Busi 650 2 replies due today 9/29/919 10;59 pm cst
CAN SOMEONE DO THIS FOR ME DUE 9/29/2019 AT 10:59PM CST REPLIES
The Replies
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1ST REPLY
Goldratt’s Critical Chain
BUSI 650 – Operations Management
Felecia Howard
Liberty University
Key Concept Explanation
The Critical Chain concept regarding project management was theorized by Eliyahu Goldratt in 1997. The critical chain is the lengthiest part of the project in which takes more time to complete and in most cases, it’s the most expensive. The critical chain is defined as “a Theory of Constraints solution that addresses the common problems found in project management so companies can better plan, manage, and be more successful with projects” (Bergland, 2016, p. 5). Quite similar to the concept behind six sigma; a critical chain was developed to control or mitigate variations in a process or task; whether on a project or doing a simple job. This theory was modeled to ensure that issues that cause delays or disruptions are mitigated. I’m interested in this subject due to one of my recent job responsibilities – initiating a project which occurs annually. In the past, this project has taken longer than anticipated and there are many areas that are not completed accurately. Knowing more about this subject will assist in mitigating any foreseen delays and disruptions in the process.
Comparison
Comparing research on Goldratt’s Critical Chain, there were several similarities and differing views. Goldratt’s theory was initially designed to improve the efficiency of processes in a factory; it evolved into the area of project management while analyzing the tasks involved. (Meredith & Shafer, 2016, p. 245) focus more on three specific areas of Goldratt’s theory that assist in evaluating the process flow; a) inflated activity time estimates, b) activity time variability with a path interdependencies and c) resource dependence. (Bergland, 2016) argue that Goldratt’s theory maybe have some beneficial aspects of it; however, the overall approach to buffering (Zhang, Cui, & Bie, 2012) times and time delays are unrealistic. In, Goldratt’s theory, delaying the longest cycle of the project “critical chain,” but still delivering on time is more beneficial than shortening cycles and missing the overall project deadline. (McKay & Morton, 2007, p. 761) outline five different findings from analyzing Goldratt’s theory from the theory being a revision of earlier literature completed in the early nineteen hundreds to this method working for some companies but not for others, “there are hidden and implicit assumptions that restrict the generality of the work;” additionally, the writers argue that that are too many open questions that have not been answered in using this philosophy.
Article Summary
The article, “Goldratt’s thinking process applied to the budget constraints of a Texas MHMR Facility” (Taylor & Churchwell, 2004) reviews the results of implementing the Goldratt’s method in a mental health facility. It defines the critical chain theory and how the theory has evolved over the years from project management and factory use to an over practical application for various types of businesses. The theory “is an emerging philosophy that offers some distinct advantages, both theoretical and practical” (Taylor & Churchwell, 2004). The medical teams applied Goldratt’s theory to lower cost, increase proficiencies, and reduce the variations in many departments in the facility. The writers focus on three different areas that experienced overwhelming successes after full completion of the projects. The first improvement was close to a million dollars in savings by the elimination of bottlenecks in their billing processes. Other successes noted were over a 100% reduction in cancellations; as in the past, this area cost the firm an abundance of resources and expenses. Additionally, implementing the theory raised compliance over 100%, reduced cycle times and lead times overall.
Biblical Integration
Applying biblical principles to improving a process by delaying timelines can be related to the Christian walk. We go through this life awaiting the return of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to return. Facing challenges each day that examines our faith in God’s ability to deliver us. Even in our healing or when we are in a difficult period in our lives whether financial, emotional or spiritual; it feels as though there is no light at the end of the tunnel and the breakthrough has been delayed. One of my favorite scriptures in the bible is Jeremiah 29:11, God states, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope” (NIV). This scripture is encouraging knowing that God wants us to live in abundance and he has set forth plans for our success in life.
Application
Applying Goldratt’s theory of the critical chain has been successful in many businesses as noted in earlier references; depending on the nature of the business and the project being performed, some of the successes can be observed immediately and others over time. The constraint theory can be applied to any type of business; such as in air services; where savings were experienced and over an eight percent reduction in maintenance time identified (Kulkarni, Yadav, & Nikraz, 2017).
Annotated Bibliography
Bergland, E. (2016). High-Level Critical Chain Overview. In E. Bergland, Get it Done On-Time (pp. 5-22). APress. Retrieved from https://link-springer-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4842-1860-0_2
The writer in this article outlined a simplistic way to understand what a critical chain is and how it operates; additionally the benefits of using Goldratt’s theory in improving the chain. It provides a role-play situation which is very relatable and easy to understand; in the role-play the persons would provide examples to help the reader understand the purpose of Goldratt’s theory, how it has evolved and how it can provide benefits to companies that use that method.
