To read this article by Dr Eliyahu M Goldratt, just click the link below. The hand written comments in the article were provided for Velocity Scheduling System clients. VSS is a visual scheduling system for highly custom job shops and machine shops –so keep that in mind as you read the comments.

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants by Eliyahu M Goldratt

This article provides the Lean Manufacturing and Theory of Constraints Drum Buffer Rope productions concepts versus application and is a great insight into the similarities and difference between TOC and Lean.

If you have any questions or comments about the article or the handwritten comments, please leave them below.

The Standing on the Shoulders of Giants Process – 6 Step Process

The standing on the shoulders of giants process is similar to what is used in academia.  The idea is that you review what has been done before, by the giants, then you identify a limitation or what’s missing and how what you’re idea fills the hole.

The fundamental belief that we are working with in the Standing On the Shoulders of Giants process is that knowledge is infinite. It’s the recognition, understanding and the conviction that says the bigger more solid the base of the knowledge that we are standing on, the higher the jump in performance is available to us.

If we know the potential huge jump in performance of the area being addressed, just because we have established a bigger and broader base of knowledge, how do we find it?

  1. Identify a “giant” not a choopchick.
    • Intuition will guide you – It needs to be an important enough subject for you.
  1. Identify the enormity of the area not addressed by the giant.
    • Reality gives the signals so much more can be done based on what has already been achieved.
    • You are aiming for a broader, not more confined, area than what was addressed by the giant.
  1. Get on the giant’s shoulders.
    • Gain the historic perspective – understand the giant’s solution better than he did.
  1. Identify the conceptual difference between the reality that was improved so dramatically by the giant, and the area untouched.
  2. Identify the wrong assumption.
    • Valid in the area it worked – not valid in the area where it doesn’t.
  1. Conduct a full analysis to determine the core problem, solution, etc.

 

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