This book is a sequel to the business novel, The Secret to Maximizing Profitability - A Business Novel on How to Successfully Combine the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to Drive Profit Margins to New Levels. In The New Beginning, Tom Mahanan, Tires for All's former Director of Finance, who learned how to combine the Theory of Constraints with Lean and Six Sigma, and then applied it to Tires for All, strives to take his company to levels of profitability they had never experienced before. As a reward for his work, Tom was given a permanent seat on the Board of Directors, as long as he continued his improvement work at the remaining portfolio of companies owned by the Board of Directors.
Tom performed extremely well, but one day he receives a life-changing phone call from his former mentor, Bob Nelson, the man who he had worked with at Tires for All to make amazing improvements. Bob asks him to play golf with him and two others, Jeff Johnson, from Toner International, and Pete Hallwell, the CFO at Maximo Health Center Complex. Pete and Tom share a golf cart during the round and begin chatting about the work Tom had done at Tires for All and the other portfolio of companies. Pete, who works for a healthcare complex of hospitals, is so impressed with the results Tom had achieved, that he invites him to lunch the following week. Tom accepts his offer of lunch and ultimately, Tom signs a consulting agreement with Pete.
Tom had provided an example from a previous improvement effort where he worked with a hospital in Chicago to improve their Emergency Department time for STEMI-type heart attack patients. In his explanation, Tom presents a variety of improvement tools which includes the integration of the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma. Tom then meets with his current employer and specifically, the Chairman of the Board of Directors, Jonathan Briggs, to let him know that he will be resigning to form his own consulting firm. Jonathan then surprises Tom by offering him a consulting agreement to improve all of their portfolio companies. The remainder of the book is all about teaching companies how to combine the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to obtain optimal results. In the final two chapters, a new problem surfaces, which is the Corona Virus.
Essentially, this book teaches the reader how to successfully combine and implement the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to produce results that many companies only dream of having. It covers a variety of different company types including manufacturing and healthcare.
This book delivers insight into how to rapidly help organizations become much more effective and profitable. Through an engaging story about a year in the life of a consultant, they demonstrate how the synergistic combination of Lean, Six Sigma, & Theory of Constraints (known as the Ultimate Improvement Cycle or UIC) can help quickly drive the performance of organizations from mediocre to record setting levels. As a consultant, I truly appreciate and relate to the realistic scenarios and levels of achievement presented in this book. These results are more than possible with the UIC; they're repeatable and reproducible. Now, more than ever, would be a great time to read this book and learn how to apply it for anyone passionate about improving their organizations?especially consultants, plant managers, organizational leadership, as well as board members of companies and equity groups. It works.
Michael Asbury,founder,Elevate Coaching & Consulting
The strongest parts of this book are the intuitive illustrations and explanations of the basic principles of Theory of Constraints that will hold the hand of a newcomer and serve as training material for the professional. This book contains inspirational and hands on examples of how to systematically walk an organization through empowering its employees, forming independent teams of subject matter experts and with only a little injection of new knowledge and perspective setting them loose on the core problems of the organization.
Rasmus Hammer, process consultant --Theory of Constraints,Frederiksberg Forsyning A/S,Copenhagen, Denmark
This booktakes the reader from the cost-accounting world of saving money to the throughput world of making money. Utilizing theory of constraints, this book illustrates a methodology enabling cross-functional teams to define and implement their goals.
Steve Schmidt, founder and owner, ISWW Solutions, LLC
