About this Presentation
We applied the TOC replenishment solution to the supply chain providing goods and services into the passenger cabin. It is a $500M per year supply network with chronic issues with delivery performance and inventory. We have achieved first pass order fulfillment increased from 85% to above 95%, supplier lead-time reductions of 30-80%, inventory reductions of 20-50% depending on items and sources, expediting and cross shipping reductions of 80%, 70-80% reductions in item expirations and obsolescence. The project was officially launched in June 2016 and has taken 18 months. Not the speed TOC experts would expect but time expanded as a necessity with buy-in and commercial agreement realities. Every implementation has unique adaptations and difficulties. There were 4 major problems we overcame that would be of help to others in similar situations. 1) We had outsourced all of our supply chain to a 4PL who further outsourced to 3PLs. This made for a very long and difficult buy-in. The end solution turned out to be simple. 2) There was no information system in place that understood inventory planning and management with buffers and consumption-based ordering. 3) We were bound by legacy commercial agreements based on the cost world assumptions that thwarted throughput. This required us to be very creative. 4) We needed to make significant routing changes for inbound shipments from overseas. While the changes were not out of the ordinary, gaining buy-in of all parties and working through the details of how it would work ran smack into the first three problems. Involving our customer entities (individual caterers and cabin provisioning organizations) into the solution required us to engineer very simple processes. My colleague Angela Cain and I, led the whole project from initial buy-in through funding, design, implementation, and onto its current success. Angela will be a co-presenter. She had zero TOC knowledge when joining the project but currently leads all aspects. This would be a great perspective for those less familiar with TOC. Video length: . PDF: slides.
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)
Bruce Watson
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.