Beyond the Giants (15)

Conditions for survival in the manufacturing industry in VUCA era

Satoru Murakami CEO Goal-System consultants Inc.,

Environmental change and evolution (TOC's focus and development) and four fundamental concepts

So far, we have looked at Henry Ford's synchronous production system, Taiichi Ohno's TPS (Toyota Production System), and Eliyahu Goldratt 's TOC.

This time, I would like to introduce in a little more detail the claims of Dr. Goldratt, the developer of TOC, and the paper that published the way of thinking.

In 2008, he published his dissertation, "Standing on the shoulders of Giants," discussing the TOC method and its predecessor, the Ford system, and its involvement with TPS, and clarified the evolution of operations management.

Among them, it was clarified that the TOC method developed by himself was an application of the basic concept of Ford and Toyota, and it explained specifically that nothing has changed since it has been passed down from Ford to Taiichi Ohno (Toyota) and Goldratt (TOC) for over 100 years.

According to it, the "purpose" that Ford, Toyota, and TOC pursued in common is summarized in the following "Fundamental Concept."

・ Four basic concepts

1. Improving flow (or equivalently lead time) is a primary objective of operations.

2. This primary objective should be translated into a practical mechanism that guides the operation when not to produce (prevents overproduction).

3. Local efficiencies must be abolished.

4. A focusing process to balance flow must be in place.

The title of this paper, "Standing on the shoulders of giants," is Isaac Newton's words: "New discoveries and achievements are based on past achievements and knowledge based on the achievements of our predecessors." is what it means.

In this article, Dr. Goldratt said that his TOC achievement was the first to be established on the basis of the achievements of the giants Henry Ford and Taiichi Ohno, and expressed his respect and gratitude to them. And it describes in detail the "thinking procedure" that he took to develop his own experience and the TOC method itself.

According to it, the way of making a theory and the way of asserting one's own theory are summarized in "three assumptions (necessary conditions)".

1. Applying a "method" or "philosophy" such as the Ford system, TPS, or TOC is not the same as the "fundamental concept" on which it is based.

2. The basic concept is often abstracted (Generic), and it is difficult to understand in some cases because it is not visible on the surface.

3. In order to apply the fundamental concept to the actual environment, the "Assumption and Condition" for "Translate" the "fundamental concept" to a specific environment are examined in detail.

Actually, this blog is also written according to this thinking process (procedure), but I think this is a very essential teaching.

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