VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [0]
Combining Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints
to Achieve Breakthrough Performance
A BUSINESS NOVEL
DEE JACOB, SUZAN BERGLAND,
AND JEFF COX
FREE PRESS
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To those who began this journey before us.
And to those who will continue it.
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Copyright © 2010 by The Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute,
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Jacob, Dee.
Velocity : combining lean, six sigma, and the theory of constraints to achieve
breakthrough performance: a business novel / Dee Jacob, Suzan Bergland,
and Jeff Cox.—1st Free Press hbk. ed.
p. cm.
1. Industrial management. 2. Industrial efficiency. 3. Organizational
effectiveness. I. Bergland, Suzan. II. Cox, Jeff. III. Title.
HD31.J2338 2010
658.4’013—dc22 2009031900
ISBN 978-1-4391-5892-0
ISBN 978-1-4391-8121-8 (ebook)
Introduction
Experienced managers know that nothing is static in the operating environment; over time there is change. The rate of change may be slow. It may be alarmingly fast (or seem that way to those caught by surprise). But change is forever occurring in markets, in technology, in methods, in processes, in skills, in regulations, and in everything else, including the art and practice of management itself. To cope with unending change – and indeed to make the most of it – the effective manager understands that the long-term success of the organization depends upon ongoing, progressive, positive adaptation – what has come to be called “continuous improvement.”
Over recent decades, going back to the 1980s and earlier, there have been a number of organized efforts aimed at achieving continuous improvement, many of them becoming known by a three-letter acronym. There were TPS (Toyota Production System), TQM (Total Quality Management), SPC (Statistical Process Control), JIT (Just in Time), as well as many others. All of these, even those that fell by the wayside or were absorbed into other disciplines, had elements of value, with important concepts and useful tools and methods. Unfortunately, there were also flaws in the thinking that went into the implementation of these efforts, and sometimes in the very assumptions on which they were founded. As a result, most organizations, though they learned from these programs and disciplines, were never able to achieve the degree of sustained performance they expected.
When we talk about continuous improvement, a number of essential questions arise. For instance, what should be improved? Everything? That is, should we seek to improve everything throughout the entire organization? Many well-intentioned program managers, executives, and consultants would, indeed, say, “Yes, we must improve everything, every function, every aspect of operations, from A to Z!” As if to say, “We must focus everywhere!”
Yet it’s a serious question: should the management team seek to improve everything? All at once? Simultaneously? And continuously? What should be the scope of the improvement effort? Do you include every function? Every customer service and supplier interaction? What about housekeeping, accounting, and maintenance?