Business901

The Business901 podcast featured  Amir Schragenheim, President of Inherent Simplicity, a software firm specializing in TOC software for Production & Distribution environments. Inherent Simplicity is the exclusive software supplier for Production & Distribution software to Goldratt Consulting, Eli Goldratt’s consulting firm, in their Viable Vision strategic projects. Mr. Schragenheim is a regular speaker at the TOCICO conferences, and is a TOCICO certified expert in: Supply Chain Logistics, Finance & Measures, Project Management, and Business Strategy. Before Inherent Simplicity, Mr. Schragenheim worked as a chief analyst for Attunity Ltd., where he was in charge of defining the technical requirements of a software tool to handle business processes. Symphony, Inherent Simplicity’s software product is the leading and most comprehensive platform for implementing procurement, operations and distribution TOC solutions. Equipped with Inherent Simplicity's turnkey solutions, Symphony is capable of leveraging TOC know how to reduce lead time, optimize inventory levels and more, all with a determined goal in sight, leading your supply chain towards an unprecedented level of service, ultimately, amplifying your profitability. Related Information: Theory of Constraints Roundup Transforming your Supply Chain to a Lean Fulfillment Stream eBook Lean Six Sigma applied to Supply Chain Application of Lean Six Sigma to the Supply Chain Applying Value Stream Concepts

The Business901 podcast featured  Amir Schragenheim, President of Inherent Simplicity, a software firm specializing in TOC software for Production & Distribution environments. Inherent Simplicity is the exclusive software supplier for Production & Distribution software to Goldratt Consulting, Eli Goldratt’s consulting firm, in their Viable Vision strategic projects. Mr. Schragenheim is a regular speaker at the TOCICO conferences, and is a TOCICO certified expert in: Supply Chain Logistics, Finance & Measures, Project Management, and Business Strategy. Before Inherent Simplicity, Mr. Schragenheim worked as a chief analyst for Attunity Ltd., where he was in charge of defining the technical requirements of a software tool to handle business processes. Symphony, Inherent Simplicity’s software product is the leading and most comprehensive platform for implementing procurement, operations and distribution TOC solutions. Equipped with Inherent Simplicity's turnkey solutions, Symphony is capable of leveraging TOC know how to reduce lead time, optimize inventory levels and more, all with a determined goal in sight, leading your supply chain towards an unprecedented level of service, ultimately, amplifying your profitability. Related Information: Theory of Constraints Roundup Transforming your Supply Chain to a Lean Fulfillment Stream eBook Lean Six Sigma applied to Supply Chain Application of Lean Six Sigma to the Supply Chain Applying Value Stream Concepts

The Business901 podcast featured  Amir Schragenheim, President of Inherent Simplicity, a software firm specializing in TOC software for Production & Distribution environments. Inherent Simplicity is the exclusive software supplier for Production & Distribution software to Goldratt Consulting, Eli Goldratt’s consulting firm, in their Viable Vision strategic projects. Mr. Schragenheim is a regular speaker at the TOCICO conferences, and is a TOCICO certified expert in: Supply Chain Logistics, Finance & Measures, Project Management, and Business Strategy. Before Inherent Simplicity, Mr. Schragenheim worked as a chief analyst for Attunity Ltd., where he was in charge of defining the technical requirements of a software tool to handle business processes. Symphony, Inherent Simplicity’s software product is the leading and most comprehensive platform for implementing procurement, operations and distribution TOC solutions. Equipped with Inherent Simplicity's turnkey solutions, Symphony is capable of leveraging TOC know how to reduce lead time, optimize inventory levels and more, all with a determined goal in sight, leading your supply chain towards an unprecedented level of service, ultimately, amplifying your profitability. Related Information: Theory of Constraints Roundup Transforming your Supply Chain to a Lean Fulfillment Stream eBook Lean Six Sigma applied to Supply Chain Application of Lean Six Sigma to the Supply Chain Applying Value Stream Concepts

