{"id":2407,"date":"2010-05-28T05:03:21","date_gmt":"2010-05-28T10:03:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/?p=2407"},"modified":"2016-11-14T03:31:08","modified_gmt":"2016-11-14T08:31:08","slug":"lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/","title":{"rendered":"Lean and Theory of Constraints  either\/or?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"a296a24fa2fc69ef5487857f02f111e8\" data-index=\"9\" style=\"float: none; margin:10px 0 10px 0; text-align:center;\">\n<script async src=\"\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- Single Post readerboard -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:inline-block;width:728px;height:90px\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-8207522353004717\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1144967431\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-2409\" style=\"margin: 3px;\" title=\"broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints\" src=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints-150x150.png\" alt=\"broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints\" width=\"120\" height=\"120\" srcset=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints-100x100.png 100w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 120px) 100vw, 120px\" \/>This article is part of a series on Lean and the Theory of Constraints. Here is the 3 part series:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a title=\"lean manufacturing versus theory of constraints\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/\">Lean and Theory of Constraints: An Either\/Or Proposition?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"fundamentals of theory of constraints\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/the-theory-of-constraints-the-fundamentals\/2632\/\">The Theory of Constraints &#8211; The Fundamentals<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a title=\"reconciling lean and the theory of constraints, eliyahu goldratt\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/reconciling-lean-and-the-theory-of-constraints\/2648\/\">Reconciling Lean and The Theory of Constraints<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<hr>\n<p>I&#8217;m not a fan of dichotomous thinking &#8211; either \/ or.<\/p>\n<p>For one, it&#8217;s formally a psychological disorder and, two, it&#8217;s neither practical nor true. \u00a0As with most things in life, there is usually at least a third choice &#8211; in fact, there are many more choices, realistically.<\/p>\n<p>So, when voices &#8211; loud voices &#8211; claim their business philosophy is better than such and such, I have to step back and evaluate: Isn&#8217;t there an alternative? \u00a0Instead of &#8220;or&#8221;, isn&#8217;t there an &#8220;and&#8221;?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>This is true for Lean Thinking, Six Sigma, Systems Thinking, and Theory of Constraints. \u00a0Arguing which is better is a waste of time. The pragmatic approach is that there is good in all of them. \u00a0Take what works, apply it appropriately for your business, and if the results are good and the approach was humane and good, then roll with it.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>In this series on Lean and The Theory of Constraints, I&#8217;ll attempt at reconciling the two business philosophies and show how they can work together and help improve the organization.<\/p>\n<h2>History<\/h2>\n<p>The Theory of Constraints first emerged from Dr. Eliyahu Goldratt&#8217;s popular book &#8220;<a title=\"theory of constraints, the goal\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0884271781?ie=UTF8&#038;ref_=sr_1_1&#038;s=books&#038;qid=1274331733&#038;sr=8-1&#038;linkCode=shr&#038;camp=213733&#038;creative=393185&#038;tag=sixsigma09-20\">The Goal<\/a>&#8220;. \u00a0That book is now required reading in most business courses because it reads easily: it&#8217;s a business novel, but embedded in the novel is a strong message about constraints or bottlenecks and their impact on a business.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<p>Lean Thinking was popularized by Womack and Jones in their landmark book &#8220;<a title=\"womack, lean thinking\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0060974176?ie=UTF8&#038;ref_=sr_1_1&#038;s=books&#038;qid=1274331987&#038;sr=1-1&#038;linkCode=shr&#038;camp=213733&#038;creative=393177&#038;tag=sixsigma09-20\">The Machine that Changed the World<\/a>.&#8221; The term &#8220;Lean&#8221; was coined by a Bob Hartman, an MIT researcher who used that word to describe how Toyota did &#8220;everything with half of everything&#8221; &#8211; half the people, half the budget, half the space, with fewer quality problems and delivered in half the time than its competitors.<\/p>\n<p>In the next section, I&#8217;ll highlight the fundamentals of Lean Thinking and The Theory of Constraints.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\n<!--CusAds0-->\n<div style=\"font-size: 0px; height: 0px; line-height: 0px; margin: 0; padding: 0; clear: both;\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This article is part of a series on Lean and the Theory of Constraints. Here is the 3 part series: Lean and Theory of Constraints: An Either\/Or Proposition? The Theory of Constraints &#8211; The Fundamentals Reconciling Lean and The Theory of Constraints I&#8217;m not a fan of dichotomous thinking &#8211; either \/ or. For one, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12327,"featured_media":2409,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,46],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lean Manufacturing or The Theory of Constraints?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"lean and theory of constraints are two popular business philosophies. are they opposed to each other? can they be reconciled?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lean Manufacturing or The Theory of Constraints?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"lean and theory of constraints are two popular business philosophies. are they opposed to each other? can they be reconciled?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OpEx Learning\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/get.shmula\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-05-28T10:03:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-11-14T08:31:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@shmula\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Uday Kawar\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/\",\"name\":\"Lean Manufacturing or The Theory of Constraints?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/lean-and-theory-of-constraints-either-or\/2407\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/05\/broken-link-lean-theory-of-constraints.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-05-28T10:03:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-11-14T08:31:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.opexlearning.com\/resources\/#\/schema\/person\/9335b5223b67189b35bda7d6be11c3fd\"},\"description\":\"lean and theory of constraints are two popular business philosophies. are they opposed to each other? 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