Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [437]
The Application Orientation of the TOC TP Literature
Over 100 papers have described applications of TP. Kim et al. (2008) identified three self-defining categories of TP “application-oriented” papers, namely those relating to the whole business system, to specific functional areas, and to the service sector. Applications to the whole business system mainly described the process of implementing the use of TP tools in a single organization, and investigated the impact of TP on the organization in terms of organization-wide performance measurement and change management. Such applications traversed a diversity of issues and contexts including change management, performance measures, pricing conflict, outsourcing decisions, project cost recovery, mergers, and healthcare.
TP applications to functional areas included manufacturing and production, Supply Chain Management (SCM) in particular, but also marketing, sales, accounting, quality, strategy, human resource management, and new venture development, addressing outdated policies, unacceptable scrap rates, and poor delivery performance. SCM applications included identifying critical success factors and a performance measurement system to assist supply chain members to realize the potential benefits of collaboration. Recent papers address invoicing (Taylor and Thomas, 2008) and human resource management functions (Taylor and Poyner, 2008).
About a third of the TP application-oriented papers described how TP have been or could be applied to service sectors such as healthcare (for example, military medical service, operating room utilization, aeromedical evacuation system, ambulatory care system, supervisory oversight procedures, multi-site medical practices, and insurance claims processes), education (including curriculum applications and capacity management in distance education), and public services (water systems [Reid and Shoemaker, 2006; Shoemaker and Reid, 2006], and police/fire services [Taylor et al., 2006]). Legal service and white-collar service TP applications were detailed in Kim et al. (2008). In addition, there have been a number of books, especially recently, devoted to the service sector, such as Ricketts (2008), Jamieson (2007), Ronen et al. (2006), and Wright and King (2006), although these are not included in the data, as noted earlier.
TP Tool Orientation
Kim et al. (2008) also categorized papers according to the TP tools that were employed to address problem situations. The updated data confirms that by far the most common tool employed was the EC, with approximately three-quarters of papers (78 percent) using this tool, one-quarter using the EC on its own (25 percent), and over half using the EC in combination with other tools (54 percent). Nearly two-thirds of the papers (65 percent) used the CRT or one of its variants. See Tables 23-1 and 23-2.
One in eight applications papers (12 percent) used the full TP analysis, whereas over 40 percent (43/106) involved only one TP tool. Even though TP have been developed to make mutual and complementary contributions as a suite of integrated logic tools, the literature suggests that individual use of single TP tools, or tools in pairs or trios, is not only possible but has been to be found very valuable in dealing with problematic situations. See Table 23-2.
Methodological Developments and Enhancements
Kim et al.’s (2008) review also identified many methodological developments and variations that have emerged, including alternative approaches to building a tree, using specific TP tools to serve a different purpose