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Epiphanized: Integrating Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma
Updating the tools, principles, and methods presented in the bestselling first edition, this updated edition explains how to implement the authors proven improvement methodology that unifies the Theory of Constraints with Lean and Six Sigma. The book uses a compelling novel format to demonstrate how to achieve superior on-time delivery along with
- GenresManagementBusiness
368 pages, Paperback
First published August 30, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 14, 2015
I am a big fan of combining TOC, six sigma and a few other things and have been for close to a decade now and the idea behind this book and the strength of that idea is great BUT the writing is just atrocious. Maybe the authors are experts in their field but they are terrible when writing fiction. Very amateurish and made it impossible for me to even get through the book. I won't even expound on the fanboy-ish-ness toward The Goal or the just ridiculous characters and situations. I had such high hopes...
January 29, 2023
What are your favorite quotes from the book?
"I've never seen a customer come in and only talk to the workers before, said Joe. Me either, but when you stop and think about it, it's a good way of finding out if a company is actually living their values and principles, said Sam."
"So attempting to reduce cycle times at nonconstraints is basically a fruitless exercise. The focus must be on never letting the the constraint sit idle, correct?"
"so the method we use is Theory of Constraints integrated with Lean and Six Sigma," he explained. We use TOC to identify the constraint and the focus all our Lean and Six Sigma efforts only on the constraint. For us it's all about focus and leverage - focusing on the constraint and then
leveraging it."
"Ron, the people that assemble the helicopters, the people in the trenches are your true experts, not your engineers, said Connor."
What is a specific real world application that you will be able to make from what you learned in this book?
This book was interesting to read in regard to the idea of TOC and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). The high level story got me interested in looking for other readings on these topics, but the Appendix was to much like a text book to fill that need. I want to find something at a level between the story and appendix.
What is the one thing that you think you will do differently or think differently about since you read the book?
"Larry a good plan or schedule must have three critical components if it's going to work, said Connor. First and foremost, it has to be believable to the people using it, he said. Secondly, he continued, it must be owned by the people using it. And last, but not least, Connor concluded, it has to be used. Your plans are not believable, not owned and not used." Our travelers are very similar to the financial statements and budget. When accounting owned them no one looked at them or believed them. HIP has upped ownership, believability and use. We should do the same with travelers and shift ownership from engineering and planning to the floor.
What is one point you disagreed with, or at least questioned, in this book?
Everything they tried worked perfectly and quickly. Any issues that came up were solved in two pages. It was way to easy for Sam and Joe to convince people of their awesomeness and people with big egos were way to quick to apologize. At times it was kinda like reading an after school special. That's my driver for the lower stars. -This quote annoyed me "first I want to emphasize that we are in no way changing the rules as it applies to GAAP reporting required by law, she said. We understand that by law we must continue along the same path, she continued, but nowhere is it written in the tax code that the same information used for GAAP must be used to make the daily operational decisions." GAAP is not in tax law and GAAP is not required law except for public companies and Barton was not a public company. The operation experts that wrote this book should have stayed in their lane. This statement made them look foolish.
"I've never seen a customer come in and only talk to the workers before, said Joe. Me either, but when you stop and think about it, it's a good way of finding out if a company is actually living their values and principles, said Sam."
"So attempting to reduce cycle times at nonconstraints is basically a fruitless exercise. The focus must be on never letting the the constraint sit idle, correct?"
"so the method we use is Theory of Constraints integrated with Lean and Six Sigma," he explained. We use TOC to identify the constraint and the focus all our Lean and Six Sigma efforts only on the constraint. For us it's all about focus and leverage - focusing on the constraint and then
leveraging it."
"Ron, the people that assemble the helicopters, the people in the trenches are your true experts, not your engineers, said Connor."
What is a specific real world application that you will be able to make from what you learned in this book?
This book was interesting to read in regard to the idea of TOC and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM). The high level story got me interested in looking for other readings on these topics, but the Appendix was to much like a text book to fill that need. I want to find something at a level between the story and appendix.
