The Fastest Way to Increase Cash Flow using Theory of Constraints & Throughput Accounting

This week I have a new video for you. This video was taken during the 2009 TOCICO conference in Tacoma and this is the first time I'm making it available.


Many of you listed Throughput Accounting as one of your interests. So I dug this video out and uploaded it for your review. Prior to today, this video was only available if your purchased it through the TOCICO.

It's called "The Fastest Way to Increase Cash Flow" and it's 48 minutes long. Please let me know what you think of it, by leaving a comment on this post. 

Let me know what you think, by leaving a comment on this post.
Wishing you success,


Dr Lisa


President, Science of Business


P.S. FOR CUSTOM JOB SHOPS ONLY: The next Velocity Scheduling System Coaching Program is starting soon!

P.P.S. Ready to increase sales? Need a Mafia Offer? The ON-LINE Mafia Offer Boot Camp is open for registration!

Copyright 2011 Science of Business

Theory of Constraints POOGI Part 67 -- Employees Need Time Off? That’s unproductive!

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn}

Dr. Lisa: Each employee has a life outside his or her job in a business. They have family, financial and other pressures. Time off is sometimes needed.

Brad: Of course, but business owners have to run the business to satisfy their customers, as well as make enough profit to stay in business. Time off can be a real issue. In some businesses, it is the main issue.

Dr. Lisa: In many businesses, employees have holidays and earned vacation. Normally there are paid breaks for non-exempt employees. In addition, depending on the company, they might also have paid sick leave and/or unpaid time off.

Brad: Often times, the more senior the employee, the more earned vacation they have. And senior employees are frequently the most skilled. When they are off, it's tough to maintain productivity. Early in my career, I supervised a small department of highly skilled employees. We were responsible for the production of a large group of paper mills. It didn't take me long to realize that on average, one person would be off on vacation every day. And of course, it didn't work out that way. Half the department would be gone the whole month of December. Most small businesses have this problem, although they cope with it in different ways.

Dr. Lisa: Yes, I've seen all kinds of different ways business owners cope with this, including NOT dealing with it at all. But, to maintain due date performance, there needs to be some predictability and consistency of resource availability. In the Velocity Scheduling System (based on Theory of Constraints drum buffer rope), machine shops are comparing load to capacity for several weeks into the future. Often the company policy requires less notice for vacation than the scheduling horizon, meaning that significant variability is added from even planned time off, not to speak of unplanned time off that happens with no notice. Due date performance is jeopardized.
Dr. Lisa: Then there is the impact on profitability. Paid time off is an operating expense. Throughput (Throughput equals Sales dollars minus Truly Variable Costs in Theory of Constraints Throughput Accounting) dollars must exceed Operating Expense to make a Profit. During some weeks and months of the year, there isn't enough productive time available to produce enough Throughput to make money. This puts the business owner in the position of having to make enough more money in the more productive months to make up for the loss months.
Brad: And, customers don't care about the people scheduling issues the supplier has. They expect what they want when they want it (or at least when it was promised). For sure, the demands placed on a supplier by a customer do not neatly fit into the preferences of when employees would like to work.

... to be continued in Part 67
Hello? Is anyone reading? Please add your comments (just click the comments hyper link at the bottom of the post)

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!


Dr Lisa

(c)Copyright 2010, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Theory of Constraints POOGI Part 58: We lost money on that job! cont.

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

Brad: Who cares? Is this really that important? In the last 20+ years since Throughput Accounting was invented to replace cost accounting, not very many business owners have even heard of it, much less felt a need to change.

Dr. Lisa: True. Most just went out of business slowly. Like the frog in the pot when the heat slowly increased, and never jumped before it was cooked.

Brad: When I switched the label printing business I own from cost accounting to throughput accounting back in 1997, it was uncomfortable. The process took time and perseverance. And there wasn’t much help available for me back then. But I found the sweet spot where conventional cost accounting leads business owners to believe they’d be losing money on jobs, and where throughput accounting clearly indicated we were making a load of money.

Dr. Lisa: It is really unfair to competitors when you understand throughput accounting, and price accordingly. We call that “competing with blind kittens” because cost accounting is such an inferior technology.

Brad: Cost accounting was invented before the Model T. Why do business owners that are so up-to-date with other types of technology, and appreciate keeping up with the rate of improvement in technology, not think to look for improved technology in business methods?