On the Business901 Podcast I had the pleasure this week interviewing Eric Landes. Eric is an Agile Project Manager who has been using Kanban for software development since 2007. He has worked with Scrum, XP and other agile methods for over the past 5 years, and has been managing software projects for over 10 years. Eric has his own blog, Corporate Coder which can be found at http://EricLandes.com. He is also a frequent contributor to http://developer.com. Eric first caught my eye when I was reviewing the conference speakers and the workshops being hosted by the Lean Software and Systems Conference held last April in Atlanta. I had noticed that he was presenting a real life scenario of how an Operations Group’s Kanban adoption failed to improve cycle times. The session ended up in a 5 Why session and a Q & A to discuss other situations that had not produced results. I thought it was an excellent way to stimulate discussion and to learn more about Kanban versus the typical “this is what we did” approach. This approach also told me a lot about the person. Someone that is comfortable with their failures represents someone that has a lot of self-confidence and most of the time knowledge. My instincts were not proven wrong. The podcast was down to earth with little if any lets change the culture rhetoric we so often hear. Our discussion started with Agile drilling down to Scrum and finally the last twenty minutes on Kanban and what he has learned implementing it. This is someone that knows what to do with a sticky note! Related Posts: Kanban at Xerox Corporation The differences in Lean and Agile Kanban, could we call this podcast anything else? Business901 Kanban Search Kanban too simple To be Effective?

On the Business901 Podcast I had the pleasure this week interviewing Eric Landes. Eric is an Agile Project Manager who has been using Kanban for software development since 2007. He has worked with Scrum, XP and other agile methods for over the past 5 years, and has been managing software projects for over 10 years. Eric has his own blog, Corporate Coder which can be found at http://EricLandes.com. He is also a frequent contributor to http://developer.com. Eric first caught my eye when I was reviewing the conference speakers and the workshops being hosted by the Lean Software and Systems Conference held last April in Atlanta. I had noticed that he was presenting a real life scenario of how an Operations Group’s Kanban adoption failed to improve cycle times. The session ended up in a 5 Why session and a Q & A to discuss other situations that had not produced results. I thought it was an excellent way to stimulate discussion and to learn more about Kanban versus the typical “this is what we did” approach. This approach also told me a lot about the person. Someone that is comfortable with their failures represents someone that has a lot of self-confidence and most of the time knowledge. My instincts were not proven wrong. The podcast was down to earth with little if any lets change the culture rhetoric we so often hear. Our discussion started with Agile drilling down to Scrum and finally the last twenty minutes on Kanban and what he has learned implementing it. This is someone that knows what to do with a sticky note! Related Posts: Kanban at Xerox Corporation The differences in Lean and Agile Kanban, could we call this podcast anything else? Business901 Kanban Search Kanban too simple To be Effective?

On the Business901 Podcast I had the pleasure this week interviewing Eric Landes. Eric is an Agile Project Manager who has been using Kanban for software development since 2007. He has worked with Scrum, XP and other agile methods for over the past 5 years, and has been managing software projects for over 10 years. Eric has his own blog, Corporate Coder which can be found at http://EricLandes.com. He is also a frequent contributor to http://developer.com. Eric first caught my eye when I was reviewing the conference speakers and the workshops being hosted by the Lean Software and Systems Conference held last April in Atlanta. I had noticed that he was presenting a real life scenario of how an Operations Group’s Kanban adoption failed to improve cycle times. The session ended up in a 5 Why session and a Q & A to discuss other situations that had not produced results. I thought it was an excellent way to stimulate discussion and to learn more about Kanban versus the typical “this is what we did” approach. This approach also told me a lot about the person. Someone that is comfortable with their failures represents someone that has a lot of self-confidence and most of the time knowledge. My instincts were not proven wrong. The podcast was down to earth with little if any lets change the culture rhetoric we so often hear. Our discussion started with Agile drilling down to Scrum and finally the last twenty minutes on Kanban and what he has learned implementing it. This is someone that knows what to do with a sticky note! Related Posts: Kanban at Xerox Corporation The differences in Lean and Agile Kanban, could we call this podcast anything else? Business901 Kanban Search Kanban too simple To be Effective?