What is the one thing that you think you will do differently or think differently about since you read the book?
"Larry a good plan or schedule must have three critical components if it's going to work, said Connor. First and foremost, it has to be believable to the people using it, he said. Secondly, he continued, it must be owned by the people using it. And last, but not least, Connor concluded, it has to be used. Your plans are not believable, not owned and not used." Our travelers are very similar to the financial statements and budget. When accounting owned them no one looked at them or believed them. HIP has upped ownership, believability and use. We should do the same with travelers and shift ownership from engineering and planning to the floor.
What is one point you disagreed with, or at least questioned, in this book?
Everything they tried worked perfectly and quickly. Any issues that came up were solved in two pages. It was way to easy for Sam and Joe to convince people of their awesomeness and people with big egos were way to quick to apologize. At times it was kinda like reading an after school special. That's my driver for the lower stars. -This quote annoyed me "first I want to emphasize that we are in no way changing the rules as it applies to GAAP reporting required by law, she said. We understand that by law we must continue along the same path, she continued, but nowhere is it written in the tax code that the same information used for GAAP must be used to make the daily operational decisions." GAAP is not in tax law and GAAP is not required law except for public companies and Barton was not a public company. The operation experts that wrote this book should have stayed in their lane. This statement made them look foolish.
April 23, 2020
This is a business novel that tells a success story of implementing Theory of Constraints (TOC) in an ailing company, Barton Enterprise, and turning it around to a prosperous one in a short time. Joe, the newly hired Continuous Improvement Manager, by strange coincident, meets with Connor, a bartender and at the same time a TOC consultant. Connor, whom I consider the main hero of the story, thru Joe and other executives of the company make on-time delivery and profitability skyrocket with the concepts and tools of the TOC.
The novel argues, thru interesting drama events, how prevalent beliefs of manpower efficiency and Cost Accounting are all myths and barriers in the way of real continuous improvement. Whereas focusing on the constraint process and adopting the Throughput Accounting concepts are the saviors for any company to thrive.
The theme of the book is to prove that improvement efforts on nonconstraint processes are all a waste of time as the throughput of the value chain is limited to the bottleneck process; the constraint. Hence, walking thru the 5 focusing steps of TOC is the roadmap to adopt whenever one approaches any improvement project. The only improvement is the one that hits the bottom line of the company, and that is better achieved by increasing the throughput (T).
Almost all tools and techniques of TOC are discussed in the novel. The 5 focusing steps, Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR), Intermediate Objectives Map (IO), Interference Diagram (ID), Systems Thinking Processes, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), and Throughput Accounting. The writers did a good job by sparing about 100 pages of appendices at the end of the book to review these tools separately.
The book is very interesting indeed. It opens one's horizon on how to approach improvement projects. Identify the constraint process, exploit it using Lean and Six Sigma, subordinate other processes to the constraint, then move with the constraint as it rolls over to another process. And the cycle goes on.
I highly recommend this book to professionals eager to understand how to apply TOC in their PI projects.
The novel argues, thru interesting drama events, how prevalent beliefs of manpower efficiency and Cost Accounting are all myths and barriers in the way of real continuous improvement. Whereas focusing on the constraint process and adopting the Throughput Accounting concepts are the saviors for any company to thrive.
The theme of the book is to prove that improvement efforts on nonconstraint processes are all a waste of time as the throughput of the value chain is limited to the bottleneck process; the constraint. Hence, walking thru the 5 focusing steps of TOC is the roadmap to adopt whenever one approaches any improvement project. The only improvement is the one that hits the bottom line of the company, and that is better achieved by increasing the throughput (T).
Almost all tools and techniques of TOC are discussed in the novel. The 5 focusing steps, Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR), Intermediate Objectives Map (IO), Interference Diagram (ID), Systems Thinking Processes, Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), and Throughput Accounting. The writers did a good job by sparing about 100 pages of appendices at the end of the book to review these tools separately.