Dr. Lisa: I don’t know the answer to that, but my guess is that they are more comfortable with new technology in their area of expertise and less comfortable with new technology where they are not an expert – financial management. And, even if they have some interest in this new Throughput Accounting technology it’s hard to give up the old until you fully understand the new. Hmmm…that sounds familiar.

Brad: Whoa, you’re right! It did take me a lot of time to make the change. I guess that does explain why it’s easier to stay with the old technology.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2009, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Want to catch up with technology? Have Dr. Lisa present “Maximizing Profitability and Achieving a Viable Vision” to your company, and/or have us help you with a Pricing Project to apply Throughput Accounting to your business. Your increased profits are guaranteed, and well as competitor’s indigestion and insomnia.

Theory of Constraints POOGI Part 57: We lost money on that job! cont.

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

Brad: So, the problem is that by using more time than estimated, there is less time left in the month to produce and ship the margin on subsequent jobs. Sometimes, what margin is shipped in total is less than the fixed costs for the month, and then there is a loss for the month.

Dr. Lisa: Yes, and that is the problem that most owners are trying to avoid. And the way we were all taught to do that is -- cost allocation. However, you can make sure that you make enough margin in total without allocating any costs and it’s actually simpler and more straight forward.

Just plot the Margin dollars you ship everyday (what we in Theory of Constraints Throughput Accounting call Throughput) and compare that to your Operating Expenses. And remember, if you work overtime, you’ve increased your Operating Expenses. Once you understand the relationship between Throughput and Operating Expenses, you have all the information you need to ensure you ship enough work in total to make money.



A company can lose money, but a job rarely does. Jobs aren’t unprofitable, and for that matter, products are rarely unprofitable and customers are rarely unprofitable. Companies lose money because the margin in a month does not cover the fixed costs for a month. Otherwise, the margin on all jobs, products, and customers in excess of that month’s fixed costs all collectively add to the overall profits for that month.


... to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2009, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 33

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

If we can compute the impact of any action using T, I, and OE, which are global measures (and part of Throughput Accounting), then we can compute the bottom line financial impact quite easily:
· Throughput minus Operating Expense equals Net Profit (T-OE=NP).
· Throughput divided by Operating Expense is Productivity (T/OE=Productivity).
· Net Profit divided by Inventory is Return on Investment (NP/I=ROI).

We recommend measuring frequently enough to continuously improve. To improve, the causes of the effects must be managed:
· Sales Dollar Days and Inventory Dollar Days should be measured daily.
· Sales, Throughput, Operating Expense, Productivity, and Return on Investment each should be measured daily, weekly, and cumulatively month-to-date and year-to-date. It’s also helpful to track each with a 13 week and/or 12 month trailing average graphically.

For additional reading on measurements, reread “The Goal” and “The Haystack Syndrome” by Dr. Goldratt. And feel free to contact us if you have questions about measurements in your organization.

We’ll discuss why incentive systems don’t work as well as measurements in an upcoming post.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 31

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt and the Theory of Constraints. {This series was co-written with Brad Stillahn.}

Dr. Goldratt proposed that there are just two categories of things that can go wrong. One he calls unreliability and the other ineffectiveness. These two things account for everything, and have no overlap.

Unreliability is not doing things that need to be done. Ineffectiveness is doing things that did not need to be done, but were nevertheless. Stop and think about it, and you’ll realize that ineffectiveness is the major cause of unreliability.

Unreliability is not meeting promises. It is often currently verbalized and measured as “due date performance”. In TOC, in order to measure the duration of lateness as well as the dollar magnitude, we multiply the days an order is late by dollar value of an order (and sum for all orders) to get total “Sales Dollar Days”. A lower number is better, with the objective of achieving and maintaining zero sales dollar days every day.

Ineffectiveness is doing things too early, or that didn’t need to be done. In physical terms, it is work-in-process, or inventory. In TOC, in order to measure the duration of time inventory has accumulated as well as the dollar magnitude, we multiply the days inventory of a part has existed times the dollar value for each part (and sum for all parts) to get total “Inventory Dollar Days”. Again, a lower number is better, but zero is not attainable, so the objective is to continuously improve.

Many of the current measurements used in organizations have the intent of controlling costs. In previous articles, we’ve proposed Throughput Accounting as the preferred alternative to Cost Accounting.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 19

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt.

Up to this point, we have discussed how Drum-Buffer-Rope scheduling has the potential to double your capacity with little or no investment or expense. And Throughput Accounting has provided you visibility on the rate at which you make money.