Kulkarni, A., Yadav, D. K., & Nikraz, H. (2017). Aircraft maintenance checks using critical chain project path. Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, 879-892. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1961802780/fulltextPDF/87C6ABEAE244E83PQ/1?accountid=12085
In this article, the writers performed research on how applying Goldratt’s Critical Chain theory to aircraft services can produce success. The research was completed in several areas in the aircraft service such as in maintenance and engineering. The research was based on surveys performed over some time to document the current process and any areas that can be improved. The findings provided management with essential information on which areas required the most improvement and where savings could be made. The results of the implementation enabled the company to save millions and reduce cancellations in addition to other successes.
McKay, K. N., & Morton, T. E. (2007). The Review of: “Critical Chain” Eliyahu M. Goldratt The North River Press Publishing Corporation, Great Barrington, MA, 1997. IIE TRANSACTIONS, 759-763. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/pdf/10.1080/07408179808966521?needAccess=true
The writer in this article provides a review and analyzation of Goldratt’s theory including providing historical information on why it was developed and how it has evolved throughout the years. The research focuses on the uncertainty of time in the critical chain; additionally, the writer discusses safety time and multi-tasking. Lastly, the article outlines five different findings from analyzing Goldratt’s theory from the theory being a revision of earlier literature completed in the early nineteen hundred to this method working for some companies but not for others. Additionally, the writers argue that that are too many open questions that have not been answered in using this philosophy
Taylor, L. J., & Churchwell, L. (2004). Goldratt’s the thinking process applied to the budget constraints of a Texas MHMR Facility. Journal of Health and Human Service Administration, 416-37. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/200016613?pq-origsite=summon
The article reviews the results of implementing Goldratt’s method in a mental health facility. It defines the critical chain theory and how the theory has evolved over the years from project management and factory use to an over practical application for various types of businesses. The writers focus on three different areas that experienced overwhelming successes after full completion of the projects. The first improvement was close to a million dollars in savings by the elimination of bottlenecks in their billing processes. Other successes noted were over a 100% reduction in cancellations; as in the past, this area cost the firm an abundance of resources and expenses
Zhang, X., Cui, N., & Bie, L. (2012). Buffer sizing approach with dependence assumption between activities in critical chain scheduling. International Journal of Production Research, 7343-7356. Retrieved from https://www-tandfonline-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/doi/full/10.1080/00207543.2011.649096
The purpose of this article is to provide specifics on the buffer time in a critical chain. The writers examine the different sizing to buffers and which to apply for which process. Some steps in the process require shorter times to complete than others; Godratts’s theory suggests using half of the buffering time as safety times. Additionally, the article discusses the impacts of the dependency on activities in the project against the overall completion timeline.
2ND REPLY
Kaizen
Sydney Price
Liberty University
I chose kaizen as my key concept this week because the description “continuous improvement” ties in cooperatively with Amazon’s corporate culture. Amazon is the organization I have chosen for my Integrative Learning Project. Kaizen and the continuous improvement process has always been an essential means of performance at Amazon. Kaizen is the philosophy of effectively and efficiently improving the processes and products of a business to meet or exceed changing customer requirements and the organization’s standards. The philosophy of continuous improvement, which focuses on the elimination of waste or non-value-added activities throughout the organization, follows Amazon’s values.
Comparison
Kaizen is a Japanese word that means change or continuous awareness of wanting to improve. “The term Kaizen is the combination of two Japanese ideograms (Kanjis), Kai (改) which means change, and Zen (善), which means to improve or to be reborn” (Barraza, González, & Dávila, 2018 p. 250). This management approach leads to the creation of new habits, beliefs, and feelings by focusing on the following philosophies: traditional values, process orientation, and improving perfection. Kaizen is seen as a portion of total quality management (TQM) or another improvement or innovation program, generating changes using small incremental improvements in an organization’s work processes. According to Marin-Garcia, Juarez-Tarraga, & Santandreu-Mascarell (2018), to adopt a successful kaizen implementation of “strong and committed leadership from a senior management team, communication, learning and training, quality culture, customer management, and quality data” (p. 302) are imperative.
Different standpoints exist as to whether kaizen is synonymous with CI or just a closely related concept. Kaizen means change for the good which is a school of thought focused on continual improvement (Carnerud, Jaca, Bäckström, 2018).
