Posts tagged as:

theory of constraints

Reconciling Lean and The Theory of Constraints

by Pete Abilla June 20, 2010
This entry is part 4 of 4 in the series Lean and Theory of Constraints

This is the last part of the series on Lean and The Theory of Constraints, where I originally asked how Lean and the Theory of Constraints can work together. I then proceeded to describe the fundamentals of the Theory of Constraints, followed by an explanation of the fundamentals of Lean Management. This post is my [...]

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Lean Thinking: The Fundamentals

by Pete Abilla June 18, 2010
This entry is part 3 of 4 in the series Lean and Theory of Constraints

In an earlier post, I asked the question: How can Lean and The Theory of Constraints work together? In my attempt to answer that question, I proceeded to describe the fundamentals of the Theory of Constraints.  In this article, I’ll do my best to explain the fundamentals of Lean Thinking (also known as Lean Management, [...]

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The Theory of Constraints: The Fundamentals

by Pete Abilla June 17, 2010
This entry is part 2 of 4 in the series Lean and Theory of Constraints

In a previous post on Lean and Theory of Constraints, I argued that the decision is not an either/or, but rather “and”.  In other words, there’s room for both and each can be complementary to each other. In this post, I’ll do my best to describe the fundamentals of The Theory of Constraints.  Then, in [...]

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Lean and Theory of Constraints – either/or?

by Pete Abilla May 28, 2010
This entry is part 1 of 4 in the series Lean and Theory of Constraints

I’m not a fan of dichotomous thinking – either / or. For one, it’s formally a psychological disorder and, two, it’s neither practical nor true.  As with most things in life, there is usually at least a third choice – in fact, there are many more choices, realistically. So, when voices – loud voices – [...]

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The Source of Dirt

by Pete Abilla May 26, 2009

In Amazon’s 2008 letter to shareholders, Jeff Bezos shares about a Kaizen event he participated in: At a fulfillment center recently, one of our Kaizen experts asked me, “I’m in favor of a clean fulfillment center, but why are you cleaning? Why don’t you eliminate the source of dirt?” I’ve spoken numerous times about Bezos [...]

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Fast Food Congestion

by Pete Abilla July 9, 2008

Every system has constraints — sometimes several — minor bottlenecks and major bottlenecks.  What makes managing constraints even more challenging is that bottlenecks move: up-and-down the process paths. I saw this phenomenon recently during a visit to a fast food restaurant, which I discuss in this post — but, my application of the Theory of [...]

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