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By Root 2565 0

outboard, and assembly facilities all worked to satisfy a specific customer and model. The focus became the customer (from the beginning of the process to the end) with fluid communications through the organization. This new view of the organization focused on value to the customer. Value lanes by customer was a system that made sense. We design a value lane by starting at the customer and working back toward the receiving dock and stopping at a natural point of divergence (see Fig. 37-3). Each value lane had its own assembly, inboard machining, outboard machining, and its own special forged tulips. Operators assigned to these machines were full time and they considered themselves more a part of their value lane than a particular plant location.

FIGURE 37-2 GKN “plant perspective.”

FIGURE 37-3“Value lane” perspective—12 to 14 value lanes covering 22 models.

How Do We Cause the Change?

In the case of GKN, the concept of value lanes replacing the physical plants as the “system” was sold to the President and CEO; therefore, there was no debate as to whether we were going to try to go in that direction. I chose those words carefully—there was no debate that we were going to try. Whether it was going to work was going to be totally dependent on the buy-in of those involved.

By changing to value lanes, we essentially began to change the functional organizational structure. In a major complex system, this change is not uncommon. The new organization consisted of 12 to 14 value lanes that covered all 22 models and each lane included workers in all four plants. The lanes were responsible for ensuring customer satisfaction for their customer—Ford Taurus, Toyota Camry, etc. Telephone, e-mails, and buffer data were modes of communication. Many hourly employees were now involved directly on what was to be produced and how things were managed. Each value lane monitored their shipping buffer and controlled release of raw materials to the processing equipment. In the transition from a functional organization structure to a DBR flow structure, plant managers and other supervisors needed to let go of control and trust their workers more.

Results

GKN experienced all of the normal TOC success:

Net profit nearly doubled (increased by 85 percent).

Inventory decreased by 22 percent.

Return on net assets increased by 40 percent.

Value added per employee (rough estimate of T/OE) increased by 30 percent.

Their executives explained their new operating method as bringing “calm to a chaotic environment.”

Where is the Constraint in Disciple Making?

Introduction

The United Methodist Church (UMC) is the second largest Protestant denomination in the world. Its founder, John Wesley, is credited by many as helping England avoid a revolution similar to the French Revolution. John Wesley preached to the poor and was all about Christians being in action to do good. He had enough of an impact that the hope he gave people through God staved off a violent uprising of the masses.

The UMC has been in decline for over five decades and they are losing about 1000 members per week. This number would be worse if it were not for the fact they are growing overseas, especially in Africa.

In the early 1990s, I was invited to do a one-day TOC seminar in Nashville, Tennessee for their General Board of Discipleship, which is one of the church’s most influential agencies. Ezra Earl Jones was the General Secretary in charge of the Board and his position was on a level with a Bishop. Ezra Earl was considered an innovator in the church and attempted to use many tools that were used successfully by industry in order to turn around the plight of the UMC.

The 1-day workshop contained the TOC basics of measures and the 5FS. This session went well and Ezra Earl and his publisher of the Upper Room devotional subsequently attended an open audience Jonah Class I conducted at Clemson University. After years of working with the UMC, I now have grown to appreciate what a commitment Ezra Earl made by spending two weeks away from his job.