The book is very interesting indeed. It opens one's horizon on how to approach improvement projects. Identify the constraint process, exploit it using Lean and Six Sigma, subordinate other processes to the constraint, then move with the constraint as it rolls over to another process. And the cycle goes on.
I highly recommend this book to professionals eager to understand how to apply TOC in their PI projects.
September 7, 2021
Good book that highlights how Theory of Constraints can be used to take business to the next level. The novel portion was a bit amateurish, however, the technical background was very helpful for even experienced practitioners. I would recommend quality colleagues read the book for additional insights into the Theory of Constraints.
Good appendix with detailed information as well
Good appendix with detailed information as well
June 15, 2017
Built off in a better way than the Goldratt, and gives an idea of how LSS works.
February 27, 2019
The writing style was frustrating, but the story line had me. There is a lot in here that assumes prior knowledge of TOC. And it's almost an advertisement for The Goal.
And from my blog review: https://www.jackvinson.com/blog/2013/...
I had been wanting to read Bob Sproull & Bruce Nelson's Epiphanized: Integrating Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma since it came out last winter. I finally got around to it. The story grabbed me, as many business novels do, and I finished it over the course of several evenings while I was on the road. (On the road with a TOC consulting client.)
The basic story is fairly familiar: struggling company, introduce TOC, company turns around. Oh, and of course there is a TOC guru who helps the protagonists think through the changes they need to make. The storyline expands in line with the title as successive people get "epiphanized" to the ideas of Theory of Constraints. The protagonists go from a small cabal of TOC enthusiasts to bringing in their corporate leadership, then to their suppliers, and even to their customers.
The style of writing was sometimes distracting. And some of the plot elements were painful to read. (The women are all "beautiful tonight," even if they are intelligent.) But the strange thing was that the overall line of the story was engaging. I realized at a key crisis point in the story that my heart was racing to discover what was going to happen to the main characters.
The subtitle talks about integrating TOC with Lean and Six Sigma, but there is very little about Lean and Six Sigma other than some buzzwords and familiar corporate positions. There are a lot of assumptions about what people know and do that aren't given enough meat for my tastes. The book is also a long advertising piece for Eli Goldratt's classic business novel, The Goal. So much so that I think I need to re-read it again.
All that said, the book gave me some interesting food for thought. In particular, since I am working on yet another TOC-related project, I gauged what the story proposed against what is happening in this new project. I liked how he used some of the TOC tools, such as the Intermediate Objective Map. And I am curious about the new-to-me idea of the Interference Diagram which is a way to outline what factors and policies are getting in the way of a stated goal.
One point that was repeated a couple times in the story was the importance of the involvement of the full workforce in these kinds of transformation - this is a point that often isn't fully appreciated in change projects which might engage a small "core team" to make everything happen. And even the membership of the core team is often the wrong people: rather than those who are going to be directly affected by the change, the core team is made of people who manage or coordinate, rather than the people doing the work.
And from my blog review: https://www.jackvinson.com/blog/2013/...
I had been wanting to read Bob Sproull & Bruce Nelson's Epiphanized: Integrating Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma since it came out last winter. I finally got around to it. The story grabbed me, as many business novels do, and I finished it over the course of several evenings while I was on the road. (On the road with a TOC consulting client.)
The basic story is fairly familiar: struggling company, introduce TOC, company turns around. Oh, and of course there is a TOC guru who helps the protagonists think through the changes they need to make. The storyline expands in line with the title as successive people get "epiphanized" to the ideas of Theory of Constraints. The protagonists go from a small cabal of TOC enthusiasts to bringing in their corporate leadership, then to their suppliers, and even to their customers.
The style of writing was sometimes distracting. And some of the plot elements were painful to read. (The women are all "beautiful tonight," even if they are intelligent.) But the strange thing was that the overall line of the story was engaging. I realized at a key crisis point in the story that my heart was racing to discover what was going to happen to the main characters.
