Focus and Leverage Part 344

In this posting, I want to focus on Constraints Management’s version of accounting known as Throughput Accounting.  Although I’ve written about this subject on numerous postings, it is such an important aspect of Constraints Management, I think it’s worth writing about again.

Throughput Accounting (TA), or as some prefer to call it, Throughput-Based Decision Making, came into prominence in the early 1980’s when Dr. Eli Goldratt wrote his best selling business novel, The Goal.  It's important to understand that TA was never intended to replace traditional Cost Accounting (CA), primarily because businesses are required by law to use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when reporting to the government.  Dr. Goldratt developed Throughput Accounting for several reasons, most notable of which was that traditional Cost Accounting motivates managers to make incorrect decisions.  In addition, CA motivates the wrong behaviors within the general work force. Maybe even more important, Throughput Accounting makes it possible for managers to make decisions in real time rather than having to wait for financial reports that reflect what happened last month.  Last month’s information does not reflect what is happening today and that is what managers need.

Unlike traditional Cost Accounting measures, Throughput Accounting’s measures are simple to learn and easy to apply.  In fact, in my experiences, many people have told me that for the first time in their careers, they finally understand accounting. Throughput Accounting permits managers to see in real time the bottom line impact of their day-to-day decisions.  It is simple and logical and requires much less data and calculations than conventional Cost Accounting does.  It is also more tolerant of inaccurate or incomplete financial data.

Throughput Accounting, in its most basic form, uses three, easily understood measurements of Throughput (T), Investment/Inventory ( I ), and Operating Expense (OE) which are defined as follows:

• Throughput (T):  The rate at which the system generates money through sales.  The key word in this definition is sales because product produced, but not purchased by the consumer, is simply inventory waiting to be sold.  As such, inventory has no value until it is sold.  Money must be received before actual Throughput is calculated.  The formula for Throughput is:

Throughput = Revenue (R) – Totally Variable Costs (TVC) or

T = R – TVC

Totally Variable Costs are those costs that vary with the sale of a single unit of product and includes things like raw material costs, sales commissions, shipping costs, etc.

• Inventory/Investment ( I ):  All of the money tied up in the system in things the organization intends to sell.  Part of this measure is inventory (i.e. raw materials, WIP and Finished Goods) and part of it includes those things owned by the company which is intended to generate Throughput (e.g. buildings, equipment, etc.).

• Operating Expense (OE):  All of the money spent by the organization in the conversion of investments and inventory into Throughput.  Unlike traditional Cost Accounting (CA), OE includes labor expenses of all kinds.  It also includes things like supplies or any cost needed to create Throughput for the company.

At this point you might be tempted to push back and tell me that since your company isn’t in the business of building consumer products, that these measures don’t apply to your company.  I would tell you that they actually do apply.  For example, if your company is one that makes money primarily as a construction company, then Throughput for your company is completed projects.  Imagine what would happen to your company's profits, if you could reduce the cycle time it takes to complete projects? 

You might be wondering at this point about other measures like Net Profit, Return on Investment, etc.  TA combines these three basic TA measures, T, I and OE in different ways to provide these fundamental performance measures.  For example, Net Profit is simply Throughput minus Operating Expense or NP = T – OE.  Return on Investment (ROI) is TA’s measure of the effectiveness of the bottom line to the top line performance measures of the company.  The formula for ROI is Net Profit ÷ Investment, or (T–OE)/ I. Once again, TA is not a replacement for CA because you still have to use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) when you report to the government.  But what TA does do, is to provide an easy and effective way for your management team to make financial decisions in real time.

In my next posting, we’ll take a look at how TOC treats another important facet ot your business, how your parts are probably ordered and replaced.  If you’re like many companies, you probably have stock-outs, even though your inventory value is high.  I’ll show you how you can reduce your inventory by over 30% and virtually eliminate stock-outs.

Bob Sproull

Focus and Leverage Part 343

In my last posting, I finished by saying that I would discuss more on the different facets of Constraints Management (a.k.a. Theory of Constraints).  In this posting, I want to discuss TOC’s Thinking Processes and how you can use them to identify and isolate your organization’s core problem(s).  Within all organizations, there are numerous negative symptoms, or undesirable effects (UDE’s), that exist. And if your organization is like many others, what typically happens when these UDE’s are identified, many organizations tend to move into a fire-fighting mode to eliminate the symptoms of the true underlying problem.  But is this the right approach?

