New Book Part 7

In my last post, I completed my discussion on some of the improvement tools, actions and focus I use when implementing the Ultimate Improvement Cycles.  In this post I will present the third of the three concentric circles of the Ultimate Improvement Cycle by presenting the necessary deliverables. This information is taken from my newest book,  The Focus and Leverage Improvement Book.

I have added a new element to my original UIC concentric circles, first introduced in my book, The Ultimate Improvement Cycle [1], with that being your expected TLS deliverables. The figure below is that third concentric circle.

In Step 1a, you should come away with a complete picture of the system you are attempting to

improve in terms of flow, plus the predicted people behaviors and the knowledge that efficiency should only be measured in the constraint.

In Step 1b, you should come away with the knowledge of location of and type of waste and inventory that exists in your current reality. In addition, you may also come away with a list of potential core system problems. Your take-away for Step 1c should be a working knowledge of both the location and type of variation, plus any recurring problems that currently exist within the system.

Your deliverable from Step 2a is a coherent action plan on how to improve your system’s capacity. The product of Steps 2b and 2c is a well-organized and well-controlled constraint, with minimal waste and only controlled, common cause variation present. 

In Step 3a, you should come away with a coherent and well-documented plan on how you intend to synchronize flow within your system. Your takeaway from implementing your synchronization plan that you developed in Step 3a should be a well-functioning process, exhibiting synchronized flow of products through your system. Your product from Step 3c is an optimized safety buffer, with minimal WIP (thanks to DBR and Buffer Management) throughout your system.

The deliverable from Step 4a is a well-thought-out and clear plan aimed at sustaining the gains you’ve made that will deliver and sustain an optimized process with excellent process capability and control. From Step 4b, you should have a complete understanding of your new capacities and financial gains from implementing Throughput Accounting. In Step 4c, your sustainment actions will be in place and functioning well, based on sound financial decisions. At this point, your actions should have resulted in a constraint that is no longer your constraint. So, based upon all of your actions and focus, your constraint should now be in a new location. This is the ultimate deliverable, and it’s time to return to Step 1a. But this time, your work should be much easier to perform.

In my next post, I will continue discussing this integrated methodology.

Bob Sproull