Industry 4.0: Hoping for a turnkey enhanced productivity through (optimization and) automation

When it comes to potential benefits boasted by “Industry 4.0” solution vendors or the expected benefits by manufacturers, it’s all about optimization of processes and of productivity. More specifically: saving costs, increasing profitability, reducing waste, automating to prevent errors and delays, speeding up production to work more in real-time and all of this in a …

How can Theory of Constraints benefit from Process Mining, and conversely?

As Process Mining and other tech solutions boost - sometimes disrupt - Business Process Management, one may ask what will happen to classic approaches, methodologies and tools, for instance Theory of Constraints. How can Theory of Constraints benefit from Process Mining, and conversely? Here are some thoughts of mine on the subject. You may also …

(video) Introduction to the Evaporating Cloud (Conflict Resolution Diagram)

The Evaporating Cloud or simply the ‘Cloud’ is a necessity-logic based tool from Theory of Constraints’ Thinking Processes. The Evaporating Cloud is also referred to as Conflict Resolution Diagram (or CRD), and as the name suggests, the Conflict Resolution Diagram or Cloud is used to surface and resolve conflict or dilemmas. I will walk you …

12 tips for leading in a downturn, COVID reloaded – Part 2/3

This post is the second of a 3-part mini series. If you missed the first part with the 4 first tips, you may want to read 12 tips for leading in a downturn, COVID reloaded - Part 1/3 After a major crisis and its aftermath such as we experience(d) with the COVID-19 pandemic, lockdown and …

Finding the bottleneck, not always that simple!

Basically, a bottleneck is the slowest step in a process, the machine having trouble keeping pace. To find a bottleneck, go and have a look at where the inventories pile up and from where the machines are starved from upstream supplies, there is your bottleneck. Well, it’s not always that simple.

Management attention as a constraint – Part 2/2

In part 1 of this series, I introduced management attention as a constraint. This second post goes on with more reasons why management fail to pay the necessary attention to the factor limiting the whole system’s performance. Unaware or wrong about the constraint Management attention might be on the wrong things because manager are unaware …

Management attention as a constraint – Part 1/2

A system’s constraint, the limiting factor that is an obstacle to getting more Goal units* from the system, can be pretty difficult to identify (hence the success of my post on the topic: How to identify a constraint?!). *”Goal units” can be money, profit, services to citizens, number of patients treated, free meals served, or whatever …

How to identify the constraint of a system? Part 5/5 – The valley of despair

This is part 5 of a series of posts about identifying the constraint of a system and time for wrapping up and a conclusion (of the series, not the topic!). Newcomers to Theory of Constraints understand quite easily the concept of bottleneck but are frequently puzzled when looking for them in a real-life process. Furthermore, …

How to identify the constraint of a system? Part 4/5 – Check beyond production

Since the publishing of early books on Theory of Constraints, the world grew more complex and the system’s constraint got more and more elusive. Globalization and extended supply chains give a constraint opportunity to settle literally anywhere in the world and extend its nature. It can be a physical transformation process in a supplier’s facility, …

How to identify the constraint of a system? Part 1/5 – The usual suspects

A very common question once people get familiar with Theory of Constraints and the notion of bottlenecks and constraints is how to find them in a process. Identifying the constraint is key as the constraint, by its nature, it controls the performance of the whole system. The trouble with examples given in textbooks or case …