TOC in Production Online Course extract: The 5 Focusing Steps. A Marris Consulting online service.
This course, that we launched one year ago, has been a great success. We continue to add to it continuously by enriching the appendices with more and more recent examples drawn from our unique experience of implementing the Theory Of Constraints in over 350 organisations throughout the world.
We have worked in: cars, bicycles, rockets, planes, trains, buses, medical devices, software development, missiles, chemicals, insurance, oil & gas, batteries, airlines, food & beverages, Swiss watches, auto OEMs, cardboard, aluminum, pharmaceuticals, steel, recycling, dog food, armament, tax services, public transport, e-commerce, industrial equipment, aeronautical MRO, nuclear industry, vacuum pumps, ERP editors and implementors, glass production, ball bearings, air conditioning, global logistics, semiconductors, bank note production, railway MRO, satellites, fast food, mining, armed forces, luxury goods, farming equipment, lampposts, luxury hotels …
TOC in Production Online Course extract: The 5 Focusing Steps. A Marris Consulting online service.
This course, that we launched one year ago, has been a great success. We continue to add to it continuously by enriching the appendices with more and more recent examples drawn from our unique experience of implementing the Theory Of Constraints in over 350 organisations throughout the world.
We have worked in: cars, bicycles, rockets, planes, trains, buses, medical devices, software development, missiles, chemicals, insurance, oil & gas, batteries, airlines, food & beverages, Swiss watches, auto OEMs, cardboard, aluminum, pharmaceuticals, steel, recycling, dog food, armament, tax services, public transport, e-commerce, industrial equipment, aeronautical MRO, nuclear industry, vacuum pumps, ERP editors and implementors, glass production, ball bearings, air conditioning, global logistics, semiconductors, bank note production, railway MRO, satellites, fast food, mining, armed forces, luxury goods, farming equipment, lampposts, luxury hotels …
How to improve flow in knowledge work with the Theory of Constraints
The first time I heard the term Theory of Constraints (ToC), I imagined something as exciting as watching laundry dry. Years later, the Five Focusing Steps of ToC are some of the most powerful tools I know for improving delivery performance—whether in manufacturing, software, or government IT.
The "2 for 1" rule to reduce Work In Progress and accelerate flow. A webinar hosted by Philip Marris, the founder and CEO of Marris Consulting. [...] The "2 for 1" rule is very simple: a new unit (such as a production order, an order, or a project) can only be launched into the system if two units have been previously released (finished).
Stop starting and start finishing!
The emphasis is on completing activities already underway before starting new work. [...]
About the speaker: Philip Marris Philip started his Lean and Theory Of Constraints journey in 1984. He worked with Eliyahu Goldratt, the founder of TOC and author of the worldwide bestseller “The Goal”. He is also a recognized Lean expert and combines Lean (Manufacturing/Engineering/Management) with TOC. ...
Some companies suffer from a lack of business—"the constraint is in the market." However, we often observe untapped growth opportunities sometimes combined with poor operational performance, hampering the goal of selling more. This webinar shows how to reverse this trend through the use of the Theory of Constraints.
[...] This webinar aims to show you[...] how to exploit them by using the Theory of Constraints and, in particular, its improvement process, the "5 Focusing Steps," to identify, address, and even eliminate sales bottlenecks, in order to sell more and more effectively. However, it would be misleading to think that the responsibility for selling more only falls to sales departments. The webinar also addresses the joint responsibility of sales and operations to increase revenue. Indeed, it is crucial to...
The Theory of Constraints provides a compelling framework for consulting firms seeking to improve delivery, scale operations, or simply gain clarity on what’s holding them back.
Semiconductors run on compressed schedules, global teams across 3 or more time zones, 12h apart, and the constant pressure of tape-outs and customer milestones. [...] And yet, the Theory of Constraints (TOC) — a methodology built precisely to manage flow, reduce overload, and protect what truly matters — is almost invisible in semiconductor companies.
Why? Not because it doesn’t work, but because often the political cost of implementing TOC is seen as higher than the pain of the current system.
In this presentation Etienne Lecerf explains how to apply proven delivery principles from Agile, Lean, and the Theory of Constraints to improve flow, reduce friction, and deliver more consistently — across projects, teams, and functions.
You will understand:
- how to manage bottlenecks in a project portfolio, - how to fix the orga. root causes leading to projects delays, - how to scale Agile without heavyweight frameworks.
