By: Rick Phelps, Principal, Synchronous Solutions
Our Synchronous Flow System is based on Eli Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (TOC). In his work, Goldratt outlined how companies can achieve not just improvement, but a sustainable, market-beating advantage by combining three critical elements:
- Exceptional operational capability
- A compelling market offer
- An organizational mindset committed to continuous alignment and execution
He called this advantage the Decisive Competitive Edge.
Our Synchronous Flow System was designed to deliver Exceptional operational capability, with the intention of delivering your business a Decisive Competitive Edge.
Few of our clients appear to have understood the importance of their Synchronous Flow System implementation and fully leveraged it to create their own Decisive Competitive Edge. I have been wrestling with this apparent shortcoming for the past year.
In June, The Countertop Factory – TCF, one of the few clients that took their Synchronous Flow System implementation to its logical conclusion, hosted a Rockheads event where the impact of their Synchronous Flow implementation pretty much dominated the conversation. It was humbling.
Why did Geoffrey, Bill, and company take the system we guided them to implement and push it to its logical conclusion to create a Decisive Competitive Edge for their business? Perhaps more importantly, why have so few of our other client/owners done the same?
My operating theory is that when most of our clients implemented their Synchronous Flow System it alleviated their acute pain of operational chaos while freeing up much needed capacity to handle the flood of work they had been facing. Pain gone and money flowing, ownership/leadership’s attention shifted to the next fire, the next point of pain. Implementation complete, our engagement ends. Development of a Decisive Competitive Edge is not immediately necessary, so life moves on.
A funny thing happened in late 2023 and all of 2024 – work was no longer abundant, and shops were no longer flooded with more than enough work. Many shops saw their Productivity Score dip below 1.00 for the first time since the early days of implementation. They suddenly were sales constrained and needed a Decisive Competitive Edge.
If you looked at the state of their implementation of Synchronous Flow, at best it was exactly as it was the day we left their shop. Their Engine, the exact same Engine from years before: no evidence of the continuous improvement process that was set in motion.
Not true at TCF. They had established their Exceptional operational capability by embracing:
- FLOW – At TCF the jobs flow through their shop in minimum time. What gets cut today gets installed tomorrow, firmly establishing their Lead Time Decisive Competitive Edge.
- CONSTRAINTs – TCF’s shop is unbalanced and targeted to flow at eighty percent of the capacity of their Constraint, firmly establishing their Delivery Performance Decisive Competitive Edge.
- CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT – Their shop continues to systematically eliminate waste and is among the most productive shops I have seen.
TCF could compete with anyone on price, but they have A compelling market offer and prefer to sell on value instead.
Perhaps most importantly, TCF has An organizational mindset committed to continuous alignment and execution that ensures their Decisive Competitive Edge will remain decisive. Their innovative system of bonuses aligns every team member with THE GOAL: to make more money now and in the future, more for TCF and more for themselves.
If you need to re-energize your Synchronous Flow System and build the Decisive Competitive Edge for your business, give us a call.
If you haven’t yet implemented Synchronous Flow, don’t get left behind – call us today and get started. When your biggest competitor develops their Decisive Competitive Edge, it may be too late for you.
Read more about Decisive Competitive Edge in our previous article Tired of Competing on Price Alone?
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