44Linda Trapnell, "Learning How to Make Logical Plans": http://www.tocforeducation.com/att-c/attc04.html 45Dr. Cora Santiago and Lourdes Visaya, Presentation at the 6th TOCfE International Conference, Nottingham, England, July 2002.

1Source: *Mercer Quality of Living global city rankings 2009, the latest Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS).

Copyright 2010 by Christina Cheng.

2The chapter reports the actual experiences of the project and is not intended as a formal academic study.

3Participants were asked what obstacles were blocking them from achieving the ambitious target "To be successful in the workplace."

4The Yellow Ribbon Project is spearheaded by the Community Action for the Rehabilitation of Ex-Offenders (CARE) Network, a group of major community and government organizations responsible for the rehabilitation of ex-offenders.

5Refers to the work of Edward Lorenz based on chaos theory whereby the flap of a butterfly's wings may contribute to a tornado in another part of the world by creating tiny changes in the atmosphere.

6As a funny aside, we were puzzled when used flipchart paper kept disappearing from the trash. Later we discovered some inmates had taken the examples to paste on their cell wall to show off their skills in-between classes to non-TOC cellmates!

1Goldratt (Goldratt, Schragenheim, and Ptak, 2000) examines the use of technology in a business in his novel, Necessary But Not Sufficient: A Theory of Constraints Business Novel.

2The Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO) offers certifications in several areas including Supply Chain Logistics, Finance & Measures, Project Management, Thinking Process, and Business Strategy. Visit their Web site for further information. http://www.tocico.org 3Literature reviews are provided for each of the TOC application areas at the beginning of each section in this handbook.

1The figures in this chapter and some of the discussion are based upon material presented by the authors in their book Release the Hostages, published by North River Press in 2009. We wish to thank North River Press for their kind permission to present it here.

2Customer Support Services is known by several names including customer support, customer services, customer support services, technical support, or technical services. We will use the term customer services, or CS for short.

Copyright 2010 by Alex Klarman and Richard Klapholz.

3The Thinking Processes are not taught in this chapter; it is assumed that the reader either is familiar with the processes or can read Section VI of the Handbook.

1While not called Theory of Constraints at the time, many of the concepts are presented in Goldratt (1984).

2See Kendall (2004).

3For a discussion of Strategy and Tactic Trees, see Chapters 15, 18, 25 and 34.

Copyright 2010 by Gary Wadhwa.

4An excellent discussion of Critical Chain in a multi-project environment is provided in Kendall and Rollins (2003).

5See Pascal Dennis (2007) and Sayer and Williams (2007) for descriptions and examples of the use of lean tools.

6See Mikel and Schroeder (2000) and Gygi, DeCarlo, Williams, and Covey (2005) for descriptions and examples on Six Sigma.

7We run into dilemma and debate on what level of care must be provided to everyone. Where should society draw a line between mandatory health care verses voluntary individual choice of care? Should government provide health care for all or should we allow the free market to provide high quality, reliable care? This chapter does not get into a political debate. It does discuss the need to speed up the cure rate and provide reliable care.

8 E. M. Goldratt used by permission, all rights reserved. (For a full development of this POOGI, see the section on performance measurement.) 9Throughput takes into account variable costs of supplies for each service, the time utilization, number of patients served, and dollars paid by insurance companies.

10Please note, there is a strong assumption built into this argument. The private practices and hospitals can improve their Throughput significantly by the first two steps that the low value T/CU segment of population will become a significant source of profits. This is not different from the airline or hotel industries that try to fill the capacity by offering discounts through Priceline, Orbitz, etc. For-profit organizations have to discriminate and make rational decisions based upon TA in order to show bottom-line results.

11Example: For surgical procedures, the patients are more tolerant if the surgery prior to them is delayed. They have been fasting, taken time from work, and they are not interested in rushing the surgeon to perform faster, whereas during quick consulting or postsurgery follow-up time, any delay appears longer. The patients' expectations are to get in and out so that they can go on with their lives.

12The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 47) defines Throughput (T) as "The rate at which the system generates 'goal units'. Because throughput is a rate, it is always expressed for a given time period such as per month, week, day or even minute. If the goal units are money, throughput will be an amount of money per time period. In that case throughput is calculated as revenues received minus totally variable costs divided by the chosen time period.