Mendez & Vila-Alonso (2018) mention the term kaizen sustainability as the capacity of this model to endure over time effectively and irreversibly even after the problem has been solved. There are different approaches to continuous improvement, employee suggestions, management demand, or executive level proposals. The participation of people in such activities is usually considered a means of developing critical skills in the employees. When kaizen is in place, individuals and organizations are focused on the greater good in the long term. According to Masaaki Imai, the man who introduced the term kaizen to the western world, kaizen means ongoing improvement involving everyone (Carnerud, Jaca, Bäckström, 2018), this includes top management, middle-managers, and front-line workers.
The complete process of continuous improvement may take over a year to implement, however shorter kaizen events or ‘kaizen blitzes’ are becoming a more popular alternative. The kaizen blitz consists of “a day or two of training in lean concepts followed by completing a continuous improvement project (Meredith & Schafer, 2016, p. 278) and can often be completed in less than a week. A kaizen event is “a focused and structured improvement project, using a dedicated cross-functional team to improve a targeted work area, with specific goals, in an accelerated timeframe” (Marin-Garcia, Juarez-Tarraga, & Santandreu-Mascarell, 2018, p 299)
Article Summary
Ron Dyer describes kaizen as the “philosophy of continuously improving the pursuit of perfection” (Dyer, 2016, p. 19). Every company has a problem whether it is big or small; solving them is the basis of kaizen. Toyota has a mature kaizen culture. Toyota adopted kaizen very early on, the Toyota Production System (TPS) began in 1950 using people as the problem solvers.
Kaizen can occur at different levels in the organization, at the job site, management, or executive level. Between 2 people or a whole group in a workshop as in a kaizen blitz, where a group is sequestered for 3-5 days to solve a specific problem. When a company is further along in the kaizen culture this may not be necessary because many employees are already looking at problem-solving as part of their job. As all employees continually make small improvements, the company will see vast improvements in production, value, and safety while also reducing expenses.
A kaizen culture allows the employees who do the work every day to present the problems and help in the solutions. They “are the ones who have the knowledge to identify and solve problems” (Dyer, 2016, p. 20). The ability to use job knowledge, creativity, and innovation is more effective and efficient because they are more qualified to carry out the results. This allows more people working together in the problem-solving process. The focus of kaizen are the four purposes of improvement defined by Shigeo Shingo, a famous Japanese industrial engineer who helped to develop the Toyota Production System (TPS). He said, “There are four purposes of improvement: easier, better, faster, and cheaper. These four goals appear in the order of priority” (Dyer, 2016, p. 21). Kaizen philosophy focuses on using people and their innovative ideas to solve problems for continuous improvement. These will eventually eliminate waste and streamline the effort needed to do the same work, resulting in diminished costs.
Biblical Integration
The term kaizen is used closely with continuous improvement, and when a business is fully kaizen, everyone is working together as we, as Christians should be doing in our lives and for others. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28, English Standard Version).
When one is in a situation that needs improvement, whether personal or within a business organization, there are always a group of like-minded people that it makes more sense to group with, the more efficient workers, the ones that do not waste time and focus on the job at hand, and the betterment of the company will prosper in the end. These are the people with whom one wants to be associated. As stated in Proverbs 13:20, Whoever walks with the wise become wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm” (ESV).
A corporation should always be growing as should the engaged employees, if they are satisfied where they are in the organization, then they are stagnant and are not looking out for what is best for themselves or the business. 2 Peter 3:18 says, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (ESV). We should not sit back and expect to be given what we have. We must work and grow for ourselves and for God.
Application
Kaizen was made popular by Toyota, and it is rare to hear one without the other. The two foundations of The Toyota Way are 1) Wisdom and Kaizen and 2) Respect of humanity. Kaizen is focused on continuous process improvements, resulting in higher quality products. Improving all processes is the way to attain customer satisfaction. This thinking practice has become the substance of the current Toyota method referred to as “Kaizen-(every time improvement, everywhere improvement, everyone improvement; continuous improvement)” (Hibino, 2017, p.47).
Toyota does not believe in management focusing on results. Instead, it focuses on the process, as seen by the Toyota Production System (TPS). Toyota does not selectively pick one tool, system, or habit and assume that this one item will define success. They are integrated and need to be used in conjunction with each other.
