Focus and Leverage Services

 

Focus and Leverage Consulting offers a wide range of services to my clients.  Some of these services includes on-site training where I demonstrate my formula for rapidly improving profitability, operational assessments, and workshops all based on my integrated Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma improvement methodology.  A partial listing of our training includes the following:

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• Problem-Solving, Problem-Prevention, & Decision-Making.  In this training I present how best to solve problems, prevent future problems, and make decisions while using a structured approach to complete all three. I will provide detailed roadmaps for all three segments.

 

• Integrated Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma improvement methodology.  In this training, which I do at your site to reduce traveling expenses, I offer 1-day, 2-day, or 5-day training depending upon the level you, the client wants.

 

• Systems Analysis.  In this training I teach your organization how to look at your organization from a system perspective.  So many times I have encountered organizations that are simply not focusing their improvement efforts on the key leverage point to maximize profitability.  I will demonstrate why a good systems analysis is a prerequisite to true and lasting improvement.

 

• The Theory of Constraints Thinking Process.  In this training I will teach your organization how to assess your current reality and develop ways to improve your future.  And while I offer training on all of TOC's logic tools, what makes our training unique, is the introduction of tools such as the Goal Tree, Interference Diagram, and the combined ID/Goal Tree.  No other consulting effort offers this unique set of tools.  I offer this training as either 1 or 2-week sessions.

 

• Throughput Accounting (TA).  In this training I start by comparing traditional Cost Accounting (CA) to TA and demonstrate why TA is a superior method for daily financial decision-making.  I will show you why CA based metrics like manpower efficiency and/or equipment utilization leads companies down the wrong pathway to profitability.

 

• Theory of Constraints Replenishment System.  In this training I will demonstrate how simple it is to reduce your total on-hand inventory by 40-50% while virtually eliminating parts stock-outs.  This training is typically a 1-day event.

 

• Critical Chain Project Management.  In this training you will learn why the traditional Critical Path Method (CPM) is no longer the best method for completing projects.  Instead I offer a new way referred to as Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM) which will jettison your project's on-time, on-scope and on-budget completion rates to over 95%.

 

• Drum Buffer Rope (DBR).  This training will demonstrate a very simple scheduling methods that will propel your on-time deliveries to record levels without the need for expensive software or additional resources.

 

• Goal Tree Analysis.  This training demonstrates how to create a strategic improvement plan and then use it to assess your organization's current state against the developed plan and all can be done in a single day.  While most strategic plans take days to develop, all of this happens in one short day-long session!  The Goal Tree Analysis has been one of our most popular sessions.

 

See below an example of two of my training curriculums.  FLC has standard training curriculums, or I can customize them to meet the needs of my clients. I also have listed my 8 books that I've authored or co-authored. My newest book is entitled The Secret to Maximizing Profitability - A Business Novel on How to Successfully Combine the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to Drive Profit Margins to New Levels is now available to purchase.

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FLC 1-Day CI Bootcamp                       Problem Solving, Prevention,

                                                             & Decision-Making Bootcamp

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The Secret to Maximizing Profitability: This book is written as a business novel, and it fully details the real secret to maximizing an organization's profitability. In this book, I walk you through the step-by-step method on how to combine these three methodologies with the result being significant improvements to flow, major improvements in variation, substantial reductions in waste, superior on-time delivery, and ultimately, maximized profitability. I have been using this integrated methodology for many years and each time, the results realized were well beyond what the leadership teams had experienced previously. This combined improvement cycle is based upon many years of analysis of both failures and successes using Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints as stand-alone improvement initiatives. By integrating Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints into a single improvement cycle, I have developed a recipe that will maximize your return on investment, cash flow, and net profit. The Secret to Maximizing Profitability is both stimulating and thought provoking, but more importantly it will provide your organization with a road map for maximizing the use of your resources to achieve more bottom-line improvement than you ever imagined.

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Here are four reviews of my newest book, The Secret to Maximizing Profitability:

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"As the author has done in his previous books, such as Epiphanized or Focus and Leverage, he uses real-life business problems to show readers how just implementing Lean, Six Sigma, or both without including the TOC will not fully maximize their company’s profitability... I have personally used some of the author’s tools and methodology to fix everyday issues in my area of business and would greatly recommend this book to anyone interested in or needing to achieve maximum performance/profitability."

- Matt Hutcheson, Senior Logistics Admin. at Rheem MFG

 

"Bob Sproull demonstrates his mastery of Lean Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints by addressing some of the core problems with improvement initiatives and provides an insightful sequence of the concepts, methodologies, & tools woven throughout the storyline. The reader will gain an overview of the Six Sigma, Lean & the Theory of Constraints and how to apply some of the core tools of each with additional perspective, and then see how they can be integrated synergistically for coordinated rapid improvements."

- Michael Asbury, Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt & Theory of Constraints Jonah, Business Consultant at Elevate Coaching & Consulting

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Review by Jorge

5.0 out of 5 stars Complete guide to process improvement

Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2020

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

At this moment I am using myself the methodology TLS on our shop floor and I can say that the best part of it is how easy your people can understand when you are clear on what to do. The whole process described by Bob makes all sense for a person responsible for production. We are a diaper manufacturer company and we have a lot of potential bottlenecks, with the methodology described in this book we found that if we collect the right data, prioritize the problems and put an indicator in the problematic zones, magic happens !!

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Review Philip Marris, Marris Consulting, Paris, France

 

5.0 out of 5 stars Bob Sproull’s best book

Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2020

Format: Paperback

Bob Sproull’s best book! This is quite a feat given that this is his eighth book and one of the previous one’s - Epiphanized -, is a bestseller.

In this “business novel”, the company first implements Six Sigma and makes some improvements. Then they implement Lean and make further improvements. And then they add the Theory Of Constraints to the mix and sparks start flying.

On page 17 one of the characters says: “our focus was on how much money we could save, rather than how much money we could make.” From that page on the roller coaster ride begins. The story takes you through all the relevant constituent parts of this potent cocktail: 5 focusing steps, replenishment solution, TOC flow management, the folly of local efficiency performance KPIs, etc. Then the author takes you into the world of thinking better via Bill Dettmer’s Logical Thinking Process and its powerful Goal Tree to quickly build a strategic improvement plan.

For those that have read Eliyahu Goldratt’s best seller, “The Goal” and its sequel “It’s Not Luck” then you will see that in this book Bob Sproull manages to cover the content of both those books since in the last 4 chapters the main character is promoted and has to manage a portfolio of several companies. This provides a variety of problems to solve and gives the reader a better grasp on how this approach is generic and can be applied to all sorts of organizations.

This book’s beauty is that it combines 3 things. 1) The accumulated knowledge of the author’s experience in many different industries. 2) His whitling down of how to explain succinctly the best way to mix a TOC + Lean + Six Sigma cocktail. 3) His now highly tuned book writing skills that enable him to produce what looks like a novel but impacts you like a very good conceptual textbook (that you actually read).

So, although there are pearls of wisdom and a lot of practical recommendations in Bob Sproull’s seven previous books, I believe that this is now the best way to why and how you should be combining the Theory Of Constraints with Lean and Six Sigma.

This is Bob Sproull's best book so far.

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