The Thinking Processes (TP’s)

Constraints Management offers a set of tools that allows an organization to do a “deep dive” into the observed negative symptoms to find the root cause of many of these negative symptoms.  And when the true root cause is uncovered, it is then possible for organization to develop viable solutions.  These tools use both sufficiency and necessity based logic as they identify and isolate organizational negative symptoms.  Sufficiency based logic applies a series of “if-then” statements to identify cause and effect relationships between the observed UDE’s.  On the other hand, necessity based logic uses the syntax, “in order to have x, I must have y.”  An example of this type of logic would be, in order to have a fire, I must have fuel, fire and air.  The fuel, fire and air are referred to as Critical to Success Factors (CSF’s) which must be in place to have a fire.

The improvement conundrum revolves around successfully answering three very important questions as follows:

1.  What to change?

2.  To what to change to?

3.  How to cause the change to happen?

 

The Thinking Process tools help provide the answers to these three critical questions and are used to construct powerful and practical solutions to your organization’s specific core problems.  Each of the six TP tools can be used separately or together to achieve breakthrough solutions for your organization.  Originally, there were only five of these tools, but now, thanks to William Dettmer, there are six tools as follows:

• The Goal Tree (originally named the Intermediate Objectives Map (IO Map))
• Current Reality Tree (CRT)
• Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD, also known as the Conflict Cloud and Evaporating Cloud)
• Future Reality Tree
• Prerequisite Tree
• Transition Tree

I won’t be discussing the details of each of these logic trees, but I will be demonstrating their logical progression of use, or perhaps a better way to say this, is their interconnectedness.  Having said this, I do want to discuss one of these tools in a bit more detail, the Current Reality Tree.

A Current Reality Tree is a sufficiency based logic tree that uses if-then statements to ultimately identify an underlying core problem and the symptoms that we see in our system because of it. The structure of the CRT is a logical map of a sequence of cause and effect statements originating from, many times, a single core problem for the symptoms we see.  If we can identify and neutralize this single core problem, usually we will be able to remove most of the observed negative symptoms. In constructing a CRT, we work backwards from the apparent undesirable effects or symptoms to discover the underlying core problem.  So, how do you do this?

Using brief interviews from a cross section of key employees, we ask them to complete the following statement.  “It bothers me about (Your company’s name) that……..”  The responses to this question are the UDE’s that exist within your organization.  It’s important to understand that the UDE’s must be real issues and not personal “gripes,” so time must be spent listening to and observing the organization for conclusive evidence of the existence of each UDE.  Many times what someone thinks is happening, can be far removed from what is actually happening.  This UDE gap can widen between what you are told versus what actually exists.

The CRT forms the basis for the remaining four TP tools which are listed in the diagram below.  Although the graphic below displays the Current Reality Tree as the second of six tools, many times it is the first step in the TP analysis.  As I said earlier, William Dettmer introduced a new tool, the Goal Tree, which is used to establish the organization’s Goal as well as the logical steps to achieve it.  There are people within the TOC community that have rejected the introduction of the Goal Tree as one of the logical Thinking Process tools, but I, for one, believe its introduction was not only a wise one, but an important one.

Each box in the diagram below reflects the TP tool to use and what each one will provide to the user.  Directly beneath each box there are questions that each tool answers.  For example, for the CRT we see that it answers two important questions, "How can we decide what to change?” and “What is our core problem?”  The CRT uses sufficiency logic (i.e. “if-then” statements) to connect many of the organization’s undesirable effects until ultimately the core problem(s) has been identified.

In any organization there are bound to be conflicts that arise within it.  Sometimes these conflicts are between two ideas or two courses of action and there needs to be a way of resolving them.  The Conflict Resolution Diagram (CRD), also known as the Evaporating Cloud and the Conflict Cloud, is another of the TP tools and is used to better understand the basis for these conflicts. So how do you know when it’s appropriate to use the CRD?

 

Suppose that you have completed a Current Reality Tree and you see that the root cause(s) of an undesirable situation arise out of a conflict.  This conflict can have one of two forms, contradictions and exclusive alternatives.  In a contradiction, one side believes that they must do “x” and the other side believes they must not do “y.”  For example, one political party in government believes it must spend money to revive the economy, while the other political party believes it must spend less money to shrink the deficit.  This is clearly a conflict that must be resolved if progress is to be made.