I had 2 experts, Michael Curry and Rob Piersielak of the Xerox Corporation on the Business901 podcast to discuss Kanban. With so much being written about Kanban in software development and in my own writings on the Marketing Kanban, I felt that giving my readers and listeners a perspective on the traditional form of Kanban would be interesting. We stayed on track through the podcast but wandered off for a moment to discuss Lean and Standard Work practices at Xerox. To Xerox, a KanBan is a designated area on the production floor where employees stage material that is scheduled for consumption.  Once the area empty, a signal is sent to the “supplier” to replenish the Kanban area with the designated quantity. During the podcast we discussed Internal, Local and Global Kanban. Michael P. Curry is a Materials Manager for Worldwide Manufacturing Operations at Xerox Corporation.  He leads an organization responsible for configuration, planning and purchasing in support of printer products built at Xerox in Webster, NY.  He has 15 years of management experience with Xerox in positions such as Operations, Procurement and Materials/Logistics. Curry earned his BS from SUNY at Fredonia, NY and his MBA in International Business from St. John Fisher College, in Rochester, NY. He holds a Green Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma and is a member of the Institute for Supply Chain Management. Rob Piersielak was born in Rochester, NY. He received his BS in Industrial Engineering from Alfred University, and his M.S. in Engineering and Global Operations Management from Clarkson University. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently a Master Black Belt candidate. Over his 20 year career at Xerox Corporation, Mr. Piersielak has had numerous positions throughout the supply chain, all focused on process improvement and design. He lead projects redesigning manufacturing plants and warehouses in seven different countries, was part of the Global Just In Time Manufacturing Deployment team, and also lead the manufacturing team in rapid Time to Market product delivery project that delivered benchmark TTM results for Xerox. He is currently responsible for worldwide Supply / Demand and Order Fulfillment for the company’s flagship product, the iGen press, and is also responsible for Webster Manufacturing Materials Logistics Operations.

I had 2 experts, Michael Curry and Rob Piersielak of the Xerox Corporation on the Business901 podcast to discuss Kanban. With so much being written about Kanban in software development and in my own writings on the Marketing Kanban, I felt that giving my readers and listeners a perspective on the traditional form of Kanban would be interesting. We stayed on track through the podcast but wandered off for a moment to discuss Lean and Standard Work practices at Xerox. To Xerox, a KanBan is a designated area on the production floor where employees stage material that is scheduled for consumption.  Once the area empty, a signal is sent to the “supplier” to replenish the Kanban area with the designated quantity. During the podcast we discussed Internal, Local and Global Kanban. Michael P. Curry is a Materials Manager for Worldwide Manufacturing Operations at Xerox Corporation.  He leads an organization responsible for configuration, planning and purchasing in support of printer products built at Xerox in Webster, NY.  He has 15 years of management experience with Xerox in positions such as Operations, Procurement and Materials/Logistics. Curry earned his BS from SUNY at Fredonia, NY and his MBA in International Business from St. John Fisher College, in Rochester, NY. He holds a Green Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma and is a member of the Institute for Supply Chain Management. Rob Piersielak was born in Rochester, NY. He received his BS in Industrial Engineering from Alfred University, and his M.S. in Engineering and Global Operations Management from Clarkson University. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently a Master Black Belt candidate. Over his 20 year career at Xerox Corporation, Mr. Piersielak has had numerous positions throughout the supply chain, all focused on process improvement and design. He lead projects redesigning manufacturing plants and warehouses in seven different countries, was part of the Global Just In Time Manufacturing Deployment team, and also lead the manufacturing team in rapid Time to Market product delivery project that delivered benchmark TTM results for Xerox. He is currently responsible for worldwide Supply / Demand and Order Fulfillment for the company’s flagship product, the iGen press, and is also responsible for Webster Manufacturing Materials Logistics Operations.

I had 2 experts, Michael Curry and Rob Piersielak of the Xerox Corporation on the Business901 podcast to discuss Kanban. With so much being written about Kanban in software development and in my own writings on the Marketing Kanban, I felt that giving my readers and listeners a perspective on the traditional form of Kanban would be interesting. We stayed on track through the podcast but wandered off for a moment to discuss Lean and Standard Work practices at Xerox. To Xerox, a KanBan is a designated area on the production floor where employees stage material that is scheduled for consumption.  Once the area empty, a signal is sent to the “supplier” to replenish the Kanban area with the designated quantity. During the podcast we discussed Internal, Local and Global Kanban. Michael P. Curry is a Materials Manager for Worldwide Manufacturing Operations at Xerox Corporation.  He leads an organization responsible for configuration, planning and purchasing in support of printer products built at Xerox in Webster, NY.  He has 15 years of management experience with Xerox in positions such as Operations, Procurement and Materials/Logistics. Curry earned his BS from SUNY at Fredonia, NY and his MBA in International Business from St. John Fisher College, in Rochester, NY. He holds a Green Belt Certification in Lean Six Sigma and is a member of the Institute for Supply Chain Management. Rob Piersielak was born in Rochester, NY. He received his BS in Industrial Engineering from Alfred University, and his M.S. in Engineering and Global Operations Management from Clarkson University. He is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt, and is currently a Master Black Belt candidate. Over his 20 year career at Xerox Corporation, Mr. Piersielak has had numerous positions throughout the supply chain, all focused on process improvement and design. He lead projects redesigning manufacturing plants and warehouses in seven different countries, was part of the Global Just In Time Manufacturing Deployment team, and also lead the manufacturing team in rapid Time to Market product delivery project that delivered benchmark TTM results for Xerox. He is currently responsible for worldwide Supply / Demand and Order Fulfillment for the company’s flagship product, the iGen press, and is also responsible for Webster Manufacturing Materials Logistics Operations.