Illustration: Suppose a company produces only one product, and it sells for $100 and has totally variable costs of $35 per unit. If, in a week, the company produces 500 units but only sells 450, throughput would be $29,250 per week ((100-35) x 450). NOTE: Product produced but not sold does not generate throughput, it increases inventory." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 13The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al. 2007, 35) defines Operating Expense (OE) as "All the money the organization spends in generating "goal units". Perspective: In the throughput-world paradigm of the theory of constraints, operating expenses include items such as salaries, rent, insurance, and other expenses that would be paid even if operations stopped for awhile. OE does not include expenses that vary directly with production/service volume, such as cost of raw material, commissions, etc. These expenses are considered to be totally variable costs, not OE." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.).

14The TP are discussed in detail in other chapters in this section. An Evaporating Cloud and the S&T related to the doctor's application are shown here to illustrate their application to the health care field.

15There is usually a lag time to see the results from actions taken after implementing logically valid initiatives. This delay causes the dynamics and dance between one side of the conflict and the other that results in negative feedback loops with associated undesired side effects.

16Some health providers may be upset by the focus on the goal of a for-profit health provider being to make more money now and in the future. They should be informed that any for-profit business must satisfy two necessary conditions to meet this money goal in the long term. These necessary conditions are that the provider must provide high quality service to the customer (patient in our health care environment) and to have satisfied employees (paid staff in our health care environment). Achieving the goal of making more money now and in the future is impossible unless these two necessary conditions are met. Hence, having already met these two necessary conditions is assumed and any future decision does not jeopardize this.

17TA is discussed in Chapter 14 and also Corbett (1998).

18The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 29) defines Investment (I) as "All the money currently tied up in the system. As used in TOC, investment refers to the equipment, fixtures, buildings, etc. that the system owns as well as inventory in the forms of raw materials, work in progress, and finished goods." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 19The S&T replaces the Prerequisite Tree and the Transition Tree in developing detailed plans for an organization. It provides the basis for a detailed implementation plan to achieve the viable vision for any system. The health care S&T Tree is a blend of the Reliability, Rapid Response S&T and the Project Management S&T templates.

20The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 24) defines flying pig injection-"A breakthrough solution or injection that initially seems impossible to implement." ( APICS 2008, used by permission, all rights reserved).

21Definition is yet to be done for 4:31, 4:32, and 4:33.

1Compromise (noun): something accepted rather than wanted. Compromise (verb): lessen the value of somebody or something. Encarta Dictionary: English (North America) July 2009.

2Throughout this chapter, the word clinicians is used to represent all medical professionals who provide medical services to patients, including physicians, nurses, technicians, etc.

3The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 2122) defines core problem as "(a) fact, or conflict, or erroneous assumption that is the source of at least 70% of the undesirable effects in the current reality of the system being studied. Perspective: A core problem can have three manifestations either as 1. a fact, such as 'efficiency is used as the prime measure in operations,' or, 2. the conflict between D and D' in a core conflict cloud, such as 'D. Use local efficiencies as a prime measure, and D '. Do not use local efficiencies as a prime measure,' or, 3. an erroneous assumption responsible for the conflict, such as, 'A resource standing idle is a major waste. '" ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 4When one discusses an improvement initiative with employees, many times the employee will say: "That will never work here, we are different." Pay close attention to the employee's reasons it will fail; he or she is probably right. You may not be addressing the core problem, you may not understand what would block that initiative, etc.

5The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 11) defines undesirable effect as "A negative aspect of the current reality defined in relation to the organizational or system's goal or its necessary conditions. UDEs are believed to be a visible symptom of a deeper, underlying root cause, core problem, or core conflict. Usage: Some characteristics of a well-articulated UDE include: 1. a complete statement about a single consequence which does not contain the following words/phrases: 'and', 'because of', or 'as a result of '; 2. an effect that is within management's span of control; 3. something that exists in the reality of the organization precisely as stated; 4. something that is negative in its own right, without dependence on any other factor; 5. neither a presumed cause nor a presumed solution of the organization's core conflict or its major dilemma. Most, if not all, UDEs should appear as entities within the current reality tree." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 6Evaporating Clouds are presented in Section VI on Thinking Processes, this volume.

