospects at the appropriate time.

Swiftpage Drip Marketing blends simple functionality, like the ability to automatically send a sequence of marketing messages to a contact that fills out a form on your website, with intelligent technology that will send different messages to contacts based on their previous actions. For example, send a postcard to those that did not open the previous email - automatically!

From events or corporate announcements to a new customer welcome or product launch - Swiftpage provides the ability to automatically deliver marketing content and drive your ACT! by Sage sales processes.

Swiftpage and ACT! by Sage - bringing innovative technology to critical tasks, so that you can bring your talent, to everything else.

P.S. It’s worth a tour!

Technorati Tags: Swiftpage,Act,Sage,Drip-Marketing-Program,Autoresponder

Embarq Corporation’s General Manager of Process Excellence, Deron Ertel, was my guest on the Business901 Podcast. We discussed Embarq’s business process improvement initiatives and how they differed from other companies Lean Six Sigma initiatives. Particular attention was paid to the relevancy of Lean, Six Sigma and business process improvement in a down economy. This is a transcript of the podcast.

Deron will be presenting “Best Practices on Cost Reduction using Lean Six Sigma” at The Global Lean, Six Sigma and Business Improvement Summit. This summit represents the largest gathering of leading experts and senior executives across various industries who are passionate about achieving process and business excellence. It is held October 13-16, 2009 in Orlando, FL.

Best Practices on Cost Reduction

News Release

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Lean Six Sigma – Relevant in A Down Economy

Going to improve Something, Improve it!

Technorati Tags: Lean,Six Sigam,Best Practice,WCBF,Summit

Can Social Media help your SEO

I had Chad H. Pollitt on the Business901  podcast discussing the effects of Social Media on SEO and what it can do for you. Chad has a unique view on what he terms successful SEO. He is not after achieving #1 or #2 ranking on Google for his customers, he is after achieving the entire 1st page for his customer. Listen to the podcast and find out some SEO tips on how you might be able to start on this path. Also we discussed, Chad's upcoming workshop on September 24th, 2009. Chad will be holding the Fort Wayne Chamber Business Brown Bag on "Cost Effective Marketing Using Social Media." If you are thinking of participating in a workshop on social media, this podcast is a good listen on how to evaluate Social Media workshops.

Chad H. Pollitt list of accomplishments include Internet Marketing Masters Certification from the University of San Francisco's prestigious School of Business and Management, BS in Entrepreneurship from the Indiana University Kelley School of Business.  He has won multiple awards in sales/marketing and sales management while working and residing in Fort Wayne, IN.  Chad is also a Lieutenant in the Indiana Army National Guard and a decorated veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Chad is currently works for Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc. as a Web Technology Consultant and Internet Marketing Manager and will be featured in The Wall Street Journal Sept. 16th.

Digital Hill Multimedia, Inc. was founded in 1997 as a web design agency with a focus on providing professional website solutions for businesses while helping them promote their business to the vast global audience on the Internet. Now with a more diverse clientele and with clients nationwide, Digital Hill Multimedia has grown to become a full-service Internet Marketing Agency.

By the way, if you do not think you can own an entire page on Google, do a search for "Fort Wayne Marketing Coach."

Technorati Tags: Fort Wayne Web Design,Internet Marketing Expert,Fort Wayne Internet Marketing,Fort Wayne Social Media,Fort Wayne SEO

Hoshin Kanri or Policy Deployment

I had Robert Stapp of OP•EX Direct Results Inc. on the Business901 podcast and we had a great discussion on performance improvement in general. We also discussed in detail, Hoshin Kanri aka Policy Development. This podcast is on this particular subject but before you start listening I have included a little background on the term.

The purpose of Hoshin Kanri is to make it possible to move away from the status quo and make a major performance improvement. Policy Deployment deploys top management policies and targets down through the organizational tree. At each level, the policy is not only implemented but translated into policies, targets and actions for the next level down. This way top management vision can be set into a coherent, consistent, understandable and attainable policies and actions that can be applied at all levels of the company and in all functions of the company.

Policy Deployment aka Hoshin Kanri

News Release

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Hoshin Kanri aka Policy Deployment

How much Planning is enough – Use Lean and Standardize

Ready for Operational Excellence, How to get started!

Technorati Tags: Lean,Hoshin-Kanri,Policy-Deployment,Op-Ex,Black-Belt