Drew Locher was my guest on the Business901 podcast and our conversation centered on applying Lean to the Office and Services sector.  Drew has been working to implement Business strategies since 1986 and I amazed at his ability to distinguish between novel ideas and ones that just a horse of a different color. His recent workshop, Optimizing Flow in Office and Service Processes  in Indianapolis hosted by the Lean Enterprise was filled to capacity and registrations were closed weeks before the event. Drew is currently Managing Director for Change Management Associates, Shingo Prize winning author and the first Business901 Podcast returning guest.  CMA is a consortium of individuals who share a similar business management and improvement vision. They are committed to seeing innovative strategies implemented in all business environments. The CMA approach is practical and application oriented - a 'learn as you're doing and succeeding' approach. Related Books: The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office Processes Value Stream Mapping for Lean Development: A How-To Guide for Streamlining Time to Market Extending Lean Thinking to Office and Services Related Posts: Lean Rock Stars assembled for Indy Management Workshop Future State Map 7 Basic Questions Using Value Stream Mapping E-book

Drew Locher was my guest on the Business901 podcast and our conversation centered on applying Lean to the Office and Services sector.  Drew has been working to implement Business strategies since 1986 and I amazed at his ability to distinguish between novel ideas and ones that just a horse of a different color. His recent workshop, Optimizing Flow in Office and Service Processes  in Indianapolis hosted by the Lean Enterprise was filled to capacity and registrations were closed weeks before the event. Drew is currently Managing Director for Change Management Associates, Shingo Prize winning author and the first Business901 Podcast returning guest.  CMA is a consortium of individuals who share a similar business management and improvement vision. They are committed to seeing innovative strategies implemented in all business environments. The CMA approach is practical and application oriented - a 'learn as you're doing and succeeding' approach. Related Books: The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office ProcessesValue Stream Mapping for Lean Development: A How-To Guide for Streamlining Time to MarketExtending Lean Thinking to Office and ServicesRelated Posts: Lean Rock Stars assembled for Indy Management Workshop Future State Map 7 Basic Questions Using Value Stream Mapping E-book

Drew Locher was my guest on the Business901 podcast and our conversation centered on applying Lean to the Office and Services sector.  Drew has been working to implement Business strategies since 1986 and I amazed at his ability to distinguish between novel ideas and ones that just a horse of a different color. His recent workshop, Optimizing Flow in Office and Service Processes  in Indianapolis hosted by the Lean Enterprise was filled to capacity and registrations were closed weeks before the event. Drew is currently Managing Director for Change Management Associates, Shingo Prize winning author and the first Business901 Podcast returning guest.  CMA is a consortium of individuals who share a similar business management and improvement vision. They are committed to seeing innovative strategies implemented in all business environments. The CMA approach is practical and application oriented - a 'learn as you're doing and succeeding' approach. Related Books: The Complete Lean Enterprise: Value Stream Mapping for Administrative and Office ProcessesValue Stream Mapping for Lean Development: A How-To Guide for Streamlining Time to MarketExtending Lean Thinking to Office and ServicesRelated Posts: Lean Rock Stars assembled for Indy Management Workshop Future State Map 7 Basic Questions Using Value Stream Mapping E-book

