TOC Daily Operations Room Meeting

Goldratt Group (Southern Africa) © 2004

Heuristic Flow © 2008

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TOC Operations:

Daily Tactical Ops Room

(Examples are for a Mining environment)

The Theory of Constraints approach to

Operational Excellence

These Slides have been prepared and presented by Arrievan Niekerk and form part of a series of presentations

that were developed over several years. They represent a personal view of the subjects and are not to be

interpreted as official documents of any kind.



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TOC in Context

Suppliers PurchasingOwn

ProcessesDistribution

ChannelMarket

2



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Creating the desired

Management Culture



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Holistic Approach: Current Reality

• Measurements can help us to align the parts, but it often do not

• Over time, the parts develop measures that they believe are good for the whole, but in reality they are not fully aligned

• We want all the parts to contribute to the whole

• The parts must always do what is good for the whole, NOT what is good for the parts

• Look for the harmony (music) of the whole



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We Need to Find a Way to Make the

Performance of the Bottleneck, the

Status of the Buffers and the Alignment

of the System Visible to All

By creating visibility, we can ensure that everybody is aligned with the bigger

picture and no actions will have a negative impact on the bottleneck‟s performance



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Fluctuation in Complex Operations

Fluctuation exists not only in terms of volume but also in terms of Chemistry,

Physical properties like size distribution, morphological properties, etc

P

A B C

G H I

R

Z

D

X

E F



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Stabilising and Enhancing a Complex

EnvironmentBy having a key focal point and building protection into the system by managed buffers,

the system‟s reliability, predictability and holistic performance are enhanced significantly.

P

A B C

G H I

R

Z

D

X

E F



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The TOC Process of Continuous

Improvement

1. IDENTIFY the system‟s Constraint(s)

2. Decide how to EXPLOIT (Maximise) the system‟s

constraints

3. SUBORDINATE (Align) everything else to the above decisions

4. ELEVATE the system‟s constraint(s)

5. If the constraint was broken, go back to step 1.

Do not allow INERTIA to become the system‟s constraint



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Tactical Ops Room

Creating Visibility and Focus: Managing the tactical operation as a holistic system

Based on the concept of a Common Relevant Operational Picture

The Daily Check-in meeting that is built on openness, honesty, team work and good decision making



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How are we doing this as a team? What is the music like?

SAFETY

Generic “Model” for Ops Room

DevelopOpening Up

HoistTramStopeEquip PlantOre

Body /

Raw

Material

Product

Ore

Pass

BoxesPay

Equipped

Panels

Pay

Face

Length

Plant

Stock

Pile

Flowing

OUT

Flowing

IN

PEOPLE Material UtilitiesEquipment Services

Total Subordination to the CORE PROCESS

Quality Quality



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PURPOSE of Ops Room THE WHAT:

• The Primary reason for the existence of the Ops Room is to facilitate the optimization of the process flow through identified bottlenecks in the system

THE HOW:

• This is achieved within a system that fully supports the flow and it is done through the desired behaviour of people

• It has to take place in a culture of openness and good visibility

THE OUTCOME:

• The outcome of the ops room process is to have significant increase in the operational output of the system as a whole and to create an environment for consistency and the sustainability of that output



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Three Objectives in One

• Focus on the flow of the system as a whole

– Manage the flow, through the constraints

– Get the job done

• Status of the system to support the value chain

– Buffering the flow and supply of all requirements

– Protective Capacity (flexibility)

• Human alignment with purpose

– Doing the right things in the right way

– The spirit or vibe of the system



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TEAM BEHAVIOUR

Dialogue, Spirit, Vibe, Care, Openness

Learning together as a team

Ops Room: Three Goals in One

SUBORDINATION

Buffering and Protective capacity

System alignment of all functions

FLOW

Constraint Rate



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The Ops Room meeting is

• A high impact (energy) opportunity

• Focused on solution (share) and outcome

• A place where improvement is generated

• A „how do I help you‟ opportunity

• A place where you come to listen first

• A place of understanding the big picture

• A place where good decisions are made



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TEAM BEHAVIOUR



Ops Room: Three Goals in One

SUBORDINATION

Buffering and Protective capacity


FLOW

Constraint Rate



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Ops Room: Culture of Excellence

TEAM BEHAVIOUR



SUBORDINATIONBuffering and Protective capacity


FLOW

Constraint Rate

Getting daily, accurate, honest updating of the

reality of the primary Flow Chain

Talking about the problems, getting contributions form all attendants on what to do to

resolve the issues

Operate on the basis of open dialogue, mutual respect, team

learning and shared vision –develop pride in what we are

achieving together

Creating visibility of all the important measures

in a format of Green, Yellow & Red for clarity

Working with the flow model of the operation, establish

common understanding of the constraint‟s performance and status of the relevant buffers

Reflecting on progress, or why things are not coming right or what

else is needed to improve

Create a “Learning Laboratory” environment

first with skilled facilitators until the principles and

culture has been established



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7

2

51

Belt

51

Belt

50

Belt

D#

DA

#

CN

#

CS #B#

BA

#

BeltBelt

66

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6

9

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77 Belt

Belt

Belt

78 Belt

29Belt

6

6

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8

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Ore Handling

Ops Room Model Example



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Measurement RP Reference

Tons trammed

-Reef

-Waste

+2000 1700-

+500 350-

Time to clear tip

-Morning Shift

-Afternoon Shift

-Night Shift

-9h00 9h30+

-…… ……+

-…… ……+

Tramming functional team

- Morning Shift

- Afternoon Shift

- Night Shift

0 2+

0 2+

0 2+

Tip (station) box status

Time it caused a blockage

-Reef

-Waste

0 1hour+

0 1hour+

Stoping box status

No of boxes that caused starvation

- No of empty boxes 0 2+

Loco Utilisation

- No of times not pulling full span 0 3+

Rail Condition

-Derailments

-2 trains move towards one another

0 1+

0 1+

Infrastructure (Elect / Venti / Water

etc) (caused stoppage of logistics)

- No of times

-Total time delay

0 2+

0 1hour

Daily Report on Constraint (Example)



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It is not about what the

OPS Room is,

but about what it does!



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Operating Rules for a TOC Chain

• Run the constraint with military precision (on the clock, exactly)

• The buffers are there to protect the constraint from variations in the system – they must be adequate at all times Whenever the flow stops, it means the buffer ran out.

• Everybody must support and align with the needs of the constraints

• Without brutal honesty and clear visibility we will always be busy chasing our own tails

• Whenever the protective capacity of any subordinated resources falter, make it known!

D E FA B C

Protective Capacity



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Evaluating a TOC Implementation• Where is your bottleneck or core problem ? • Availability and utilisation levels of the bottleneck? Close to 90%?• The schedule of the constraint and how well it adheres to the

schedule (military precision) ?• Impact of starvation and blockage on the constraint less than

10%?• Fluctuation of the buffers that protect the constraint ?• Rules of subordination and how well are they adhered to,

especially by service departments ? • War room and explain how the win-win rules work in practice ? • Supervisory levels understand their roles in meeting the demands

of the constraint(s)? • Been able to eliminate the negative impact of the Core

Problem(s)?



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The 3 Elements of Meaningful work

Measurability

Recognition

Relevance



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Performance Management

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Performance Excellence

Conditions conducive to high

performance

Possess the required skills for high performance

Motivation and attitude

1 2 3

TOC Daily Operations Room Meeting

Business

Transcript of TOC Daily Operations Room Meeting