Choosing a Theory of Constraints consultant
Choosing a Theory of Constraints consultant
TOC Consultants: not just one tribe
This isn't the standard discourse on how to choose a consultant. Just some background issues that you might want to consider when you look for a consultant.
In many ways, you can view TOC consultants in layers.
Layer 1: The pioneers
When Eli Goldratt first introduced his (then) unusual concepts into North America in 1978, he was bucking every trend in manufacturing, and Eli, his company and his concepts were at war with a huge body of knowledge that was still itself revolutionary, and had the backing of every manufacturing organization in the Western world — MRP, just evolving into MRP II. So the people who joined and worked with him were the first of several waves of highly motivated contrarians who enjoyed the contrarian position, enjoyed the shock-power of the Goldratt concepts (Cost Accounting: Enemy #1 of productivity! for example), and believed deeply in the concepts. They also had to REALLY know the topic because they had to prove everything, every time.
In those days the topic was simply, scheduling. There was no distribution solution, marketing or sales solution, project management solution, strategic or people solution ... in fact the Thinking Processes did not even exist. Not even a concept. There was software to support the scheduling; in fact, the software was the core of the scheduling in those days. But knowledgeable consultants were vital to help companies apply the concepts that the software supported.
Those people were the first wave of TOC consultants, and several are still active today, 27 years later. Quite simply, those still around are typically hugely experienced in the production application, darned good, and expensive (but worth it).
TOC Consultants: not just one tribe
This isn't the standard discourse on how to choose a consultant. Just some background issues that you might want to consider when you look for a consultant.
In many ways, you can view TOC consultants in layers.
Layer 1: The pioneers
When Eli Goldratt first introduced his (then) unusual concepts into North America in 1978, he was bucking every trend in manufacturing, and Eli, his company and his concepts were at war with a huge body of knowledge that was still itself revolutionary, and had the backing of every manufacturing organization in the Western world — MRP, just evolving into MRP II. So the people who joined and worked with him were the first of several waves of highly motivated contrarians who enjoyed the contrarian position, enjoyed the shock-power of the Goldratt concepts (Cost Accounting: Enemy #1 of productivity! for example), and believed deeply in the concepts. They also had to REALLY know the topic because they had to prove everything, every time.
In those days the topic was simply, scheduling. There was no distribution solution, marketing or sales solution, project management solution, strategic or people solution ... in fact the Thinking Processes did not even exist. Not even a concept. There was software to support the scheduling; in fact, the software was the core of the scheduling in those days. But knowledgeable consultants were vital to help companies apply the concepts that the software supported.
Those people were the first wave of TOC consultants, and several are still active today, 27 years later. Quite simply, those still around are typically hugely experienced in the production application, darned good, and expensive (but worth it).
posted by tocherriott99 at 4:30 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home