Both of these “technologies” are part of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a holistic business process improvement body of knowledge developed by Dr. Goldratt, author of The Goal. TOC is especially effective in job shops. In fact, The Goal was about a turnaround of a job shop.

However, if you can’t sell more with your newly available capacity, there won’t be a bottom-line effect. And we find cutting the people—to save a little cost—who collaborated to increase the productivity of your organization unconscionable. It is management’s responsibility to have the marketing and sales processes in place to increase sales, utilize the capacity, and dramatically improve the bottom-line.

Unfortunately, the marketing and sales processes of most organizations are already getting the results they are designed to get. To get more, something has to change.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Next GROUP Mafia Offer Boot Camp is July 30, 31, Aug 1 2008!

Also check out our FREE Theory of Constraints videos. New videos added weekly! http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/free-stuff/free-videos-audios.aspx

About the co-authors:

“Dr. Lisa” Lang is President of the Science of Business. Her TOC speech “Maximizing Profitability” is popular with Vistage/TEC groups and as a keynote speech. Recently Dr. Goldratt’s Global Marketing Director, she offers the “Mafia Offer Boot Camp” for companies wanting to develop and implement their own Mafia Offer. She can be reached at DrLisa@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-909-3343.

Brad Stillahn is a business owner that has successfully implemented TOC methods in his own business and is now helping other business owners do the same. His consulting company, TOC Professionals, is a new NTMA member. TOC Professionals works with companies implementing all aspects of TOC. His business and personal partner is Dr. Lisa Lang. Brad can be reached at Brad@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-886-9939.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 15

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt.

We have discussed some of the problems with Cost Accounting, yet only touched on the alternative, “Throughput Accounting”. We promised to explore Throughput Accounting in more depth, and explain how implementing its concepts will help you understand the rate at which your company makes money. We also promised to discuss how Throughput Accounting can influence pricing decisions.

We are discussing Throughput Accounting from the perspective of the Theory of Constraints (TOC), a body of knowledge developed by Dr. Eliyahu M Goldratt and others over the last thirty years to support a process of ongoing improvement.

The fundamental concept in TOC is that every real system, such as your for-profit business, must have at least one constraint. If it were not true, your business would produce an infinite amount of net profit. Because a constraint limits your business system from getting more net profit, then if you want more net profit you must manage constraints. These constraints will determine the net profit of your business whether they are acknowledged and managed or not.

TOC and Throughput Accounting introduce three measurements for increasing net profit:
1. increase Throughput (Sales minus truly variable costs such as raw materials),
2. decrease Investment, particularly in inventories,
3. decrease Operating Expenses (that is, fixed costs).

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 14

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt.

Throughput is the rate at which the system generates money. It is similar to Gross Margin or Contribution Margin, but it is also different in that TOC (Theory of Constraints) does not consider direct labor as a variable cost, but rather as Operating Expense.

The role of the company’s constraint is fundamental for quantifying the decision’s impact on the three measurements. Thus, to identify which products contribute the most to the company’s net profit, TOC advocates the use of the measurement of “Throughput per time of the constraint”. This method is much simpler than costing methods. It allows for fast decisions that are directly linked to the bottom line.

Next month we will explore Throughput Accounting in more depth, and explain how implementing its concepts will help you understand the rate at which your company makes money. We will also discuss how Throughput Accounting affects pricing decisions.

If you’d like to be better prepared for the discussion, we recommend one or more of the following books:

• The Haystack Syndrome by Dr. Goldratt,
• The Theory of Constraints and Its Implications for Management Accounting by Noreen, Smith, and Mackay, and
• Throughput Accounting by Corbett.

You can also search this blog for Throughput Accounting.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 13

We are continuing our series based on The Goal by Eliyahu M Goldratt.

The core idea in the Theory of Constraints (TOC) is that every real system, such as a for-profit business, must have at least one constraint. If it were not true, then the system would produce an infinite amount of net profit. Because a constraint is a factor that limits the system from getting more net profit, then a business manager who wants more net profit must manage constraints. The constraints will determine the output of the system whether they are acknowledged and managed or not.

Dr. Goldratt says it this way: “Before we can deal with the improvement of any section of a system, we must first define the system’s global goal; and the measurements that will enable us to judge the impact of any subsystem and any local decision on this global goal”.

It is impossible to disentangle using TOC in operations (DBR) from TOC accounting (known as “Throughput Accounting”). Any attempt to run TOC in operations while using traditional management accounting measures and controls is doomed to failure. TOC is a radically different way to control operations and does not work with conventional cost accounting systems.

