Velocity

Combining Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints to Achieve Breakthrough Performance - A Business Novel

De: Dee Jacob, Suzan Bergland, Jeff Cox

Narrado por: Linda Weber

Millions of readers remember The Goal, the landmark business novel that sets forth by way of story the essential principles of Eliyahu Goldratt's innovative methods of production. Now, from the AGI-Goldratt Institute and Jeff Cox, the same creative writer who co-authored The Goal, comes VELOCITY, the book that reveals how to achieve outstanding bottom-line results by integrating the world's three most powerful continuous improvement disciplines: Lean, Six Sigma, and Goldratt's Theory of Constraints.

Used by the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps to dramatically improve some of the most complex, logistically vast supply chains in the world, the VELOCITY APPROACH draws on the strengths of all three disciplines to deliver breakthrough performance gains. In physics, speed with direction is velocity; in business, the application of VELOCITY means your organization can achieve operational speed with strategic direction to outmaneuver competitors, gain loyalty with customers, and rapidly build sustainable earnings growth -- in as little as one or two business quarters.

Dee Jacob and Suzan Bergland, two princi-pals of AGI, have been teaching the concepts, techniques, and tools of VELOCITY to major corporations, including Procter & Gamble, ITT, and Northrop Grumman, for years. Now they unlock the door for you to see how to apply their insights and methods to your organization -- be it business, not-for-profit, manufacturing, or service based -- in order to shorten lead times, slash inventories, reduce production variability, and increase sales.

Writer Jeff Cox returns with the vivid, realistic style that made The Goal so readable yet so edifying. Thrust into the presidency of the subsidiary company where she has managed sales and marketing, Amy Cieolara is mandated by her corporate superiors to implement Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in order to appease a key customer. Assigned to help her is LSS Master Black Belt Wayne Reese, installed as her operations manager. But as time goes on and corporate pressure mounts, Amy finds she has to start thinking for herself -- and learning from everyone around her -- and she arrives at the series of steps that form the core of the VELOCITY APPROACH.

VELOCITY offers keen insight into the human and organizational factors that so often derail growth while teaching you proven, practical techniques for restarting and revving up the internal engines of your company to reach new levels of success. Colorful characters, believable situations, and everything from dice games to AGI's "reality tree" techniques make this business novel a vital resource for everyone seeking to deliver business improvement in these challenging economic times -- and far into the future.©2010 The Avraham Y. Goldratt Institute and Jeff Cox; (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Reseñas de la Crítica

"AGI's VELOCITY APPROACH enabled us to get control over the uncertainties of our repair and remanufacturing business, leading to significant improvements in our overall performance. The changes we made to the way we manage our business positioned us to not only survive but to thrive in what could be called the worst recession since the Great Depression." -- Carl Coslow, President, Republic Industries International

"As we transformed the entire Naval Aviation logistics system, our leadership team decided that 'AIRSpeed,' our continuous process improvement program, would combine best business practices -- Lean, Six Sigma, and Theory of Constraints. This strategy not only enabled Naval Aviation to reduce turnaround times 40 percent and work in process nearly 50 percent in areas applied, but enhanced the quality of life of our sailors and marines." -- VADM Walter B. Massenburg, USN (Ret.), former Commander, Naval Air Systems Command; Architect and Chief Operating Officer of Naval Aviation Enterprise

the Goal is just better

It is just the same as the goal but with no content.

Great stuff!

Interesting novel! The material is great & put forth in a entertaining way! More Please

Excellent audio book. Great book.

What made the experience of listening to Velocity the most enjoyable?

Linda Weber's Narration as well as the easy to read writings of Dee Jacobs. I even enjoyed Dee's Introduction.

What did you like best about this story?

The lessons I learned about management.

Which scene was your favorite?

When Amy C, the main character, finally found the connection between LSS and TOC and how it can work to improve production standards. "We nailed the Herbie!" The moment Amy finally understood B. Don's statement.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes, and I did do so.

Any additional comments?

I am only canceling for one reason. I feel as though, we are being charged twice. I am sure there are definite financial reasons.

A subscription fee or the price of the books, would be nice. Especially if you only purchase a book or two every couple of months, we still have a subscription fee. Without a subscription fee, I would purchase more books.

Other than that I believe the service is great. Yet I will need to sell some books in order to afford the service.

Thanks :)

Audio books should be required to supply images

I listen to educational books on my commute to work. Without the images to support the audio lessons, a lot is lost.

A business novel!

I bought this audio book in the company of 2 others, “The Peter Drucker Lectures” and “The McKinsey Mind.” I was not aware it was a novel at that time. I am not un-happy with the result.
I got a light exposition of the classical big business Lean Six Sigma implementation in comparison and contrast to “The Theory of Constraints” set in a mostly manufacturing context. This novel is another example of that long history of novels that were written by the likes of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley that explore and/or expound on a particular philosophical point of view. It also has the advantage of being that apparently rare sub-genre the “business novel.”
If you have no exposure to either Lean Six Sigma or the Theory of Constraints this is probably the most painless way to get an introduction to either. You will need to do significant additional reading on both topics before you will be able to appreciate all the details that are both included and left out of any of the 3 methodologies.
While Lean and Six Sigma are often lumped together and do “get along” with each other pretty decently as I understand it, Lean has its own quality control methods that are not the same as Six Sigma. So if the improvement in quality that comes directly out of the manufacturing re-design of Lean are not sufficient then the quality improvement methods of Six Sigma can be applied.
As far as I can understand it, it is the Lean manufacturing re-design towards a “balanced” production line/system and the Theory of Constraints aimed towards a designed Constrained production line/system are where the two theories part in their goals to improve production. I will leave you to decide which one is supported by “the evidence.”
I will note that a WSJ article I just googled says that LSS is currently failing 60% of the time. I am going to assume they are talking about the classic top-down big business implementation that has huge up front costs and the results that take years. The version of LSS described in the novel is the classic top-down big business implementation. There doesn’t seem to be an equivalent article for the TOC available under “TOC failure rates” so I can’t compare. So let me offer principles: “You are entitled to your own opinion. You are not entitled to your own data” Senator/Professor Patrick Moynihan and “Speak truth to Power” (lots of researchers to lots of decision-makers).