Theory of Constraints Handbook authors John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III were part of my recent podcast Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints. We covered so much material during the interview that I split the discussion into 2 parts. The one preceding and this one on the Thinking Processes of TOC. I enjoyed the conversation, I hope you do. An excerpt from the podcast:: Joe:  When we talk about  lean problem solving, we talk about the five why's, but the thinking process that the Theory of Constraints uses is a whole different level of thinking, is it not? I mean it goes much, much further than you can with lets say the five Why concept. Jim:  Yes, I agree with you, but if you took the five why concept, the early use of the thinking tools and the current reality tree in particular, both would ask why but in TOC you would validate that that cause really existed before you asked the second "why". Then when you ask the second Why, you would validate that that cause existed. So I look at the five "why's" and what we call the Snowflake Effect, or Diving Down to identify a core problem as being very similar, except TOC is like a person that wears a belt and suspenders. TOC wants to ensure that that cause really exists and validate that cause exists before they ask the second or the third or the fourth Why. John:  We go through categories of what we call legitimate reservation, which are also documented in the book, in reviewing the logic so that we can assure that it's solid. So the picture we see of the current reality expressed in logical cause and effect construct is really right on the money. It accounts for causes of all of the undesirable effects that we've been able to identify in the environment. Related Blogs: Quickest way to deal with a Marketing Constraint, Slice it! Problem Solving – Think 3, Not 5 Improve throughput, cut your customers in half! Lean your Marketing thru Segmentation

Theory of Constraints Handbook authors John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III were part of my recent podcast Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints.We covered so much material during the interview that I split the discussion into 2 parts. The one preceding and this one on the Thinking Processes of TOC. I enjoyed the conversation, I hope you do. An excerpt from the podcast:: Joe:  When we talk about  lean problem solving, we talk about the five why's, but the thinking process that the Theory of Constraints uses is a whole different level of thinking, is it not? I mean it goes much, much further than you can with lets say the five Why concept. Jim:  Yes, I agree with you, but if you took the five why concept, the early use of the thinking tools and the current reality tree in particular, both would ask why but in TOC you would validate that that cause really existed before you asked the second "why". Then when you ask the second Why, you would validate that that cause existed. So I look at the five "why's" and what we call the Snowflake Effect, or Diving Down to identify a core problem as being very similar, except TOC is like a person that wears a belt and suspenders. TOC wants to ensure that that cause really exists and validate that cause exists before they ask the second or the third or the fourth Why. John:  We go through categories of what we call legitimate reservation, which are also documented in the book, in reviewing the logic so that we can assure that it's solid. So the picture we see of the current reality expressed in logical cause and effect construct is really right on the money. It accounts for causes of all of the undesirable effects that we've been able to identify in the environment. Related Blogs: Quickest way to deal with a Marketing Constraint, Slice it! Problem Solving – Think 3, Not 5 Improve throughput, cut your customers in half! Lean your Marketing thru Segmentation

Theory of Constraints Handbook authors John G. Schleier, Jr. and James F. Cox III were part of my recent podcast Holistic approach to the Theory of Constraints.We covered so much material during the interview that I split the discussion into 2 parts. The one preceding and this one on the Thinking Processes of TOC. I enjoyed the conversation, I hope you do. An excerpt from the podcast:: Joe:  When we talk about  lean problem solving, we talk about the five why's, but the thinking process that the Theory of Constraints uses is a whole different level of thinking, is it not? I mean it goes much, much further than you can with lets say the five Why concept. Jim:  Yes, I agree with you, but if you took the five why concept, the early use of the thinking tools and the current reality tree in particular, both would ask why but in TOC you would validate that that cause really existed before you asked the second "why". Then when you ask the second Why, you would validate that that cause existed. So I look at the five "why's" and what we call the Snowflake Effect, or Diving Down to identify a core problem as being very similar, except TOC is like a person that wears a belt and suspenders. TOC wants to ensure that that cause really exists and validate that cause exists before they ask the second or the third or the fourth Why. John:  We go through categories of what we call legitimate reservation, which are also documented in the book, in reviewing the logic so that we can assure that it's solid. So the picture we see of the current reality expressed in logical cause and effect construct is really right on the money. It accounts for causes of all of the undesirable effects that we've been able to identify in the environment. Related Blogs: Quickest way to deal with a Marketing Constraint, Slice it! Problem Solving – Think 3, Not 5 Improve throughput, cut your customers in half! Lean your Marketing thru Segmentation