Q2. What is your primary professional focus these
days?
I am trying to get TOC
integrated with Lean in some of the companies I consult with, combining the
best of both. I’ve been working with PMC
to develop classes on Accounting, Metrics, and analysis that use the best of
Lean and TOC. I’ve developed my own
Bottleneck Analysis tool based upon simulation, and we are using it as part of
those classes. It helps demonstrate the
powerful impact that comes from improving your bottleneck on a company’s
metrics and bottom line. We’ve got some
pilots approved at a major medical devices division.
We’re also starting to
put TOC for Healthcare into one of the local hospitals. Finally, I am also trying to apply basic Lean
and TOC concepts to improve and implement a new software implementation at a
major healthcare insurance provider. You
can see a pattern here – with the local auto economy in such poor shape,
Healthcare is a good place to be.
As most of you know, consulting goes through ebbs and flows, and I am pretty busy right now. During the ebbs, I’m also writing a book about my automotive experience with TOC, called The Conflicted Middle. It talks about why the “frozen middle” in large corporation ends up that way.