As an alternative, TOC and Throughput Accounting introduce three measurements for increasing net profit:
1. increase Throughput (Sales minus truly variable costs such as raw materials),
2. decrease Operating Expenses (that is, fixed costs), or
3. decrease Investment, particularly in inventories.

To make decisions according to TOC, we need to quantify the decision’s impact on these three measurements and then we will be able to determine the change in net profit and return on investment.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 11

Conventional cost accounting assumes that incremental and isolated cost improvements are productive and in support of an organization’s goals, and that global improvement equals the sum of local improvements.

Since a conventional cost accounting system relies on transaction data—each transaction is a separate event—it is incapable of a holistic or systems thinking perspective except when closing the books. In addition, conventional cost accounting is not capable of giving good information because it assumes that all the company’s resources are equally important.

So, how would cost accounting block you from implementing the Drum-Buffer-Rope scheduling methodology? In at least two ways:

• because of the way inventory is valued, and
• because of the impact on efficiency measurements.

Remember from the discussion of Drum-Buffer-Rope last month that we expected a reduction in Work-in-Process inventory to about half of its initial level. What is the effect on the monthly Profit and Loss statement from this?

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

_____________________________________________
About the authors:
Brad Stillahn is a business owner that has successfully implemented Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (TOC) methods in his own business and is now helping other business owners do the same. His consulting company, TOC Professionals engages in long-term relationships with companies implementing TOC. His business and personal partner is Dr. Lisa Lang. Brad can be reached at Brad@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-886-9939.

“Dr. Lisa” Lang is President of the Science of Business. Her speech “Maximizing Profitability” is popular with Vistage groups and as a keynote speech. Recently Dr. Goldratt’s Global Marketing Director, she offers the “Mafia Offer Boot Camp” for companies wanting to develop and implement a Mafia Offer. She can be reached at DrLisa@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-909-3343.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 10

“Cost Accounting: Public Enemy #1 of Productivity”

Way back in 1983, prior to writing his popular business novel “The Goal”, Dr. Eliyahu M Goldratt gave a speech by this controversial and confrontational title at a conference of Management Accountants. However, it was well received because the problems with cost accounting are well known to knowledgeable management accounting professionals. For them, agreeing that there are problems with cost accounting was not the issue. The question was “what is the alternative?”

That is where we left our discussion last month. We had provided an overview of Drum-Buffer-Rope (DBR) scheduling. We warned that cost accounting assumptions may block you from implementing this powerful scheduling methodology and promised to discuss both the issues with cost accounting and introduce the solution: Throughput Accounting.

Management Accounting’s objective is to make the connection between managers’ local actions and the company’s profitability so managers can know if their actions are leading the company toward its goal.

The problem with cost accounting is the focus on cost.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang
(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

___________________________________________________________
About the authors:

Brad Stillahn is a business owner that has successfully implemented TOC methods in his own business and is now helping other business owners do the same. His consulting company, TOC Professionals engages in long-term relationships with companies implementing TOC. His business and personal partner is Dr. Lisa Lang. Brad can be reached at Brad@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-886-9939.

“Dr. Lisa” Lang is President of the Science of Business. Her speech “Maximizing Profitability” is popular with Vistage groups and as a keynote speech. Recently Dr. Goldratt’s Global Marketing Director, she offers the “Mafia Offer Boot Camp” for companies wanting to develop and implement a Mafia Offer. She can be reached at DrLisa@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-909-3343.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 9

Normally, Lean and Six Sigma tools provide additional benefits very quickly. For example, it is common that the constraint resource could benefit from set-up reduction. Focusing Lean tools—which cost little to implement—results in additional capacity where it is needed and that has an immediate bottom-line result.

Due-date performance improves because of the reduction in lead-time, the increased capacity, the predictability of the time to process an order has improved, and jobs are prioritized according to due date.

The “Drum” is the schedule for the constraint resource. It sets the pace for the entire operation. In Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, we assume there is one system constraint that is limiting the throughput of the entire business. The drum is the only resource that needs to be scheduled. All other operations have relative excess capacity, meaning that orders can flow through the plant until reaching the constraint resource, and after it.

The “Buffer” is what protects the constraint from going idle from lack of material to process. The buffer needs to be large enough to prevent starvation on the constraint resource. It is really a time buffer, not physical materials, but we’ll explain that at another time.

The “Rope” is the mechanism for release of new material into the operations.

