About this Presentation
Engineering To Order (ETO) companies design and manufacture customized products on demand; the process uses customer requirements to define, engineer, and validate a new design that will satisfy those requirements. In this type of business, lead times for customers are much longer than for standard products made to stock. These long lead times are usually a problem for clients and there is always a lot of pressure to reduce them. Offering short lead times is a competitive advantage, and we will show how doing business the Critical Chain way enables impressive increases in speed. We will also show, based on many examples, the other significant positive impacts: big increases in productivity by identifying and better using the bottleneck resources, much better visibility throughout the organization by using the emblematic Fever Chart, better quality of life for the actors, and greatly improved honoring of the promised end dates. We will also discuss the main problems faced by these organizations, how intricate they are, and how to solve them.
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.
ETO companies face unique challenges due to the custom nature of their products and the need to manage the full process from engineering to manufacturing, procurement, and assembly.
High levels of WIP and multitasking can damage the performance of an organization.
The critical chain approach can help manage and improve the performance of ETO companies by identifying bottlenecks, reducing WIP, and improving project planning.
Instructor(s)
Etienne Lecerf
Etienne Lecerf is Managing Consultant in Marris Consulting based in Paris, France. He has worked with Philip Marris for over 9 years. He has applied the Theory of Constraints in production and project environments dozens of times in France, Spain, Poland, Mexico, United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Germany and Burkina Faso. He was trained as an Industrial and Mechanical Engineer at Arts et Métiers ParisTech, France. He has participated in numerous consulting assignments for prestigious companies. He is experienced in many types of project environments such as ETO, Aeronautical MRO, New Product Development, or IT projects. His clients work in various industries including Aeronautics, Oil & Gas, Medical Devices, Software Development, Semiconductor Production, Rail Transport, Mining…
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.