About this Presentation
Circor Aerospace & Defense’s on-time finish performance of new product development projects was not at the expected level. They suffered from projects finishing late, problems with specifications, silo phenomenon, and they were limited in their capacity to run projects by a capacity constraint in the Qualification Laboratory. They decided to implement Critical Chain Project Management. They began with 3 pilot projects. During this pilot phase they increased the capacity of the bottleneck department. Associated project plannings have been reviewed and adjusted to be CCPM-compliant: the sequence of activities became more logical with realistic leadtimes and several optimization measures to achieve the projects faster were identified and implemented. They also changed and enhanced their management routines to facilitate the coordination & synchronization between key actors. The project durations were reduced, and the projects finished on time. The efficiency and throughput of the New Product Development also increased. Following the success of the pilot projects, they then rolled out the Critical Chain Way on their entire portfolio. All these actions resulted in better managerial alignment, improved communication and better problem escalation within the project teams. It also provided Circor Aerospace & Defense with better, more challenging and more realistic, project schedules, and gave them much better visibility on the project’s progress.
What Will You Learn
To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.
Instructor(s)
Frédéric Grehal
Frédéric Gréhal, After having held various management positions, notably as Plant Manager in large industrial companies, such as Aubert & Duval, Frédéric Gréhal, a Nuclear Engineer graduate from Centrale Lille, a renowned French Engineering School, has been the Vice-President and General Manager of Circor Aerospace & Defense for 8 years. Seduced by the concepts of the Theory Of Constraints, Frédéric Gréhal has been implementing them for many years in the various companies he has worked in. He promoted and initiated Critical Chain at Circor.
Ms Alka Wadhwa
Alka Wadhwa is an experienced consultant and process improvement expert with over 24 years of expertise in the Theory of Constraints (TOC), Lean Six Sigma, and organizational performance optimization. She has successfully led projects in healthcare, financial services, and manufacturing, driving significant improvements such as a 67% boost in hospital operations and a 140% increase in outpatient visits.
Previously, Alka Wadhwa spent 17+ years at GE Global Research Center, where she led initiatives to enhance various GE businesses through advanced technologies, process redesign, and system optimization. Founder of Better Solutions Consulting, LLC, she specializes in using TOC, Six Sigma, and data analytics to streamline operations and build high-performance teams.
Her work has earned her multiple accolades, including the Empire State Award of Excellence in healthcare.
Dr Gary Wadhwa
Dr. Gary Wadhwa is a Board Certified Oral & Maxillofacial Surgeon with extensive experience in the field. He completed his Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery training at Montefiore Hospital, Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY, and has served as an Attending at prestigious institutions like St. Peters Hospitals, Ellis Hospital, and Beth Israel Hospital in NY. With a career spanning over two decades, he was the former CEO and President of a group specialty practice in NY from 1994 to 2015. Dr. Wadhwa holds an MBA from UT at Knoxville, TN, and has undergone additional training in System Dynamics at MIT, Health System Management at Harvard Business School, and Entrepreneurship and healthcare innovations at Columbia Business School. Committed to expanding access to Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery care, he is currently engaged in a meaningful project to provide healthcare services to underserved populations in inner city and rural areas through non-profit Community Health Centers.