There are conventional cost accounting assumptions that may block you from implementing Drum-Buffer-Rope. Next time, we’ll address those issues, and describe how TOC’s Throughput Accounting concepts will free you to take the needed actions.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
Dr Lisa Lang(
c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

______________________________________________________________________ About About the co-authors:

Brad Stillahn is a business owner that has successfully implemented TOC methods in his own business and is now helping other business owners do the same. His consulting company, TOC Professionals engages in long-term relationships with companies implementing TOC. His business and personal partner is Dr. Lisa Lang. Brad can be reached at Brad@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-886-9939.

“Dr. Lisa” Lang is President of the Science of Business. Her speech “Maximizing Profitability” is popular with Vistage groups and as a keynote speech. Recently Dr. Goldratt’s Global Marketing Director, she offers the “Mafia Offer Boot Camp” for companies wanting to develop and implement a Mafia Offer. She can be reached at DrLisa@ScienceofBusiness.com or 303-909-3343.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 4

Most companies don’t have processes in place to sell twice what they are selling now, so it is necessary to develop a compelling, un-refusable “Mafia Offer”. A Mafia Offer is an offer so good that your customer can’t refuse it and your competition can’t or won’t offer the same. Developing and implementing a Mafia Offer is not trivial, but having one improves typical closing rates from less than 5% to as much as 80%, so additional sales people aren’t required, but sales funnel management is. (See also http://www.mafiaofferbootcamp.com/)

Let’s check the numbers using an example of a company with $5 million in sales, net profit of $250,000, and raw material costs, outside services and sales commission of 30% (what we call Truly Variable Costs in Goldratt's Theory of Constraints Throughput Accounting). One year after implementing DBR, and developing and implementing a Mafia Offer, the company has twice the capacity to sell, and is selling it at a rate of $8 million per year with no additional fixed costs. The additional raw material, outside services, and sales commisions are $900,000 on the additional $3 million in sales. The difference of $2.1 million drops through to the bottom-line which is now $2,350,000. So, net profit went from 5% to 29%! Incredible! Unbelievable?

What if your results were only half as good? Are you doing anything else with so much potential for sustained increased profit with so little risk?

TOC is a collection of “silver bullets”, and when implemented well in conjunction with Lean and Six Sigma, the result is an ongoing exponential increase in net profit. We believe that it possible for most companies to achieve a Viable Vision. One definition of Viable Vision is to turn your sales level into your net profit level in about four years, and sustain the exponential net profit increases beyond that.

If you haven’t read The Goal, we recommend you read it. If you have read The Goal, we recommend you read it again.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

(c)Copyright 2008, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

A Process Of On-Going Improvement (POOGI) - Part 2

The subtitle of The Goal is “A process of ongoing improvement”. Over the last 25 years, Dr. Goldratt has further developed the Theory of Constraints (TOC) as a holistic process to quickly and substantially improve business results. It is very compatible with Lean and Six Sigma, the two other widely known business improvement processes, where TOC is used to determine where to focus Lean (reduce waste) and Six Sigma (reduce variation) tools.

So why is TOC not more well-known and practiced if The Goal is so well read and results from implementing its methods are so effective? And why are Lean and Six Sigma much more popular business improvement processes? This is a hot topic amongst TOC experts, and probably has to do with the fact that TOC challenges most conventional practices.

For example, TOC contends that Cost Accounting is invalid. Are you prepared to consider for even a moment that the concepts of Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) and set-up cost are incorrect? And if you are, are you prepared to learn the concepts of the alternative, Throughput Accounting? For the few people that are willing to, the rewards are enormous, but most people will resist that change.

...to be continued.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!

Dr Lisa Lang

Pricing using Theory of Constraints – Q&A

I have not yet finished Blue Ocean Strategy. I will explain why when I post my review.

I have, however, received a pricing question and have written an answer. Enjoy.

Q: What about companies that have a market constraint and use S-DBR?

A: For companies that have a market constraint, I still recommend that they strategically place an internal limiting resource (control point) and use this strategic constraint to determine pricing and product mix.

We find that there is huge variation (+/- 50%) in pricing amongst and between competitors. So determining what is competitive is even a challenge. We use catalogs, industry studies, etc to help with this determination when those are available. Most of the time, we don’t have this information, so we use the technique we were all taught (TVCs + allocated OE + reasonable margin = price). We then ask our prospects/customers by how much did we miss the order or how far off was our closest competitor. Purchasers don’t typically tell us what the other prices were, but they will tell how by what % we missed it or got it.