The other type of conflict, exclusive alternatives, occurs when you need two critical success factors or necessary conditions to reach your goal, but you can’t have both.  Typically we might lack resources like money, time, or people in order to pursue both alternatives.  For example, you want to spend time at work delivering value, but you also need to spend time at work learning, but you don’t have time to do both.  In exclusive alternatives, you need both “x” and “y” but because you can’t have both, you need to choose between one or the other.  One thing we don’t want is a compromise or a win-lose solution, we want a win-win solution.

In both of these scenarios a CRD can be used to better understand the contradiction or exclusive alternative with one or more of the following outcomes.  We might discover that the assumptions behind the conflict are actually incorrect and that there really isn’t a conflict after all, but rather a simple misunderstanding.  We may also discover that the conflict can be resolved without compromise, if we can have or do something else, by inserting a new idea called an “injection” and then agree to explore ways of achieving the injection. If this is the case, we can use the next TP tool, the Future Reality Tree to explore the consequences of implementing the injection.   Again, a win-lose or compromise (or lose-lose) solution is not acceptable.

Once we have identified and accepted the necessary injections or ideas to improve the situation, we can then explore them by using the Future Reality Tree and Prerequisite Tree tools. We can then establish a plan of action by using a Transition Tree.  The TP Tools, when used in tandem or in isolation can be a formidable way to identify and solve a plethora of problems we observe within the organization.

In my next posting, I want to discuss a subject that I have discussed numerous time before, TOC’s version of accounting, Throughput Accounting.

Bob Sproull

Updated Blog Posting Index....up to Part 342

Post #                    Subject Discussed

Each of the following postings can be reached by searching for the number designation below.  For example:  1 is Focus and Leverage or 2 is Focus and Leverage Part 2 and so forth.  The link to the first blog posting is:  http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4654571158555106378#editor/target=post;postID=4464386559619829406

 

 

1. Introduction to TOC – Lean – Six Sigma http://focusandleverage.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-and-leverage.html

2. Why Improvement Initiatives Fail http://focusandleverage.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-and-leverage-part-2.html

3. The Basic Concepts of TOC http://focusandleverage.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-and-leverage-part-3.html

4. Throughput Accounting http://focusandleverage.blogspot.com/2010/08/focus-and-leverage-part-4.html

5. The Process of On-Going Improvement (POOGI)

6. The 3 Cycles of Improvement

7. Combining TOC, Lean and Six Sigma Graphically

8. Step 1a Performance Metrics

9. Planning Steps 1b and 1c Reducing Waste and Variation

10. Developing a Constraint’s Improvement Plan

11. This number was skipped

12. Steps 1b and 1c Reducing Waste and Variation plus an intro to DBR

13. Drum-Buffer-Rope

14. The Final Steps of UIC

15. How do I start the UIC?

16. The 10 Prerequisite Beliefs

17. Comparing Lean, Six Sigma and TOC

18. Types of Constraints

19. The Logical Thinking Processes

20. Undesirable Effects (UDE’s)

21. Categories of Legitimate Reservation

22. Current Reality Trees

23. Constructing Current Reality Trees

24. Conflict Diagrams Basic Principles

25. Constructing Conflict Diagrams

26. Intro to Future Reality Trees

27. Constructing Future Reality Trees

28. Prerequisite Trees

29. Constructing Prerequisite Trees

30. Transition Trees

31. Constructing Transition Trees

32. Book Announcement

33. Project Management Failures

34. Project Management Negative Behaviors

35. Critical Path Management (CPM)

36. Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM)

