About this Panel Discussion

Alan Barnard acted as moderator for the panel. The panel: Mike Lilly, Debra Smith, Danny Walsh, Henning du Preez and Alex Knight. Each panelist is a company president of a small consulting or software company specializing in TOC. Two questions were asked of the panelists: What do you believe have been the keys to success of your company? What have been the keys to success of your customers?

What Will You Learn

To help you get the most value from this session, we’ve highlighted a few key points. These takeaways capture the main ideas and practical insights from the presentation, making it easier for you to review, reflect, and apply what you’ve learned.

Plane
Hear how five TOC company presidents answer the question everyone wants answered: what actually made their own businesses work, and what really drove results for their customers.
This panel promises practical, hard-won insight from leaders who have built TOC-focused consulting and software firms, offering a rare chance to compare what success looks like across different companies, clients, and growth paths.

Panelist(s)

Dr Alan Barnard

Dr. Alan Barnard is a leading decision scientist and Theory of Constraints (TOC) expert with almost 20 years of experience working directly with Dr. Eli Goldratt, the creator of TOC. As the CEO of Goldratt Research Labs (USA), Alan focuses on using advanced technologies and decision sciences to develop Apps and Decision Support methods, enabling organizations to achieve more with less time. Under his leadership, Goldratt Research Labs has collaborated on innovation and research projects with renowned Fortune 500 companies like Microsoft, Cargill, BHP, Tata Steel, Amazon, and others, along with public sector organizations like Utah Governor's Office and UN WFP. Alan has held prominent roles in various organizations, including past-President of the South African Supply Chain Society SAPICS and past-President of TOCICO. His significant contributions have been recognized through prestigious awards, including inclusion in the 2020 Marquis Who's Who Global Listing, membership in the Forbes Technology Council, and the TOCICO Lifetime Achievement Award. He is an accomplished author and frequent presenter on Decision Making in a Complex World and Theory of Constraints at international conferences. Alan's latest book, "The Bottleneck - How to resolve our attention crisis," is currently in progress. As the chief architect of the award-winning HARMONY Decision Maker, Change Simulator, and Change Maker series of Decision Support Apps, Alan continues to shape the landscape of decision science and TOC. Please let me know if you need any further information or details.

Debra Smith

Partner at Constraints Management Group

Daniel P. Walsh

Daniel Walsh is a sought-after lecturer, coach, strategic thinker and is a trusted advisor to many senior corporate executives, is currently a member of numerous corporate boards. In addition, he is co-founder of Exepron©, an advanced EPPM SaaS solution based on Critical Chain methodology. His current efforts are focusing on developing synchronous enterprise value chain solutions in multiple industry sectors. His research and development are centered on identifying the need to identify and leverage the strategic constraints of the enterprise, which is the key to increasing throughput. This culminated in the development of the Integrated Enterprise Scheduling®, (IES®) solution engine. Initial empirical results from deploying the IES® in a dozen large companies over a five-year period have been very promising. Many executives and thought leaders are convinced this may very well be the unified scheduling solution required for maximizing the profit of an enterprise-wide value chain. The IES approach was chronicled when he co-authored The TOC Handbook, the seminal Theory of Constraints reference textbook.

Henning du Preez

Alex Knight

ALEX KNIGHT BSc, MBA Alex’s fascination with the Theory of Constraints started with a chance meeting with Dr Eli Goldratt. After meeting Eli, Alex realized the biggest breakthrough needed was in how we run and transform businesses. His first exploration with TOC was when he was at Ashridge Business School and was soon teaching TOC on all major executive open and tailored programs. He became a Board Member and led their international consulting activities for fifteen years. This involved working all over the world with many international businesses including Unilever, Hewlett Packard and American Express. Alex is globally recognized for his close work with Dr Eli Goldratt in bringing the Theory of Constraints to health and social care. His work around the world over the last three decades with leaders in health and wellbeing is encapsulated in his business novel, Pride and Joy. This has been translated into Japanese and French. It not only provides a blueprint for transformational change in health and social care but also highlights the key stages of analysis and innovation that are required to create a breakthrough in any industry. Alex's work is guided by his time spent with Dr Goldratt. It is through a combination of coaching executives in what not to change, laser-like focus on the few key leverage points to change and the development of true innovation in these selected areas that Alex believes leaders can better understand their own assumptions, achieve step changes in their own performance, the teams they work in and the areas they are responsible for. Alex’s passion is to demonstrate that TOC is not a methodology to be carried out by unique individuals but can be a practical process taught to everyone allowing the whole organization to participate in breakthrough thinking.

Mike Lilly

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