Theory of Constraints Handbook - James Cox Iii [481]
[B]: Meet our production schedules.
If there are missing parts, we cannot assemble the product. Sometimes we start the assembly with an incomplete kit and then we have to put the unfinished assemblies to the side and wait until the missing parts arrive. In both cases, we are late in completing the products according to the production plans. This is the need of the production function as they are responsible, expected, and usually measured against the level in which they achieve the schedules.
[D]: What actions do you have to take to meet the jeopardized need in B?
[D]: Not introduce engineering changes in the schedule immediately.
Every engineering change demands the replacement of several parts. These parts are needed to be produced from scratch. It takes time to produce them. The parts for the existing design are in stock. If we wait for a while with the introduction of the new design, then we can meet our schedules.
Step 1 of the process for the UDE Cloud is different from the previous types of problems. A UDE is a well-defined problem. Step 1 is actually used to identify the UDE that we want to analyze.
[C]: What other important need prevents you from always taking the action in D?
[C]: Meet customers’ requirements for the latest designs (speed to market).
Engineering changes improve the quality of our product and enhance the features they offer. In any case, the new designs provide our customers with better competitive edges. Therefore, customers really pressure us to provide them with products of the new design.
The [C] need is presented by the Marketing or Sales function. They are the custodians of the company’s competitive edge and ability to sell in the market place.
[D′]: What actions do you take to meet the need in C?
[D′]: Introduce engineering changes in the schedules immediately.
The only way we can provide the improved products is if we introduce these new parts into the existing work orders that are planned to be assembled in the near future.
[A]: What is the common objective achieved with both B and C?
[A]: Achieve our business goals.
Our company makes money through selling products to our customers. Engineering features help the company in getting more orders in the future; effective production helps the company make money.
The system UDE Cloud is presented in Fig. 24-7.
FIGURE 24-7 A system UDE Cloud example for parts shortages.
TABLE 24-6 Sequence and the Questions for Building the UDE Cloud
In summary, the sequence and the questions for building the UDE Cloud are provided in Table 24-6.
Step 4: Check and upgrade.
For the UDE Cloud, start with ensuring that the Cloud is written properly and from the point of view of the “owner” of the UDE. There is potential confusion when analyzing a customer’s UDE. Because it is you writing the Cloud and not the customer, the tendency is to write as a UDE the fact that the shop owner does not buy from you, does not buy enough, or is not willing to accept your offer. These are not UDEs because they imply a hidden solution: “If the customer bought from me more/more often/accepted my offer, then I would sell more.”
Another tendency is to put the new offer—the solution that you believe will improve your business—as one of the actions (D or D′). This is not the purpose of the UDE Cloud. The offer should be the injection that breaks the Cloud for the customer.
Check all logical connections of the Cloud and make the necessary corrections and upgrades.
Check that the logic of the diagonals is clear.
Tactic D is jeopardizing need C (even though this is a part of the flow of building the UDE Cloud).
Tactic D′ is jeopardizing need B.
Step 5: Surface assumptions.
Conduct the regular process of surfacing assumptions. Here are some extra points to consider.
For the system UDE Cloud, the UDE is definitely a system fault and hence we would like to surface system assumptions that may have been valid in the past, when the system was built, but may have lost their relevancy and now can cause blockage. Therefore, keep surfacing