VELOCITY - DEE JACOB [42]
“Don’t let me interrupt,” said Murphy.
“No problem,” said Wayne. He then clapped Kurt on the shoulder and Kurt walked away.
“So, what can I help you with?” asked Murphy.
“Everything,” said Wayne.
“Everything?” asked Murphy. “Well, that’s a lot.”
“It’s going to be a busy day.”
“Yes, we have six shipments to get out the door, fourteen new orders ready for production, and eighteen orders in between, in various stages of completion.”
“If you have to break away at some point, go ahead,” said Wayne, “but I intend to get to know Oakton from one end to the other, and I’d appreciate your being with me as much as possible.”
“Mr. Reese, I will show you anything you want to see, and tell you anything you want to know. But I can save you a lot of time if you will just listen to me for a moment.”
Wayne put his hands on his hips and said, “Go ahead.”
“The main key to the throughput of this plant is a large piece of equipment that we affectionately call Godzilla.”
Wayne chuckled and asked, “And why would this single piece of equipment be the key to the plant’s output?”
“Excuse me, sir, but the important word here is throughput, not output.”
“Throughput, output – what’s the big deal? They’re interchangeable,” said Wayne.
“Sorry, but not in my vocabulary,” said Murphy. “Output would refer, for instance, to the quantity of product produced. Throughput refers to the rate at which we make money by means of producing and selling the various products that customers buy.”
“Again, what’s the difference? Output translates into sales!”
“Well, I beg to differ, sir. Just because an item has been produced does not mean that money has been made.”
“All right, all right,” Wayne said, conceding the point. “I have to agree with you. Actually that’s an important concept within Lean – that nothing should be produced until a customer wants it and will pay for it.”
Murphy smiled, thinking that perhaps he and Wayne were communicating.
“So it is the performance of this one piece of equipment, Godzilla, that determines the performance of the company’s entire manufacturing system,” said Murphy.
“Now wait a minute,” said Wayne. “Why would that be?”
“Because Godzilla is the primary constraint of the system.”
“The constraint? So you’re saying that this ‘Godzilla’ machine constrains the entire system, is that it? You’re talking about a problem operation?”
“Ah, well, no, sir, Godzilla is not a problem at all. In fact, Godzilla performs exceptionally well – at the peak of its efficiency – because we keep it superbly staffed and maintained.”
“Then why is it a constraint?”
“Here’s the thing: All resources have their limits,” Murphy said. “Therefore, all resources could be constraints within the system. But there is – or at least should be – one constraint within the system that acts as the primary constraint.”
“What do you mean by ‘should be’?” asked Wayne. “And why in the world would a manufacturing plant want a – what did you call it? A primary constraint?”
“To balance the flow,” said Murphy.
“That is what we are going to be doing here by applying Lean,” said Wayne. “We are going to balance capacity – what’s the matter?”
Murphy, struggling to be polite yet assertive, was all but twitching.
“No, sir, that is the last thing that you want to do!” said Murph. “You want to balance the flow, not the capacity! And to do that effectively, you want a primary constraint!”
The expression on Wayne’s face showed he was losing patience with what he perceived to be Murphy’s mumbo jumbo.
“If you will bear with me, sir, for just a few moments longer,” said Murphy, “let’s go back to the word throughput.”
“All right,” said Wayne.
“As I said, ‘throughput’ is a measure of how fast we are making money. Ultimately, that is what we are here to do, is it not? To make money?”
“We are here, Maguire, to satisfy and delight our customers,” said Wayne. “That is our ultimate purpose.”
“Oh. I thought the whole point of running a business was to make money. Perhaps I have been mistaken all these years.”
“Well, of course the business is supposed to make