7The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 2728) defines the three-cloud approach as "(a) relatively fast method of developing a current reality tree (CRT) wherein the developer identifies three seemingly independent undesirable effects (UDEs), creates an evaporating cloud (EC) for each, and synthesizes the three ECs into single generic cloud called the core conflict cloud (CCC)." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 8The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 50) defines change sequence as "The three stages that must be completed in the successful management of change within a system. The change sequence answers the following three questions: 1. What to change? 2. To what to change? and, 3. How to cause the change?" ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 9The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 14) defines the current reality tree (CRT) as "(a) thinking processes sufficiency-based logic diagram that facilitates answering the first question in the change sequence, namely, "what to change?" The CRT is a diagram that illustrates the cause-effect relationships that exist between the core problem and the most, if not all, of the undesirable effects (UDEs)." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 10The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 8) defines categories of legitimate reservation (CLR) as "The rules for scrutinizing the validity and logical soundness of thinking processes logic diagrams. Seven logical reservations are grouped into three levels. Level I: clarity reservation. Level II: causality existence and entity existence reservations. Level III: cause insufficiency, additional cause, predicted effect existence, and cause-effect reversal (tautology) reservations." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) The CLR are presented in Chapter 25.

11The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 14) defines core conflict as "(t) he systemic conflict that causes the vast majority of the undesirable effects in the current reality of the system being studied. The core conflict is often generic in nature and can be derived by generalizing the various conflicts that underlie the undesirable effects that persist in the system." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 12Such as nurses having to double chart-keeping both paper and computerized records of the same events. Another example might be an unacceptable time delay in the delivery of consumables from stores to the treatment areas, which results in staff having to beg or borrow supplies from other areas.

13How to use these thinking process tools is discussed in detail in Section VI on the Thinking Processes.

14The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 21) defines the evaporating cloud (EC) as "(a) necessity-based logic diagram that describes and helps resolve conflicts in a 'win-win' manner. It has two primary uses, first as a structured method to facilitate the description and resolution of a conflict, and second, as an integral part of the three cloud approach to creating a core conflict cloud which then forms the base of a current reality tree." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 15The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 34) defines the negative branch (NBR) as "(a)n adverse or undesirable side effect that can be caused by an injection and thereby compromise the positive effects from a proposed problem solution or injection." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 16http://www.tocforeducation.com/teach3.html 17The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 38) defines the prerequisite tree (PRT) as-"A necessitybased logic diagram that facilitates answering the third question in the change sequence, namely, how to cause the change? A PRT shows the relationship between the injections, intermediate objectives, or ambitious target, and the obstacles that block the implementation of the injections. A PRT includes the intermediate objectives required to overcome the obstacles, and shows the sequence in which they must be achieved for successful implementation." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 18The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 17) defines desirable effect (DE) as "(a) positive or beneficial outcome associated with an organization's actual or future performance. DEs are often the opposite of an UDE." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 19The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 43) defines the strategy and tactic tree (S&T) as "(a) logic diagram that includes all the entities and their relationships that are necessary and sufficient to achieve an organization's goal. The purpose of the S&T tree is to surface and eliminate conflicts that are manifested through the misalignment of activities with organizational goals and objectives." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 20The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 15) defines critical chain project management (CCPM) as "The TOC solution for planning, scheduling, and managing performance in a project environment. It is applied in two very different environments; single project environments and multi project environments where resources are shared across several different projects concurrently." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) See Chapters 3, 4, and 5, this volume.

21The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 17) defines the TOC distribution/replenishment solution as "A pull distribution method that involves setting stock buffer sizes and then monitoring and replenishing inventory within a supply chain based on the actual consumption of the end user, rather than a forecast. Each link in the supply chain holds the maximum expected demand within the average replenishment time, factored by the level of unreliability in replenishment time. Each link generally receives what was shipped or sold, though this amount is adjusted up or down when buffer management detects changes in the demand pattern." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) See Chapters 11 and 12, this volume.

22The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 18) defines drum-buffer-rope (DBR) as "The TOC method for scheduling and managing operations." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) See Chapters 8, 9, and 10, this volume.

23The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 7) defines buffer management (BM) as "A feedback mechanism used during the execution phase of operations, distribution, and project management that provides a means to prioritize work, to know when to expedite, to identify where protective capacity is insufficient, and to resize buffers when needed." See Chapter 8. ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) See Chapter 8, this volume.

