Oded Cohen’s Webinars
Webinar: The historical view of the development of the concept of the Constraint
12 February 2020
Webinar: Some thoughts about “Why Change”, by Oded & Jelena
22 October 2018
In this webinar Oded and Jelena share their thoughts about why it is often difficult to bring change to organizations and make it sustain.
Webinar: Growing Need for Analytical Capabilities
31 October 2017
I am a system person.
When I was in high school I wanted to be an architect. I was only half a year older than my country – Israel. A country that was, and still is, on constant growth, starting in 1948 from nearly nothing.
After serving in the army and fighting in the six day war I decided to move to manufacturing. I studied Industrial Engineering and did my master degree in Operations Research. I worked in large logistical systems and then became the head of the computer department of a large manufacturing company.
I lead the development and implementation of a home grown integrated manufacturing systems – based on COPICS (MRPII).
I met Eli Goldratt in 1978 when I needed a shop floor scheduling system and his OPT was a perfect option for us.
The personal click with Eli was immediate. We shared the passion for systems and for systems improvements. I had been close to him in different capacities until he died in 2011.
The need for analytical capabilities increases with the advancement of information systems. The recent trend in manufacturing is Industry 4.0. The concept of DSS – Decision Support Systems that was developed in the 1980’s is transformed from support function into active control of the systems. Many new computerized systems have the ability to ascertain big (actually huge) amount of data items, process them and continuously learn and improve their modeling. Industry 4.0 employs and will continue to employ more and more of these IT systems. However, these IT systems have to be developed. As such there is a need to design these systems, to give clear instructions how to process the data and how to convert it into practical commands for actions. After creating the initial working model there is a need to design, collect and process feedback signals as per learning mechanisms.
We believe that TOC has the potential to be involved and contribute. This can be done with the TOC methodology – the full U-Shape structure. Some of the TOC applications have already these capabilities. For example in managing stocks the TOC way – the size of the buffers, which are the heart of the replenishment systems, are subject to DBM Dynamic Buffer Management which signals the need for change in the buffer sizes – and is capable of doing so on their own accord.
Feedback
I began learning TOC and the existing TP tools in 1989’s Jonah Program. I continue to learn, practice, unlearn and upgrade. Webinars like those in this series (and TOCICO’s) continue my learning. While in some respects I consider myself almost an expert, in so many ways, I am “just an egg” (to quote Heinlen) Thank you Oded for this excellent webinar!
Kathy Austin
Great talk. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Manesh Gupta
Great seminar. Simply clear. Thank you. I found interesting your slides. Oded’s webinar has been important for all implications that are still in my mind.
Salvatore Totino Longo
Great insights, thanks Oded!
Brunello Menicucci
See more on TOC for Strategy on TOCPA
See more on TOC for Leadership and Change Management on TOCPA