The subtitle talks about integrating TOC with Lean and Six Sigma, but there is very little about Lean and Six Sigma other than some buzzwords and familiar corporate positions. There are a lot of assumptions about what people know and do that aren't given enough meat for my tastes. The book is also a long advertising piece for Eli Goldratt's classic business novel, The Goal. So much so that I think I need to re-read it again.
All that said, the book gave me some interesting food for thought. In particular, since I am working on yet another TOC-related project, I gauged what the story proposed against what is happening in this new project. I liked how he used some of the TOC tools, such as the Intermediate Objective Map. And I am curious about the new-to-me idea of the Interference Diagram which is a way to outline what factors and policies are getting in the way of a stated goal.
One point that was repeated a couple times in the story was the importance of the involvement of the full workforce in these kinds of transformation - this is a point that often isn't fully appreciated in change projects which might engage a small "core team" to make everything happen. And even the membership of the core team is often the wrong people: rather than those who are going to be directly affected by the change, the core team is made of people who manage or coordinate, rather than the people doing the work.
January 16, 2013
Prerequisite - You must read The Goal prior to reading Epiphanized.
I loved the format of the book. Half novel, half textbook. I think the authors did a great job of developing the story line to introduce, to me, several new tools and then gave good descriptions of the tools in the second half. I would have given this 4.5 stars if Goodreads had a half rating.
Two things really stopped me from putting this book at a 5 star rating.
1 - I did find the several punctuation errors a bit of a distraction. As I understand, this will be revised in a future edition; however, this should not stop anyone from reading immediately.
2 - The Finale of the novel seemed too abrupt. I cannot get into without spoiling, but it was analogous to a movie with a rough ending, you leave shaking your head saying..."What just happened".
Personal reflection: I was trained in traditional TPS/Lean school of thought and, until very recently, have been very closed minded about TOC & (to a lesser degree) Sigma. One thing that I remember clearly from Toyota Way is, the author emphasizes, "you cannot copy Toyota you must create your own way". I really am starting to see how several of the TOC practices NEED TO BE incorporated into my Lean Thinking for greater results and speed. As I plan for my FY13 improvement activities and weigh their benefits, I am asking things like; "Will this project be locally optimized or will it increase Throughput?" and "If they are local improvements are they at the drum?" I really plan on spending some time getting to better know the CCPM method.
Great book in general will sit on my shelf next to the goal and will be referenced often.
I loved the format of the book. Half novel, half textbook. I think the authors did a great job of developing the story line to introduce, to me, several new tools and then gave good descriptions of the tools in the second half. I would have given this 4.5 stars if Goodreads had a half rating.
Two things really stopped me from putting this book at a 5 star rating.
1 - I did find the several punctuation errors a bit of a distraction. As I understand, this will be revised in a future edition; however, this should not stop anyone from reading immediately.
2 - The Finale of the novel seemed too abrupt. I cannot get into without spoiling, but it was analogous to a movie with a rough ending, you leave shaking your head saying..."What just happened".
Personal reflection: I was trained in traditional TPS/Lean school of thought and, until very recently, have been very closed minded about TOC & (to a lesser degree) Sigma. One thing that I remember clearly from Toyota Way is, the author emphasizes, "you cannot copy Toyota you must create your own way". I really am starting to see how several of the TOC practices NEED TO BE incorporated into my Lean Thinking for greater results and speed. As I plan for my FY13 improvement activities and weigh their benefits, I am asking things like; "Will this project be locally optimized or will it increase Throughput?" and "If they are local improvements are they at the drum?" I really plan on spending some time getting to better know the CCPM method.
Great book in general will sit on my shelf next to the goal and will be referenced often.
February 10, 2013
Tedious, gawkish schlock. Avoid.
Want to read
December 11, 2015nada
November 27, 2021
Excellent livre. Je conseille à toute personne qui s'intéresse à l'amélioration continue.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews