[00:00:00] Andy Busch: Within six months, the focus on the constraint, all those steps subordinating exploiting before you add any more resources. All of those, the five focusing steps, improved flow to the point where we went from being producing airplanes way late, almost 200 days late. To producing them 50 to 80 days early.

[00:00:23] Voiceover: Welcome to Supply Chain Now, the number one voice of supply chain. Join us as we share critical news, key insights, and real supply chain leadership from across the globe, one conversation at a time.

[00:00:35] Scott W. Luton: Hey, good morning, good afternoon, good evening, wherever you may be. Scott Luton and special guest host Kim Humphrey with you here on Supply Chain Now. Welcome to today's show, Kim. How are you doing today?

[00:00:46] Kim Humphrey: I am great, Scott. How are you?

[00:00:48] Scott W. Luton: I am wonderful and I'm so glad you're here. You know, I'm a big fan of what you and the AME team are doing. More on that to come, but we have got one heck of a conversation. Kim, are you ready for this one?

[00:00:59] Kim Humphrey: I am so ready today.

[00:01:00] Kim Humphrey: Thank you, Scott.

[00:01:01] Scott W. Luton: You bet. Great show today folks. We're gonna be speaking with a tremendous leader that's been doing big things with organizations out across industry. Uh, we're gonna be diving into the widely popular theory of constraints if you're one of the 99% out there that're familiar with that.

[00:01:16] Scott W. Luton: Stay tuned. We've got some great tips and best practices, and if you're one of the handful of folks that may be new to that. No worries. We got you. It's gonna be a great lesson learned of, uh, practical takeaways here today. Valuable, actionable perspective on how TOC can create extraordinary impact and bottom line results for organizations in global supply chain and, and beyond, really.

[00:01:39] Scott W. Luton: Plus, there's a big event for manufacturing leaders coming up in October. We're gonna be sharing a lot more on that soon. Kim, you and your team are busy. It should be, uh, one heck of a show today, though, as we unpack all of that. Huh?

[00:01:52] Kim Humphrey: It is gonna be an amazing event in St. Louis in just a few short months, so I can't wait to see everybody.

[00:01:58] Scott W. Luton: It is right around the corner in one of the greatest cities in the country. So more to come, folks. More to come, but. For a handful of folks that may also not know Kim Humphrey, you serve as president, CEO of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence, and as I mentioned a minute ago, I love all the great work that AME does to support our critical manufacturing industry.

[00:02:19] Scott W. Luton: I look forward to your insights and commentary here today as well. Uh, folks stick around for a great con conversation. It's gonna be offering up tons of actionable insights by the truckload. So Kim, I am about to introduce our esteemed guest here today. Are you ready to go? Cher Wheaties this morning.

[00:02:38] Scott W. Luton: Yeah,

[00:02:39] Kim Humphrey: I think we're both, I think we're both ready, aren't we, Andy?

[00:02:41] Scott W. Luton: Uh, yeah, no doubt, no doubt. You're always ready though, Kim. You're always ready. So let me introduce our wonderful guest here today. So folks, our featured guest is a tested senior leader with extensive experience in supply chain management and aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul.

[00:02:56] Scott W. Luton: Y'all know, y'all know out there that, that's MRO. What we refer to here in global supply chain. So as a senior executive, our guests provided strategic leadership while commanding an aircraft, MRO Depot, the aviation spare parts supply chain for the Department of Defense Man, how about that? As well as the.

[00:03:16] Scott W. Luton: Air Force Logistics Center at Hill Air Force Base in beautiful Utah. In his final assignment, our guest served as a director of the Defense Logistics Agency leading nine supply chains supporting the US military, as well as, as well as federal, state, local, and international partners. Now his agency get this folks noble mission here.

[00:03:38] Scott W. Luton: His agency provided food, medical material, uniforms, construction equipment, 98% of the def uh, defense department's fuel, and the majority of spare parts for military weapons systems. In fact, our guest completed his United States Air Force Service in June, 2017, retiring as. Through Star Lieutenant General.

[00:04:00] Scott W. Luton: How about that? He is currently an independent consultant and his principal consulting relationship is with the Goldratt Consulting Group, where he serves as a strategic advisor to a worldwide consequential. Consulting practice. So please join me in welcoming our featured guest today, Andy Busch, Lieutenant General retired United States Air Force and Strategic Advisor with Goldratt Consulting.

[00:04:22] Scott W. Luton: Andy, how are you doing?

[00:04:24] Andy Busch: I am doing great. This is my second podcast experience, so I'm probably as pumped up as anybody that you're gonna have to interview in the next year.

[00:04:33] Scott W. Luton: Oh, that's terrific. And I'll tell you, Kim, uh, as I was studying up on, uh, Andy Busch's background and all that, he's accomplished, really that intro could have been an hour long, Kim.

[00:04:45] Scott W. Luton: 'cause I really wanted to do it justice to what he's done. Kim Andy is quite, he's got quite a journey, huh? He

[00:04:51] Kim Humphrey: certainly does, and I'm so, like I said, excited about Andy speaking at our conference. And also as an army brat, I've got a lot of confidence and, and I just really respect anyone that has served in the military.