Annotated Bibliography
Barraza, M. F. S., González, F. G. R., & Dávila, J.-A. M. (2018). Introduction to the special issue on kaizen: An ancient operation innovation strategy for organizations of the XXI century. TQM Journal, 30(4), 250-254. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/2075552445?pq-origsite=summon
The kaizen philosophy approach has been present in the management arena for several years. This paper analyzed several different articles exploring the kaizen philosophy. While exploring kaizen in all aspects from its origins to the current application, the authors are looking for diverse perspectives and methodological approaches that explore kaizen applications as an operational innovation strategy for organizations in the context of the twenty-first century. For this reason, each of the selected manuscripts represents a significant advance in research about kaizen. Each manuscript is exciting and varied in its content, findings, methodology, and conclusions. Giving the reader additional information if more reading and research is desired.
Carnerud, D., Jaca, C., Bäckström, I. (2018). Kaizen and continuous improvement – trends and patterns over 30 years. The TQM Journal, 30(4), 371-390. doi:10.1108/TQM-03-2018-0037. Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TQM-03-2018-0037/full/html
The purpose of this paper is to depict how kaizen and continuous improvement (CI) are represented in scientific journals focusing on quality management (QM) from the 1980s until 2017. Additionally, the study aims to examine how kaizen is studied and often considered an underlying element of Lean production and total quality management. Kaizen has evolved over more than 30 years. Defined by its founder as ongoing improvement involving everyone from top management to middle-managers and front-line workers. It has been found that implementing kaizen and CI is complex and not always successful. The generality and simplicity of the kaizen idea is seen as both its weakness and its strength.
Dyer, R. (2016). KAIZEN. Cost Management, 30, 19-21. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.liberty.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/docview/1768413834?accountid=12085
The Japanese word kaizen comes from the word’s kai, which means “to change” or “to correct,” and zen, which means “good.” It describes the philosophy of continuously improving in the pursuit of perfection. This article details some of the ways this philosophy is demonstrated in organizations that have kaizen cultures focusing on continuous improvement. In these cultures, problems are continuously being solved by everyone at every level of the organization. It makes sense to have employees offer suggestions for improvements as well as management. Kaizen is a philosophy that focuses on people and tapping into their innovation to solve problems and continuously improve. It also focuses on being ahead of cutting costs.
Hibino, S. (2017). Toyota’s global marketing strategy innovation through breakthrough thinking and kaizen / (Vol. 1). https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315163567
This book analyzes the marketing strategy of the Toyota Production System. Authored by former Toyota marketing executives, this book details how Toyota’s thinking habits go beyond the shop floor and influence and guide Toyota’s marketing function. Expanding from a venture initiative to one of the biggest global enterprises because of its innovative mindset (Toyota thinking habits) using Breakthrough Thinking, which supports a new philosophical approach to problem-solving, turning 180 degrees away from conventional thinking. This book explores the concept of “Breakthrough Thinking,” examines how Toyota gathers information, how they study customer use of their products and reveal how Toyota cars have become some of the biggest selling models in the USA
Marin-Garcia, J. A., Juarez-Tarraga, A., & Santandreu-Mascarell, C. (2018). Kaizen philosophy. The TQM Journal, 30(4), 296–320. doi: 10.1108/tqm-12-2017-0176. Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TQM-12-2017-0176/full/html
This paper describes the kaizen philosophy as a continuous improvement instrument that maintains and improves competitiveness by using knowledge best implemented by the employees themselves. Management is better served in a coaching role. By making small, incremental improvements, the organization will see great advancements in innovation and a reduction in costs. Kaizen can be done over time individually on worker or management level, or in small kaizen events or blitzes over three to five days within cross-functional teams, focusing primarily on lean production. Managers and consultants commonly put forth the proposals upon which these short term, low cost, team-based, and action-oriented kaizen events are based.
Mendez, J., & Vila-Alonso, M. (2018). Three-dimensional sustainability of Kaizen. The TQM Journal, 30(4), 391–408. doi: 10.1108/tqm-12-2017-0179. Retrieved from https://www-emerald-com.ezproxy.liberty.edu/insight/content/doi/10.1108/TQM-12-2017-0179/full/html
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sustainability of kaizen from a three-dimensional perspective (operational, emotional and behavioral), as well as the process of “putting down roots” related with the implementation of kaizen until it becomes sustainable. The authors structure the document into three parts: the first one focuses on the theoretical approach to sustainability, the second one focuses on showing the experimental research on three-dimensional sustainability and the third part deals with highlighting the theory that emerges from the data which is essential for its sustainability. These are the challenges that the kaizen of the twenty-first century must face.
Meredith, J. & Shafer, S. (2016). Operations and Supply Chain Management for MBAs (6th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN: 9781119239536.