How/when you modify pricing (in my opinion) depends on the type of offer you have. If you have an offer where you get premium pricing (like the Rapid Response mafia offer) you need to ensure that your standard price (at standard lead-time) is competitive because no one will pay a multiple of a price they perceive to be too high. We have had some situations with this offer where the standard price was not attractive to us (low T/CU) but we needed to offer this product to get the higher T/CU products. In that case we raise the price as much as we can but to still be considered competitive and then we also increase the standard lead-time. So, if we don’t like the price, but it is competitive, we increase the lead-time.

If we are dealing with a VMI type mafia offer than we typically start by matching the current pricing (assuming it is competitive a close to our target T/CU) then getting an increase after proof of concept. We have been successful at getting 2 to 12% increase.

When we consider increasing prices we take into account: T/CU of the product, total $T of the product, weighted average T/CU for the customers buying this product, and total $T for the customers buying this product. If we lose the sales of the product or sales of an entire client we need to understand by how much our T will go down.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
"Dr Lisa" Lang
(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

P.S The next open to the public Maximizing Profitability event is Aug 28 in Denver, Colorado. This is a no charge half day event. To register go to http://www.viable-vision.com/

P.S.S The next mafia offer boot camp is August 29, 30, 31 in Denver or schedule a private one at your place, on your time frame! http://www.mafiaoffers.com/ We’re coming to New Zealand and Australia for boot camps in December!

P.S.S.S. Check out our new Theory of Constraints Pricing Project! http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/Default.aspx?tabid=144

Mafia Offer Podcast #1: http://www.podcasternews.com/programs/87/better-process-podcast/3574/?A=1

Purchase Dr Lisa’s book, Achieving a Viable Vision: http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/Default.aspx?tabid=133

Pricing Using Theory of Constraints Part 6 of 6

This is the final installment on Theory of Constraints pricing. At least for now. Goldratt's Theory of Constraints, The Goal, and Throughput Accounting don't address pricing specifially. So, I tried to summarize what we do with our clients. This pricing exercise has resulted in 10 to 20% increase in profits for our clients, so I would expect the same for you. So let's summarize what we covered about pricing.

• Part 1: We discussed the importance of and how to calculate the Throughput per Constraint Unit (T/CU) for each of your current products or services.
• Part 2: We discussed how to calculate a minimum T/CU which is like the minimum price you need to charge to cover your operating expenses and make a profit.
• Part 3: We then compared the T/CU we get for each product/service to the minimum T/CU we calculated.
• Part 4: Next we discussed how to handle products/services that are priced below the calculated minimum T/CU.
• Part 5: And finally we discussed how to handle products/services that are priced above or well above the calculated minimum T/CU.

With this additional information, I hope you can determine a price that 1) will help you to achieve your financial goals; 2) meet or exceed the value perceived by the market place (will customers buy at that price?); and 3) establish the position, brand and image you desire in your supply chain.

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits and setting your prices!

"Dr Lisa" Lang

P.S. Check out our new Theory of Constraints Pricing Project! http://www.scienceofbusiness.com/Default.aspx?tabid=144

(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pricing using Theory of Constraints Part 5

For the products that are well above the T/CU you need to look into the following things:
- what is your close rate on these items, is it low?
- have your customers/prospects told you that you were over priced?
- do you want more of this type of business?

The products that are slightly above the T/CU you calculated are probably fine. And some of them that are well above the T/CU are probably OK too. But the ones that you would like to sell more of, but are not, due to too high pricing, these are the ones you should consider lower the price on.

...to be continued...

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
"Dr Lisa" Lang
(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pricing using Theory of Constraints Part 4

Let's look at the products that are currently priced below the mininum T/CU that you calculated. You can have some products priced below your min T/CU because the weighted average just needs to be at the minimum. To determine if this is one that should be below the minimum or raised you need to take into account the following:
- where is the competition priced?
- does selling this product, help you to land higher T/CU products with the same customer?
- typically you have more than one of your constraint -- like have multiple printing presses. Does this particular product run on one of your more loaded ones or does it run on a less loaded one?

...to be continued...

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
"Dr Lisa" Lang
(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.

Pricing using Theory of Constraints Part 3

Compare the minimum T/CU to the T/CU for each product. You will find current prices that are too low and too high relative to the min T/CU.

Now look at your quotes and calculate the T/CU for all your quotes. What is the T/CU for the ones your winning versus the ones your losing?

...to be continued...

Here's to maximizing YOUR profits!
"Dr Lisa" Lang
(c)Copyright 2007, Dr Lisa, Inc. All rights reserved.