37. Tracking Projects In CCPM

38. Final Posting on CCPM

39. Intro to the TOC Parts Replenishment Model versus the Min/Max System

40. The TOC Parts Replenishment Model

41. Interview with Joe Dager from Business901

42. Deming, Ohno and Goldratt Commonality

43. Dedication to Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt

44. How processing time, cycle time, throughput and WIP are interrelated

45. Little’s Law

46. Batch and queue production system and the fallacy of a balanced line

47. Why an unbalanced line is better.

48. What prevents me from making more money now and more money in the future?

49. More on the 10 Prerequisite Beliefs

50. Motivating a work force to actively participate in improvement initiatives

51. Re-Introducing the Intermediate Objectives Map

52. Introducing Be Fast or Be Gone: Racing the Clock with CCPM

53. Parkinson’s Law, The Student Syndrome, Cherry Picking and Multi-Tasking

54. Overcoming the four negative behaviors in Project Management

55. Intro to combining the Interference Diagram (ID) and the IO Map

56. The Simplified Strategy

57. The Interference Diagram

58. Interference Diagram for Strategy

59. The ID/IO Simplified Strategy

60. Preface Part 1 for Epiphanized©

61. Preface Part 2 for Epiphanized©

62. CHAPTER 1 Part 1 for Epiphanized©

63. CHAPTER 1 Parts 2 and 3 for Epiphanized©

64. CHAPTER 1 Part 4 for Epiphanized©

65. CHAPTER 1 Part 5 for Epiphanized©

66. Focused Operations Management For Health Service Organizations by Boaz Ronen, Joseph Pliskin and Shimeon Pass

67. Marketplace Constraints

68. A Discussion on Variability

69. More Discussion on Variability

70. Still More Discussion on Variability

71. Paper from the International Journal of Integrated Care

72. Value Stream Mapping

73. Paths of Variation

74. Step 3, Subordination

75. The Key to Profitability: Making Money Versus Saving Money

76. My First Experience With TOC

77. TOC in Non-Manufacturing Environments

78. Deborah Smith’s Excellent Chapter in the TOC Handbook (i.e. Chapter 14)

79. More on Performance Metrics

80. Efficiency, Productivity, and Utilization (EPU) ©

81. Productivity as a Performance Metric

82. Utilization as a Performance Metric

83. What the Dog Saw –Malcolm Gladwell

84. Speaking at the CPI Symposium – Cal State, Northridge

85. NOVACES– A Great Young Company

86. NOVACES’SystemCPI©

87. Problems With My Publisher

88. The Why? – Why? Diagram

89. Experience With the Integrated Methodology

90. A New Piping Diagram

91. The Healthcare Industry

92. More Bad News From the Publisher

93. A Message from the CPI Symposium

94. Multiple Drum-Buffer-Rope

95. Problem Solving Roadmap

96. Problem Prevention Roadmap

97. Improving Profitability

98. More on Throughput Accounting

99. More on Parts Replenishment

100. TLS

101. Engaging the "Money Makers" in Your Company

102. A Conversation on the Theory of Constraints

103. The Key to Successful Consulting Engagements

104. The Three Basic Questions to Answer

105. A Problem With the Airlines

106. A Better Way to Improve Processes and Systems

107. The Problem With Project Management

108. Critical Path Project Management Revisited

109. Critical Chain Project Management Revisited

110. The Fever Chart

111. Comparing CPM and CCPM

112. Performance Improvement for Healthcare – Leading Change with Lean, Six Sigma and Constraints Management

113. More on Performance Improvement for Healthcare

114. Even more on Performance Improvement for Healthcare

115. Still One More on Performance Improvement for Healthcare

116. The Final One on Performance Improvement for Healthcare

117. The Real Final One on Performance Improvement for Healthcare

118. Focused Operation's Management for Health Services Organizations.

119. Focused Management Methodology

120. The Clogged Drain

121. The “Soft” Tools of Improvement

122. More on TOC’s Distribution/Replenishment solution

123. Still More on TOC’s Distribution/Replenishment solution

124. Amir Schragenheim’s Chapter 11 entry in the TOC Handbook

125. Comparison of Lean, Six Sigma and TOC

126. A Simple Lesson on Applying TLS to Your Processes

127. A Historical Index of Blog Postings

128. Mafia Offer Part 1

129. Mafia Offer Part 2

130. Mafia Offer Part 3

131. Airline Problems

132. A YouTube Interview with Bob Sproull and Mike Hannan

133. Active Listening

134. Viable Vision

135. Throughput Accounting

136.  Performance Metrics

137.  On-the-Line Charting

138.  Comment on Epiphanized from a reader in the US Marines

139.  Active Listening

140.  Healthcare Case Study

141.  Change

142.  Getting buy-in for Change

143.  Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Client Part 1

144.  Aviation Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Client Part 2

145.  Continuous Improvement in Healthcare

146.  Using Your Senses in Continuous Improvement

147.  A Video by Phillip Marris on CI

148.  An article about a Construction Company Using the TOC Thinking Processes

149.  Using TOC in Healthcare Part 1

150.  Using TOC in Healthcare Part 2

151.  Using TOC in Healthcare Part 3 Supply Replenishment

