Getting Started with TOC

Every organization embarking on a TOC  journey faces different challenges unique to their circumstances. However there are several crucial steps that almost always increase top-level support, spread the right learning, and engender the buy-in necessary to pursue The Goal.

Prepare the Groundwork

• Get others involved - share TOC books, training, websites, videos, etc. with colleagues in other departments and functions to build broader support.
• Secure an Executive Sponsor, a business leader who will take personal responsibility for the TOC transformation. Ideally this would be the Owner, Chairperson, Managing Director, CEO or COO.
• Capitalize on a crisis to begin the transformation. This could be a working capital shortage, dismal profitability, poor customer due-date performance, high-stress high-workload environment, frequent internal conflicts, external crisis in the economy/industry, etc.
• If your company isn’t in crisis, focus attention on an emerging competitive threat or find a customer who is willing demand dramatically better due-date performance.

Lay the Foundation

• Educate your Top Team, including CXOs and all Department / Functional Heads via training, Goldratt Satellite Program and/or mentoring (about 8 days of training, spread over 1-2 months). Ensure team buy-In before proceeding further.
• Retain a TOC Advisor or Business Coach for smooth deployment.
• Align the top team to global, bottom-line oriented measurements (abolish KPAs).
• Identify your constraint(s), based on inventory accumulation, expediting trends and rated capacity.
• Identify your organization's core conflict
• Make it clear to all that layoffs are incompatible with TOC and that there are no plans to fire anyone (apart from non-performance)!
• Place expansion plans on hold - all non-essential new equipment, additional headcount etc. TOC implementation will almost certainly release significant spare capacity!

For more detailed implementation steps, conduct a TOC Feasibility Study