Racing Breakneck to the Bottleneck BP Proves Theory in Macondo Spill Response: How the Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing Were Used to Boost Productivity 1,000 Percent and Saved $700 Million

What can you do to boost capacity overnight when you're running at 100%? When failure of your mission could be broadcast worldwide? These questions were central to the team that supplied equipment to the Gulf of Mexico during the Macondo spill and the historic mop up - the cleaning of more than 10,000 boats, ships and rigs. A small team of experts fanned out across the globe to work with the producers of skimmers, boom, absorbent materials and other products to meet the record setting demand and timelines. When the flow stopped, they engineered the process to decontaminate the vessels, building an organization the size of a fortune 500 company in less than 90 days. Mark and Adam tell the compelling inside story. What the team did to double, triple, even quadruple suppliers' output in a matter of hours and days. How, using the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing principles, and common sense, they increased productivity and saved over a half billion dollars in expenses under the worst conditions. The book ends by discussing the principles behind the tactics, offering the process improvement lessons learned for application to any continuous improvement effort. Readers will learn: - How to find the leverage points to improve any process, rapidly - The techniques and principles to increasing productivity without significant capital expense - A simple technique to manage remote teams' performance and build collaboration - How to deliver more without sacrificing quality and safety