152.  Using TOC in Healthcare Part 4 Supply Replenishment (con’t)

153.  Using TOC in Healthcare Part 5 Supply Replenishment (final)

154.  The Sock Maker

155.  The Negative Effects of Using Efficiency

156.  Cost Accounting Part 1

157.  A Political Voting Story

158.  Cost Accounting Part 2

159.  Cost Accounting Part 3

160.  Using TLS for the Affordable Care Act

161.  The System Constraint in Hospitals Part 1

162.  Wait Times in Hospitals

163.  The Oncology Clinic Case Study Part 1

164.  The Oncology Clinic Case Study Part 2

165.  Article: Emergency Department Throughput, Crowding, and Financial Outcomes for Hospitals

166.  Goldratt’s 5 Focusing Steps in Healthcare

167.  My First Experience With TOC Part 1

168.  My First Experience With TOC Part 2

169.  My First Experience With TOC Part 3

170.  My First Experience With TOC Part 4

171.  My First Experience With TOC Part 5

172.  My First Experience With TOC Part 6

173.  Healthcare Case Study Part 1

174.  Healthcare Case Study Part 2

175.  Healthcare Case Study Part 3

176.  TOC in Healthcare

177.  Healthcare Case Study Part 4

178.  My Transition From Aviation Maintenance to Healthcare

179.  Door to Doc Time Case Study Part 1

180.  Door to Doc Time Case Study Part 2

181.  Door to Doc Time Case Study Part 3

182.  Door to Doc Time Case Study Part 4

183.  My White Paper in Quality Forum Part 1

184.  My White Paper in Quality Forum Part 2

185.  My White Paper in Quality Forum Part 3

186.  A Meeting on Epiphanized at the Pittsburgh Airport

187.  Billing for Immunizations Case Study Part 1

188.  Some Thoughts on Performance Improvement Part 1

189.  Some Thoughts on Performance Improvement Part 2

190.  Case Study on Using TOC in Healthcare

191.  IO Map

192.  TOC Thinking Process Tools Part 1

192B.  TOC Thinking Process Tools Part 2

193.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 1

194.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 2

195.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 3

196.  Synchronized and Non-synchronized Production

197.  Competitive Edge Factors

198.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 4

199.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 5

200.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 6

201.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 7

202.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 8

203.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 9

204.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 10

205.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 11

206.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 12

207.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 13

208.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 14

209.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 15

210.  Case Study on How to Use TOC’s Thinking Processes Part 16

211.  The IO Map Revisited Part 1

212.  The IO Map Revisited Part 2

213.  The IO Map Revisited Part 3

214.  The IO Map Revisited Part 4

215.  An Interview About The Ultimate Improvement Cycle by Joe Dager

216.  Healthcare Case Study:  Door to Balloon Time Part 1

217.  More On My First Experience With TOC Part 1

218.  More On My First Experience With TOC Part 2

219.  More On My First Experience With TOC Part 3

220.  More On My First Experience With TOC Part 3

221.  More On My First Experience With TOC Part 4

222.  A Discussion on Constraints Management Part 1

223.  A Discussion on Constraints Management Part 2

224.  A Discussion on Constraints Management Part 3

225.  A Discussion on Constraints Management Part 4

226.  A Discussion on Constraints Management Part 6

227.  How I Present TOC Basics to Students & Teams Part 1 (Most viewed of all posts)

228.  How I Present TOC Basics to Students & Teams Part 2

229.  YouTube Video on Improving Flow Through a Bottleneck

230.  YouTube Video on Throughput Accounting

231.  YouTube Video on What to Change

232.  YouTube Video on What to Change To

233.  YouTube Video on How to Cause the Change to Happen

234.  A Meeting With an Executive of a Larger Corporation

235.  The Missing Link

236.  You Tube Video by Goldratt on Henry Ford and Taichi Ohno

237.  Prevention Versus Detection – The Bug Guy

238.  An Article by Anna Gorman of the LA Times

239.  TOC’s Solution to Supply Chain Problems

240.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 1

241.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 2

242.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 3

243.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 4

244.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 5

245.  The Nun and the Bureaucrat Part 6

246.  A Healthcare Clinic Case Study Part 1

246B.  An Update to Focus and Leverage Part 246

247,  Drum Buffer Rope in Manufacturing

248.  The Sock Maker Revisited Part 1

249.  The Sock Maker Revisited Part 2

250.  Throughput Accounting Part 1

251.  Throughput Accounting Part 2

252.  Throughput Accounting Part 3

253.  How to Use and Integrated TOC, Lean & Six Sigma Methodology Part 1

