Case Study Of Velocity Case Analysis

The manufacturing firm situated in Japan is a batch producer of products with a world class quality where their operations were fundamentally different from the final stage assembly line. They had reached a point where they had no additional capacity to meet the rising demand. To overcome this inefficiency and to satisfy the growing demand, Dr. Youngman and his team implemented the Theory of Constraints approach into the organization. They used a production simulator among all management units that helped them obtaining a professional planning function which led to good amounts of benefits later on. Theory of constraints style identified several constraints in every production area which was used to build a constraint based Professional Planner …show more content…
Focusing on the strengths of the Velocity approach, firstly, the basis of its formation itself seems to be a good mixture of the best practices available which are Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma. Secondly, the Lean approach turned out to be a powerful catalyst that led the enterprise to attain “focused system improvements” towards their strategic goal. Thirdly, with the help of Theory of Constraints methodology AIRSpeed Enterprise could attain an increase in process flows, reduction in waste and reduction in variability at key points by implementing strategic direction for the system, tactical level implementation and integrated toolset. Fourthly, successful training and realigned procedures and policies helped in permeating the organizations and promoted the new culture.
Considering the weaknesses of the improvement systems in this case study would be: Leaders, champions and experts of each methodology could not agree with the prospect of integrating all the improvement systems. They were not sure how to enact the integration which led to lot of speculation and debate. Lastly, this culture pitted supply and maintenance against each other. There was a lack of trust in the system, for Example maintenance did not understand how supply determined the amount of stock to carry and …show more content…
Secondly, by reducing the batch size significantly they could overcome another waste, “overproduction”. Through these improvements they were able to significantly reduce work-in-process back-log by two-thirds in just 12 weeks.
Elements of success which are unique to TOC management theory and Lean management principles are with respect to the Velocity case study are:
The Velocity approach is an integration of Theory of Constraints and Lean Six Sigma concepts. This integration is based on the following five factors which are Strategy, Design, Activate, Improve and Sustain (SDAIS). Strategy stage helps in creating a strategic roadmap to improve the business outcomes. The design stage determines the correct business process alignment. The activate phase helps in activating the new aligned business processes. The improve phase focuses on improvement to drive business results. Lastly, the sustain stage institutionalizes the processes to sustain the