24The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 46) defines the thinking processes (TP) as "A set of logic tools that can be used independently or in combination to address the three questions in the change sequence, namely, 1. What to change? 2. To what to change? and, 3. How to cause the change? The TP tools are: evaporating cloud, current reality tree, future reality tree, negative branch reservation, prerequisite tree, and transition tree." See Chapters 34 and 35. ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) See Chapters 34 and 35, this volume.

25A recent CRT analysis incorporated the UDEs given by 65 staff. If these people were to schedule 30-minute interviews to voice their concerns with each other, it would have consumed over 2000 people hours and they would not have discovered the underlying core problem of their facility.

1This definition is consistent with Eliyahu M. Goldratt's definition of complexity, "Complexity is a result of the number of interactive constraints-constraints that impact each other." (Goldratt 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, Chapter 5, "How Complex Are Our Systems," 1.) 2In CCPM with single projects, all conflict is removed from the plan by moving tasks earlier in time, which extends the project but gives an aggressive yet feasible plan with high probability of completion within the project buffer. In sequencing multiple projects, there are frequent resource conflicts between projects. Trying to resolve the conflict between projects would force the projects to move conflicting tasks backward in time, which lengthens the individual projects and increases the idle time of many resources. Yet, as soon as the projects start, early or late task completions create new conflicts between the projects. It seems you cannot win, even with longer and longer project plans. The CCPM multi-project solution (1) schedules individual projects by CCPM without conflict, (2) sequences the projects according to a fixed point (or strategic resource or task), (3) manages all projects with BM, and (4) assigns resources to projects (and tasks) as needed to benefit the overall organization.

3Figure 33-4 follows an approach first used by Alan Barnard in his presentation, "Insights and updates on the theory of constraints thinking processes" at the first Theory of Constraints International Certification Organization (TOCICO) Conference held in Cambridge, England in 2003.

4See, for example, Section II on Critical Chain and Section III on Drum-Buffer-Rope and the Distribution/Replenishment solution.

5See Chapter 14-Resolving Measurement/Performance Dilemmas.

6 E. M. Goldratt used by permission, all rights reserved.

7Note: The use of CCPM here shows how the overall project for ideas should be planned. That is, there is a 50 percent project buffer protecting the critical chain and 50 percent feeder buffers for the feeding chains. However, the concern of the complex organization is to meet the expected delivery dates (promises) from one group or department to another. The project "ideas" can be managed as a whole according to CCPM methods, but the complex organization must deliver according to plan or there will be major disruptions to the whole system. This will become more obvious later in this chapter. The solution for the complex organization is an overriding measurement system that will govern the flow of all groups and departments, not just the project, production, and distribution worlds that are part of the complex organization.

8TDD is discussed in The Haystack Syndrome, Chapter 24 (Goldratt, 1990); The Theory of Constraints Journal, 3:1718 (Goldratt, 1988a); TOC Insights for Distribution, Parts 10 and 11, Measurements of Execution (Goldratt et al., 2006); and in the TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007). (TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 9Here we see that the groups, departments, and organizations receive TDD assessments based upon their delivery reliability. We also see that the product or project can report TDD as well. That is, the TDD assessed to a unit is also recorded with the product or project. This is not a double accounting, but a record of what group or department had unreliable delivery and also what product caused it. Having the TDD measured in this way helps management assess which organizations need help and which products/projects need improvement as well as which groups need help.

10While recovering buffer is important in process flows, it is neither rewarded nor punished. Rewarding or punishing buffer penetration or buffer recovery creates the wrong behavior; task estimates become inflated and aggressive plans are lost.

11Shippers Supply Company has used TDD for over three years. They only had to add one data element to their existing database in order to calculate the TDD. The daily TDD report is enormously effective in reducing what was an unmanageable stock level. They use the TDD report to expedite late work. They use a Pareto analysis to focus their improvement efforts. Customer service is very happy; now, customers rarely complain. The TDD numbers alert management in advance so they can take actions to fix problems before they affect delivery (Johnson, 2009).

12Figure 33-16 was first drawn by John Thompson (2009).