Test your knowledge of The Theory of Constraints! Do you know the basics of the approach first described in the bestselling the novel "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt? Take the test! 10 questions. With fully explained answers.
Book review of the book "The Goal" by Eliyahu Goldratt. Sold in over 10 million copies in over 30 languages. The story in a "business thriller" format of saving a factory in 90 days by using the Theory Of Constraints.
Philip Marris presents the graphic edition of the international best seller "The Goal". Based on the business novel "The Goal" by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox, this book is a graphic novel. It is an original and pertinent introduction to the Theory of Constraints.
The story is basically unchanged: same story line, sames messages, sames characters, etc.
Authors of original 1984 edition: Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox. Authors of the graphic edition, 2017: Dwight Jon Zimmerman (Editor), Dean Motter (Illustrator)
Date: Thursday 4th of September 2025. 5:00pm to 5:45pm (CEST). Free online conference, in English.
Many project-driven organisations adopt Agile hoping for faster delivery and empowered teams — but often find those benefits elusive in complex environments like R&D, IT, and engineering. The issue isn’t with Agile itself, but with the unchanged system around it: shared resources, overloaded portfolios, and coordination bottlenecks that Agile alone can’t fix. This short webinar cuts through the noise. You’ll learn how to apply proven delivery principles from Agile, Lean, and the Theory of Constraints to improve flow, reduce friction, and deliver more consistently — across projects, teams, and functions.
Organized by TOCICO (Theory Of Constraints' official community management organization). The TOC Innovation Summit 2025 is designed to help you uncover the one constraint that’s holding you back—and give you practical tools and real-world examples to break through. You’ll hear how teams across aerospace, healthcare, manufacturing, and more have applied TOC to remove bottlenecks, improve flow, and deliver results faster—without adding more stress, staff, or spending.
In this video Arrie Van Niekerk describes the 4 types of mines he has identified and the 4 TOC solutions he applies to each type. The 4 types are: - Open cast mining. The "best" bottleneck is probably the processing plant. - Conventional (manual) underground mining. With a constraint either in the shaft or in each of the levels. - Massive hard rock underground mining. The synchronisation of development and stopping (or extraction). - Underground mining with continuous mining machines. The synchronisation of the continuous miner (rotating cutter), the feeder, the shuttle car and the roof support.
Arrie is one of the most experienced people in the world in successfully applying TOC to the mining industry. He has implemented TOC over 90 times in mines all over the world.
Arrie is also the creator of the "Oiled Wheels" metaphor of TOC video that is one of the most popular TOC videos. See: "Theory of Constraints (TOC) 3 Bottle Oiled Wheels Demonstration" on his YouTube channel. See: https://youtu.be/mWh0cSsNmGY
TOCPA is an international professional platform aimed to share experience of bringing companies and organizations to operational excellence using Theory of Constraints. TOCPA is aimed to give TOC practitioners and those interested in TOC the opportunity and ability to grow their knowledge and address practical issues and challenges that they face in their quest of bringing TOC to their organizations or to their clients.
The Theory Of Constraints (TOC) is more and more pertinent in today's increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment that businesses operate in.
There are now often big bad bottlenecks in organizations.
TOCICO offers three levels of professional certification: Level 1 Fundamentals Certification for the basic knowledge, Level 2 Practitioner Certification for more advanced knowledge, and Level 3 Implementer Certification for those who actually apply TOC in their own work. For an overview of our certification marks, watch this webinar.
Level 1 (L1) TOC Fundamentals Certified (TOCFC™) — individuals demonstrate their recognition and understanding of TOC’s basic concepts and terminology, either for TOC overall, or in a specific TOC Solution area by passing any L1 exam.
This presentation describes a method for constraint identification (questions to be asked about the market, production facility, and the suppliers), defines cash constraint, describes issues with cash constraints, discusses how to manage a cash constraint and provides a case study illustrating the concepts. Reference: Gilani, R. (2006). Evaporating cash constraint. TOCICO International Conference: 4th Annual Worldwide Gathering of TOC Professionals, Miami, Fl, Goldratt Marketing Group.
Marris Consulting has reached 600 videos and 750,000 views it’s YouTube channel. The videos are mostly about the Theory Of Constraints, Critical Chain Project Management, and the Thinking Process. There are also many videos about Lean including a series with an ex-VP of Toyota Motor Manufacturing. Many tutorials. Dozens of conference recordings. Etc.
