APICS Michiana Presents -
Who Moved My Constraint?
Date: Tuesday, April 08, 2003
Donn Novotny, PhD
Every organization has a constraint, something that prevents better performance or moving forward in a more timely manner. Constraints can be physical (such as a bottleneck machine) or they can be non-physical (a policy, a measurement, etc). Constraints can be internal (within the organization) or external. Constraints can be good or bad. What is bad is if you don't know where and what they are. Changes required to manage wandering constraint phenomena can evolve into chaotic and reactive responses.

Dr. Spencer Johnson, M.D. in his popular book Who Moved My Cheese describes a process to effectively deal with change - called the Handwriting is on the Wall. Cheese (in Dr. Johnson's book) is a metaphor for the goal of an individual or organization. Many people have read Dr. Johnson's book and come away enthused over their willingness to embrace change. But this excitement can easily turn into resistance unless thay understand who keeps moving the cheese and the reasons for that movement.

Experience has shown that few organizations know the identify of their constraints, particularly in the automotive industry, where precious little time is made available to view the environment holistically. The net results are silos of improvement that lead to nowhere (Cheese Station C in Dr Johnson's example).

Identification of constraints is not easy. A variety of approaches have been developed to find those things that inhibit system performance. The five steps of constraint management (as adopted by the APICS CM-SIG group) have been proven to be effective in managing constraints, once identified. The fifth step of that process makes the assumption that you have identified what constraint to change, what to change it to and then make the change happen. This is a difficult part of the process due to the variety of factors influencing constraint location and movement.

This presentation will show the relationship between constraints and "Cheese". Constraint movement, the factors affecting that movement and the corresponding required changes will be analyzed. This will allow us to view change as an orderly process of improvement - leading to Cheese Station N in Dr. Johnson's parlance.


Donn Novotny, PhD, is a partner in the Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute, founded by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt. Dr. Novotny is involved in the development and dissemination of the knowledge of the Theory of Constraints with recent emphasis on the Latin American countries. He has lectured at many prestigious universities in North and South America and Institute programs have been incorporated into many of the curriculums. He also serves on the Education Task Force for the American Chamber of Commerce in Mexico as well as the advisory council for many other universities. Dr. Novotny's background includes extensive experience in industry as consultant and executive as well as faculty appointments at Purdue, Wharton, and the University of Notre Dame. Simulation, shop scheduling, and materials management have been the focus of his research and his work was instrumental in the development of many finite scheduling systems. His current research efforts are devoted to the need to identify and resolve the strategic constraints of an organization. His current geographic responsibilities have been expanded to include the United States and Canada.
Agenda:
Networking: 5:30p, Dinner: 6:15p, Presentation: 7:00p
Cost:
20  for non-APICS Members, 20 APICS Members. 10 Student - ID Required
This session is worth 1 Certification Maintenance Point(s)
For Reservations: Call 574.217.0960 or EMail Reservations with the following information:
Your Name, Company Name, if employed, Address, email address (for our newsletter list), Phone Number, Number of people for whom you are making reservations, and their Names and email addresses.

To be held at:
St. Mary's College-Northwedge Rm in Dining Hall