美國海軍陸戰隊應用TOC案例
Interview with Robert Leavitt, Colonel,
United States Marine Corps retired.
Manager, Sierra Management Technologies
采訪美國海軍陸戰隊退休上校、西埃拉管理技術經理 羅伯特?利維特
DW: You were responsible for implementing a TOC-bad program in the Marine Corps?
偉福：你曾負責在海軍陸戰隊實施一個TOC項目，是嗎？
RL: Yes, when 1 was commanding officer at the Naval Air Depot in Cherry Point, North Carolina. I started the implementation there, which they have continued. As a colonel I had in esnce a $625 million company and 4,000 people working for me. Everybody says the government is always the last to get the message. I don't know if that's true. My personal belief is that the government gives guys like me the opportunity to try things a little differently.
利維特：是的，當時我在北卡羅萊納州切利角海軍航空站當指揮官，我在那里開始實施TOC，后來他們繼續至今。作為上校，我就像掌控著一家六億二千五百萬美元的公司，有4000人為我工作，人人都說政府總是后知后覺，我不知道是否真的如此，我個人認為，政府讓我這樣的人有機會試試不同的做法。
DW: Tell us about your implementation.
偉福：告訴我們你是怎樣搞實施的。
RL: We had problems delivering H-46s on time. The H-46 is a 25-to 30-year-old Boeing helicopter ud extensively in the Marine Corps as part of their assault support role. Becau the airplane is so old and in frequent need of maintenance, anything over a single-digit number of airplanes on our hangar deck meant that you took a shadow off the flightline. If you took a shadow off the flightline, that meant they didn't have an airplane to do their mission. Our negotiated norm for turnaround time was 130 days, and on average we were somewhere between 190 and 205 days.
利維特：我們無法準時交付H-46，H-46是二十到三十年機齡的波音直升機，被海軍陸戰隊廣泛用于攻擊支援，由于這飛機很老舊，經常需要維修，只要飛機庫中待修的飛機超過十架，就意味著候命執行任務的飛機缺少了起碼一架，我們議定的交貨期一般是130天，而實際上我們平均要花190至205天。
DW: Sounds like you had a problem.
偉福：聽起來，你們好像出了問題。
RL: A problem, yes. So we implemented critical chain, and ultimately cut the number of airplanes in flow from 28 to 14. We were able to ll that to our customers. And the turnaround time went from 200 days to about 135. Now that in and of itlf is probably a significant improvement. But at the same time we were starting the process, they added 30 days more worth of corrosion work to be done to the cabin. We accommodated the 30 days within that 135-day delivery. So we went from what would have been about 230 or 240 days to 135.
利維特：的確有問題，因此我們實施了關鍵鏈，最后將維修中的飛機從28架減少至14架，客戶接受了，交貨期從200天降低到大約135天，這本身就是一個巨大的改善。但是，我們開始這個進程的同時，他們又加入了30天的機艙除銹工作，我們把這30天的工作量也納入了135天的交貨期中，換言之，我們將本來的230至240天減少至135天。
DW: Why did this approach work where others had failed?
偉福：為什么這方法成功了，而其他方法卻失敗呢？
RL: We had looked at a lot of the project management solutions, including material resource planning (MRP). TOC was the one that worked from all dimensions; building teamwork, understanding variability, and with a grounding in scientific thought. It was a holistic approach to solving the problems. It looked at the entire system and said, hey, once you find the key leverage point you'll get some significant returns. And then you can go back and find the next leverage point, or constraint.
利維特：我們審視了很多項目管理解決方案，也看了物料資源計劃（MRP），而TOC在多
個角度都是可行的，例如建立團隊精神、了解變數等，它植根于科學的思維，從機構整體的角度解決問題，它檢視整個系統后，會說：“嗨！只要你找到主要的杠桿點，就能夠獲得巨大的效益。”然后，你就回頭找下一個杠桿點，或制約因素。
Did it take you a long time to find the constraint?
偉福：你是否花了很長時間才找到制約因素？
RL: No, it didn't. And within about 120 days we were already beginning to e the results.
利維特：不是，而在120天之內，我們已經開始見到成效了。
DW: What was the constraint that you found?
偉福：你找到的制約因素是什么？
RL: It was the schedule-the way the schedule was developed. The biggest thing was the
way we applied available resources; it didn't make any n. The estimators and evaluators really had about two days worth of work and they were taking about 14. We figured out what was going on-why that was a problem, why the scheduler t that up-and then reorganized.
利維特：是排程——制定排程的方式，最大的麻煩就是我們運用手上資源的方法，簡直毫無道理，評估員實際的工作只需大概兩天，但卻花了14天，我們想知道當中因由，問題是怎樣出來的？為怎么排程員定出排程，然后推倒重來？
DW: Bottom line?
偉福：收支情況有改善嗎？
RL: Well, the way it worked with the government, we were funded for a certain number of airplanes each year. We started burning through the backlog and we actually produced a few extra airplanes. I know from talking to the new commanding officer down there that they've incread the amount of product every year as they've gone forward.
利維特：嗯，政府的運作模式是，每年我們根據既定的飛機數量得到撥款，我們很快就把積壓已久的工作清理了，甚至還多出了幾架飛機，那里的新指揮官告訴我，他們每年的產量都在增加。
DW: And you had another example?
偉福：再舉一個例子好嗎？
RL: I also implemented TOC in the tail rotor blade cell at Sikorsky Aircraft, the overhaul and repair division. We were averaging some 73 days to finish a tail rotor blade and we had as many as 75 or 80 tail rotor blades in flow. Well, we changed the flow to more than 30 tail rotor blades in process, which means our turnaround time actually was about 28 days.
利維特：我還在西科斯基飛機公司維修部機尾螺旋槳片組實施了TOC，我們平均要花73天完成一個機尾螺旋槳片，而生產線上有多達75至80片，嗯，改革后，生產線上只有30多片，而交貨期只需大約28天。
DW: How quickly did this improvement occur?
偉福：這改革花了多少時間才見到成績？
RL: Three months. Now you can understand why I'm trying to build a consulting practice around TOC.
利維特：三個月，現在你就可以明白為什么我正嘗試建立一個提供TOC服務的諮詢機構。