Eli Schragenheim explains the “6 questions on the value of technology” of the Theory Of Constraints that guide or frame development of new products or services. He claims that: "These have huge potential. [...] They are as powerful as the Theory Of Constraints 5 focusing steps.[…] They are a goal mine. […] They don’t give you the answers but they give you the right questions."
The six questions are: What is the power of the new technology? What current limitation or barrier does the new technology eliminate or vastly reduce? What policies, norms and behavior patterns are used today to bypass the limitation? What policies, norms and behavior patterns should be used once the new technology is in place? In view of the above, what changes/additions to the new technology should be introduced? How to cause the change?
These questions appeared initially and partially in the book "Necessary but not sufficient" he co-authored with Eli Goldratt and Carol Ptak. The book was published in 2000 but the 6 framing questions are still very pertinent nowadays with regards for instance start-ups, disruptive innovation and "app" development.
The Theory Of Constraints Practitioners Alliance 2018 Paris Conference full recordings of all the presentations. A memorable event with a 10 great presentations. Playlist of all 10 presentations.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt: “My saga to improve production”, 6 page article, 1996. Full text via the link below. In 1982, I was chairman and a major shareholder of a company ranked by Inc. Magazine as the sixth fastest growing company in the United States. And I was extremely frustrated. Many dozens of clients had bought our production scheduling software and, guided by our associated education, had successfully implemented it. […] I had an idea: to convey my method through a novel about manufacturing. […] I started to work on THE GOAL. […] Fan letters started to arrive […] I started to frantically develop […] Drum-Buffer-Rope and Buffer-Management. […] During that period I verbalized […] five focusing steps […] Our body of knowledge expanded by leaps and bounds. […] We started to call it the Theory Of Constraints (TOC). […] A new devastating problem developed. […] The first layer of resistance: raising […] The fifth layer of resistance: […] it’s not easy to overcome resistance to change. But, it’s possible. […] Production is the heart of industry. Industry is the heart of a nations’ wealth. When I retire, I would like to think that I’ve contributed something to strengthening it.
9 examples of Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) implementation. A method based on the Theory of Constraints (The Goal / Eli Goldratt) that has enabled thousands of organizations around the world to transform their project management. [...] Textile recycling machines – ETO & MTO [...] ERP & CRM – Accelerating installation and migration [...] R&D of food packaging machines [...] Aeronautics (airplane seats) [...] Aeronautics (valves, solenoids, etc.) [...] International aeronautics – Installation of composite weaving machines (US, FR, Mexico) [...] Production line relocation – a Capex project [...] Cloud computing & open source – Scheduling in an Agile environment [...] Military aircraft maintenance & weapons – Optimizing MRO and combat readiness
David Updegrove, Thorsteinn Siglaugsson and Philip Marris dive deep into one of the key pillars of the Theory of Constraints (TOC): "People are good."
What did Eliyahu Goldratt, the founder of TOC, truly mean by this statement? While it might seem simplistic, the notion that "people are good" can be easily misunderstood.
They clarify that this is not a moral judgment but a perspective on how individuals behave within structured environments, particularly when they are influenced by organizational goals and measurement systems. Through examples and anecdotes ...
An exclusive interview with Jeff Cox, the co-author of best-selling business novel: "The Goal" with dr Eliyahu Goldratt. This famous book is about "The Theory of Constraints". Watch this video to find out how this wonderful book came to life.
In his last months, already aware he was ill, [Eli Goldratt] started to write what he hoped would be his final book. He named it “The Science of Management”. But unfortunately, he succeeded to write only the first three pages. But it is remarkable to note that in these three pages Eli used a totally new verbalization for the essence of TOC regarding human behavior, and for the first time used the term Fear. The core of Eli’s last printed words were –
Our fear of complex systems that drives us to dissect the complex system into sub-systems, diverting management attention to chase local optima which are not in-line with the global objective;Our fear of the unknown, that drives us to finer and finer resolution – diving into more and more details, diverting management attention to optimize within the noise; and, Our fear that conflicts will lead to a tug-of-war, diverting management attention to constantly struggle with unacceptable compromises.
For me these lines were insightful, but many questions stem from them: Why did Eli use the term fear for the first time?
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