Ever heard of scheduling "nervousness"? It's a thing. If you haven't read the article I sent last week, here’s the essence: Most “AI scheduling” sits on the same requirements-planning logic from the 1980s. That logic creates oscillations in high-mix job shops. Adding...
Articles
Dr Lisa Lang
About Dr Lisa Lang, Job Shop Scheduling Expert:“Dr. Lisa” Lang is one of the foremost Theory of Constraints experts in the world and a sought after job shop scheduling expert having been named the "Manufacturing Trendsetter" in the USA Today, "Manufacturing Champion"...
AI Scheduling vs ERP: Why Job Shops Still Struggle
Last updated: September 5, 2025 TL;DR on AI Job Shop Scheduling Core: "AI sprinkled on top of old ERP logic and scheduling systems won’t create reliable velocity in a custom job shop. It will create faster oscillations." Proof: 52 of 86 manufacturing industries...
SMART Goals for Manufacturers DON’T Work
Annual Goal Setting and SMART Goals SMART goals for manufacturers DON'T work. Goals are necessary but not sufficient to drive results. I'll explain why (3 reasons) and what you can do instead. It’s that time of year when we’re setting personal and business goals. ...
On Time Delivery KPI
Last updated: Aug 27, 2025 This letter (below) was sent by an actual Velocity Scheduling System client to some of their customers with whom they had a poor on time delivery KPI. Their name and phone number have been removed. Here's was their on-time delivery graph...
Does Lean manufacturing work in job shops and machine shops?
Lean manufacturing and lean scheduling do not work for high mix low volume custom job shops or machine shops. Here's why and what DOES work. Lean Manufacturing | Lean Scheduling Why? Lean manufacturing was developed most notably in Toyota. In Toyota's environment...
Step-by-Step Setup Reduction for Job Shops
Setup Reduction to Increase Flow and Productivity for Job Shops and Machine Shops Setup Reduction for Job Shops can be a challenge, no doubt. We often hear job shops explain that they can’t increase FLOW & PRODUCTIVITY because they have long setups. We’ve found...
Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) Summary
What is Drum Buffer Rope? Drum Buffer Rope (DBR) is the Theory of Constraints scheduling process focused on increasing flow and Throughput by identifying and leveraging the system constraint. DBR was developed by Eliyahu M. Goldratt (Eli Goldratt), the father of...
The Goal book by Eliyahu Goldratt SUMMARY
The path to publishing The Goal book was difficult. In 1984 there were no business novels. Eliyahu Goldratt or Eli would tell a story about publishers passing on his book because it was a business book and a “love story”, and they did not know what shelf to put it...
How to measure Due Date Performance so you CAN improve it!
Last updated: Aug 27, 2025 TL;DR: Most job shops track due date performance with “percent on-time,” but that metric is misleading (it's an effect), and it doesn't help you to improve (find the causes). Here's what to measure instead. Due date performance (DDP, also...
