Time is often critical to long-term success: time to get new products or services to market, on-time delivery, and cycle time are examples. Yet accountants often seem preoccupied with cost. Eliyahu Goldratt introduced the concept of throughput - the rate at which an organization makes money through sales and emphasizes that managers must shift their attention to increasing sales, not building inventory.

This throughput focus requires a paradigm shift away from cost accounting. Traditional cost accounting is 'public enemy number one' of productivity for two reasons. First, by using efficiency rates as local performance measures, and measuring the volume variance, traditional cost accounting encourages building inventories. Second, cost accounting emphasizes local cost reduction - which is a flawed strategy for continuous improvement, as costs can only be reduced to a certain minimum level. The goal of organizations is to make money now and in the future; therefore, an organization's objectives from a throughput perspective will be to maximize throughput (sales, not production), minimize inventory and minimize operating expense.

Thruput accounting provides a better basis upon which to make business decisions that more directly affect the ability of an organization to make money and thus survive.

Dr. Novotny 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.

Industry has prospered as well with many of the companies in The Americas attributing their success to the practical application of the Theory of Constraints by Dr. Novotny to enhance delivery performance and supply chain issues as well as blend in with other techniques such as Lean, JIT and TPS. Many Fortune 100 companies are among his clients, including DaimlerChrysler, Ford and General Motors.

Dr. Novotny’s background includes extensive experience in industry as a consultant and executive as well as faculty appointments at Purdue, Wharton, and the University of Notre Dame. Simulation, network 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 supply chains. Only then can the tactical constraints necessary to support good strategies be properly addressed.