13www.tocico.org 1The S&T tree is one of a number of tools of the TOC Thinking Processes, which can be read about in Chapters 24 and 25 of this book. The S&T tree includes both sufficiency-based logic and necessity-based logic, which are described in those chapters and in more detail later in this chapter. The S&T tree should be written after the CRT and FRT have already been developed.

2In TOC costs are classified as totally variable costs, Operating Expense, and Investment.

3The full explanation and logic underlying finding this win-win solution is provided in Goldratt (2008a).

4The trees are available in the member section of the TOC International Certification Organization (TOCICO) Website at www.tocico.org and as part of a useful software program named Harmony for creating S&T trees at www.goldrattresearchlabs.com. Note that the most up-to-date versions of the S&T trees are automatically included in Harmony. The full Retailer S&T tree is not presented here due to space limitations. The missing steps of the full S&T tree can be downloaded at the above sites and are read in a similar manner as presented in our discussion here.

5This win-win solution is explained in The Choice (Goldratt, 2008a) in Chapters 2, 8, and 10.

6There are two buy-in processes in TOC, which are referred to as the plus and minus-minus processes.

7These solution elements were presented in The Goldratt Webcast Program on Project Management (Goldratt, 2008b).

8Note that the combination of the Retailer and CG S&T trees provides the win-win solution for both retailers and suppliers that is explained in The Choice (Goldratt, 2008a).

9It is recommended that anyone who is interested in this S&T tree review the program that Dr. Goldratt facilitated, which provides a full explanation of this S&T tree. It is available on DVD, titled "The Goldratt Webcast Program on Project Management," at www.toc-goldratt.com.

10My suggestion for learning more about the literature on strategy is to review Thompson, Strickand III, and Gamble (2008).

11Suggestions for how to implement this approach are described in the TOC Insights into Distribution and Supply Chain, which is available at www.toc-goldratt.com.

12See the TOC Insights into Operations, which can be purchased at www.toc-goldratt.com, for a good explanation about why local efficiencies are not a good measure of performance.

13He pointed out that two additional usages of S&T trees are for project management (for choosing the project and determining its content) and as an organizer of knowledge.

1A discussion of complexity is presented in Goldratt, E. M. 1987. Theory of Constraints Journal 1(5) Chapter 5-"How complex are our systems?" New Haven, CT: Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute. ( E. M. Goldratt used by permission, all rights reserved.) 2A form of this cloud was presented in Goldratt, E. M. 1999. Goldratt Satellite Program. Session 2 Finance and Measures. ( E. M. Goldratt used by permission, all rights reserved.) 3Goldratt, E. M. 1990 . What's This Thing Called Theory of Constraints? Croton-on-Hudson, NY: North River Press.

4In the APICS Dictionary (Blackstone, 2008, 2), common cause is defined as "Causes of variation that are inherent in a process over time. They affect every outcome of the process and everyone working in the process. Syn: random cause. See: assignable cause, assignable variation, common cause variability." ( APICS 2008, used by permission, all rights reserved.) Special or assignable cause, in the APICS Dictionary (Blackstone, 2008, 7) is defined as "A source of variation in a process that can be isolated, especially when its significantly larger magnitude or different origin readily distinguishes it from random causes of variation." ( APICS 2008, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 5Project management solutions are discussed in Section II and logistics solutions are discussed in Section III of this Handbook.

6The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 15) defines critical chain as "The longest sequence of dependent events through a project network considering both task and resource dependencies in completing the project. The critical chain is the constraint of a project.

Usage: The critical chain plus the project buffer determines the lead time for the project. If no resource contention exists, then the critical chain would be the identical to the critical path." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 7The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 18) defines Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) as "The TOC method for scheduling and managing operations. Usage: DBR uses the following: 1. the drum, generally the constraint or CCR, which processes work in a specific sequence based on the customer requested due date and the finite capacity of the resource; 2. time buffers which protect the shipping schedule from variability; and, 3. a rope mechanism to choke the release of raw materials to match consumption at the constraint." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 8The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 17) define distribution/replenishment solution as "A pull distribution method that involves setting stock buffer sizes and then monitoring and replenishing inventory within a supply chain based on the actual consumption of the end user, rather than a forecast. Each link in the supply chain holds the maximum expected demand within the average replenishment time, factored by the level of unreliability in replenishment time. Each link generally receives what was shipped or sold, though this amount is adjusted up or down when buffer management detects changes in the demand pattern.