254.  How to Use and Integrated TOC, Lean & Six Sigma Methodology Part 2

255.  How to Use and Integrated TOC, Lean & Six Sigma Methodology Part 3

256.  How to Use and Integrated TOC, Lean & Six Sigma Methodology Part 4

257.  How to Use and Integrated TOC, Lean & Six Sigma Methodology Part 5

258.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 1

259.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 2

260.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 3

261.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 4

262.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 5

263.  Critical Path Project Management Versus Critical Chain PM Part 6

264.  The Cabinet Maker – A TOC Case Study Part 1

265.  The Cabinet Maker – A TOC Case Study Part 2

266.  The Cabinet Maker – A TOC Case Study Part 3

267.  The Cabinet Maker – A TOC Case Study Part 4

268.  How I Run Improvement Events

269.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 1

270.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 2

271.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 3

272.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 4

273.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 5

274.  Using The Goal Tree vs. the Full Thinking Process Analysis Part 6

275.  An Analysis of Focus and Leverage’s Top Page View Postings

276.  An Index of All Focus and Leverage Blog Posts

277.  Using the Thinking Processes in Healthcare Part 1

278.  Using the Thinking Processes in Healthcare Part 2

279.  Using the Thinking Processes in Healthcare Part 3

280.  The Four Disciplines of Execution Part 1

281.  The Four Disciplines of Execution Part 2

282.  The Four Disciplines of Execution Part 3

283.  The Four Disciplines of Execution Part 4

284.  The Four Disciplines of Execution Part 5

285.  The Goal Tree – A New Way to Make it and Use It Part 1

286.  The Goal Tree – A New Way to Make it and Use It Part 2

287.  The Goal Tree – A New Way to Make it and Use It Part 3

288.  Operation Excellence by Jim Covington

289.  The Saw Mill Assessment

290.  How I present the Theory of Constraints to People Not Familiar With it

291.  David and Goliath – Malcolm Gladwell’s Latest Book

292.  The Basics of TOC

293.  TOC’s Replenishment Model Part 1

294.  TOC’s Replenishment Model Part 2

295.  Blog Posting Index

296.  Overcoming Natural Resistance to Change

297.  Integrating TOC, Lean and Six Sigma Part 1

298.  Appendix 1 from Epiphanized Part 1

299.  The Winter Storm in Atlanta

300.  Appendix 1 from Epiphanized Part 2

301.  Appendix 1 from Epiphanized Part 3

302.  Appendix 1 from Epiphanized Part 4 Final

303.  Bill Dettmer videos on TOC’s Thinking Processes

304.  Queuing Theory Part 1

305.  Queuing Theory Part 2

306.  Delta Airlines Lack of Customer Focus

307.  Bill Dettmer’s Book Strategic Navigation

308.  Excerpts from The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – My second book Part 1

309.  Excerpts from The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – My second book Part 2

310.  Excerpts from The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – My second book Part 3

311.  Excerpts from The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – My second book Part 4

312.  Excerpts from The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – My second book Part 5

313.  The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – Step 1:  Identify - My second book Part 6

314.  The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – Step 2:  Define, Measure and Analyze - My second book Part 7

315.  The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – Step 3:  Improve - My second book Part 8

316.  The Ultimate Improvement Cycle – Step 3:  Control - My second book Part 9

317.  Throughput Accounting Part 1

318.  Throughput Accounting Part 2

319.  Throughput Accounting Part 3

320.  Throughput Accounting Part 4

321.  Throughput Accounting Part 5

322.  Throughput Accounting Part 6

323.  Throughput Accounting Part 7 Final

324.  Optimium Health’s Amazing New Software for Healthcare

325.  Personal experiences using Throughput Accounting

326.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 1

327.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 2

328.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 3

329.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 4

330.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 5

331.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 6

332.  MRO Project Management Case Study Part 7 (Finale)

333.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 1

334.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 2

335.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 3

336.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 4

337.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 5

338.  Part’s Replenishment Systems Part 6 (Finale)

339.  My Most Rewarding Experience

340.  Operation Excellence by Jim Covington

341.  Update on sequel to Epiphanized

342.  Focus and Leverage