Usage: The largest amounts of inventory are held at a central warehouse where the variation in demand is the least. Smaller amounts of inventory are held and are replenished frequently at the end consumer location where variation in demand is the greatest. Throughput dollar days and inventory dollar days are measures used to judge the reliability and effectiveness, respectively, of each link in the chain. Transfer pricing is not used." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 1The APICS Dictionary (Blackstone, 2008, 136) defines Takt time as "Sets the pace of production to match the rate of customer demand and becomes the heartbeat of any lean production system. It is computed as the available production time divided by the rate of customer demand. For example, assume demand is 10,000 units per month, or 500 units per day, and planned available capacity is 420 minutes per day. The Takt time = 420 minutes per day/500 units per day = 0.84 minutes per unit. This Takt time means that a unit should be planned to exit the production system on average every 0.84 minutes." ( APICS 2008, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 2Used by permission of Eliyahu M. Goldratt Eliyahu M. Goldratt.

3The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 41) defines relay runner as "The process of applying a focused effort to complete a task and hand it off immediately to a resource waiting and prepared to take the hand-off in critical chain project management."

Usage: Some people use relay runner interchangeably with road runner in an operations environment." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission all rights reserved.) 4The APICS Dictionary (Blackstone, 2008, 93) defines order point system as "The inventory method that places an order for a lot whenever the quantity on hand is reduced to a predetermined level known as the order point." Two order point systems are used: the min-max system and economic order quantity system (EOQ). The min-max system (83) is " A type of order point replenishment system where the "min" (minimum) is the order point, and the "max" (maximum) is the "order up to" inventory level. The order quantity is variable and is the result of the max minus available and on-order inventory. An order is recommended when the sum of the available and on-order inventory is at or below the min." The EOQ (43) system is defined as "A type of fixed order quantity model that determines the amount of an item to be purchased or manufactured at one time." ( APICS 2008, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 1This particular case study was the topic of an Industry Week Webinar, which they later claimed was their highest attended ever.

2Recall that Jonah is a character in The Goal (written by Eli Goldratt) that Socratically leads a person to discover the answer to a problem.

1Some of the materials in this chapter are drawn from Cox, Blackstone, and Schleier (2003, Chapter 17).

2One of the authors started teaching the TP to his college students based on personal productivity and time management dilemmas. His thinking was that it was easier to teach a new methodology if the student was familiar with the subject matter on which the methodology would be used. This approach proved to be of significant value to a large number of students. The story of one such student is provided later in this chapter.

3The TOCICO Dictionary (Sullivan et al., 2007, 11) defines a chronic conflict as: "A contentious situation that has continued to exist for a prolonged period of time. Opposing sides have been justifying their perspective through selective requirements and prerequisites for so long that both sides become entrenched in their own beliefs to the point that neither side can see how to break the conflict without suffering a significant loss.

Usage: Breaking a chronic conflict requires understanding the opposing perspectives. This understanding can lead to the surfacing of hidden assumptions underlying entity relationships that are often the key to creating a breakthrough solution. The solution to a chronic conflict requires one side to offer up a problematic (from their perspective) injection and the other side to somehow eliminate any of the undesirable aspects of the proposed injection using negative branch reservations (NBRs)." ( TOCICO 2007, used by permission, all rights reserved.) 4After a few iterations of this cloud, my son realized that I was concerned with his security. Therefore, he would seek out answers to the anticipated questions before we started our dialog. Occasionally, I would have a question where his response was, "Good question! Let me find out what the answer is and get back to you."

5This problem was studied by a number of different MBAs over the past decade; for a detailed analysis of this problem and to see a different way of building a future reality tree see: Cox, Mabin, and Davies (2005).

6In Chapter 16, Barnard and Immelman use Ackoff's terminology of Errors of Commission (doing what you shouldn't do) and Errors of Omission (not doing what you should do) as causes of grave problems. These same categories fit well what we are describing here.

7Sheila not only made the 2000 and 2004 Olympic teams in the triathlon, but also she switched sports and competed in the pentathlon in Beijing in the 2008 Olympics. She is the only woman ever to compete in four Olympics in three different sports. To read more of her amazing story, go to: http://www.sheilat. com/keynote.htm