[00:05:04] Kim Humphrey: And Scott, I know you've served in the military as well.

[00:05:06] Scott W. Luton: I have, and, and you know, I was a, uh, data analyst, uh, in the, uh, supporting our maintenance operations, but, you know, I could write a little pamphlet versus Andy's, uh, encyclopedia on, on experiences and service and whatnot. But, you know, let's do this.

[00:05:22] Scott W. Luton: And again, by the way, I love how you and AME support to our veteran community that that's been, uh, part of our previous collaborations. But Andy, I wanna start with this. Yeah, sure. I'm known for my fun and warmup questions because I really like. Some personality, not just uh, the practitioner perspective, but the personality.

[00:05:39] Scott W. Luton: 'cause life is short, we can't do all work. Right. And we hear that you really enjoy getting out and hiking and skiing and the outdoors up there in beautiful Utah. Is that right? Mm-hmm.

[00:05:50] Andy Busch: It is true. It is true. I live in just north of Salt Lake City in um, little town of fruit heights. And right out my backyard starts, uh, forest Service property.

[00:06:00] Andy Busch: And, uh, the, the landmark that I, that I hike along is called the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. So that's the old shoreline from the, uh, ancient lake that used to be in place before it became a shrunk down great salt lake. And I, okay. I love hiking up there in the morning, and then I like going up further in the mountains and skiing in the winter.

[00:06:18] Andy Busch: It's a great place to be.

[00:06:20] Scott W. Luton: It sounds like it. You paint quite a picture. Uh, but Kim, we learned something that might surprise a few folks and may it may, uh, discourage them from hiking. You cross rattlesnakes pretty regularly, is that right

[00:06:31] Andy Busch: Andy? You, you do come across snakes and when I'm hiking, I've always got my air pods on, and so I'm listening to something and, uh, then you'll see 'em and they'll, they'll either be coiled or they'll be crossing the trail and you'll jump.

[00:06:43] Andy Busch: Immediately, and you'll say, how do I get my AirPods out right away to see if they're ready to strike? And then the next thing comes into mind really quick, since I'm not really wearing anything but bare legs is where's all of his or her buddies? And, uh, so I'm in high ping for about 30 seconds until I can separate from these guys.

[00:07:00] Andy Busch: So it's, it happens occasionally, not often, but occasionally.

[00:07:04] Scott W. Luton: It's memorable. Yeah, I, uh, I could imagine. So, uh, Kim. I love being outdoors, but Andy is now, especially here in warm Georgia, where Copperheads are everywhere, you know? And don't know. I'm thinking twice about, uh, my afternoon walk this afternoon, Kim,

[00:07:22] Kim Humphrey: you and me bud.

[00:07:23] Kim Humphrey: Scott. Yeah. I am not a big fan of snakes. I prefer, I prefer other animals, and I don't like snakes at all.

[00:07:30] Scott W. Luton: I'm with you, Kim, but I will say. We've, me and the family venture down to OK Oki Oake, the, you know, the famous swamp. And I, I was able to kind of confront my long hell, lifelong fear of snakes. So I'm a little bit better than I used to be.

[00:07:45] Scott W. Luton: So we'll see about really quick, Kim, speak of the outdoors. You live on the beach for at least a big chunk of the year. Beautiful Virginia Beach. Uh, is that right?

[00:07:55] Kim Humphrey: I do and I love the beach and we don't have a whole lot of snakes there, Andy. So it's, it's my happy place. Um, it's beautiful down here though.

[00:08:04] Kim Humphrey: The Hampton Roads area I bet did Virginia Beach and we actually, um, we're the hoe with building the aircraft carriers, the submarines to the United States Navy.

[00:08:12] Scott W. Luton: Wow. Okay. And we're, we're trying to ramp up those efforts as I'm, uh, following along. So we'll see. Uh, but, but Kim and Andy, great to have y'all both here.

[00:08:20] Scott W. Luton: Really appreciate what y'all do in the industry. So, Kim, where are we starting with Andy Busch here today?

[00:08:27] Kim Humphrey: Yeah. Well, again, Andy, thank you so much for joining us. We're delighted to have you and Rami speak at the upcoming AME conference in October. Um, could you share a little bit more about your fascinating background?

[00:08:39] Andy Busch: Sure, sure Kim, to better organize my biographical data. I had a fork in the road about mid-career and I went from doing very operational things to starting to work in aviation supply chain and MRO, and through that I became exposed to TOC. And so I did several large implementations when I was at different.

[00:09:00] Andy Busch: Jobs that I had before I retired. And then when I retired, it became a natural fit for me to support the Goldratt team as an advisor. And so that's what I work on now. But I've had great experiences. I mean, I, you know, I've served for 38 years. People say, would you do it again? And I said, not on your life.

[00:09:16] Andy Busch: But you know, I have, I have great memories of it. Uh, because the reason why you stay, and Scott, it's probably some of the things that you took away from your time in the Air Force, is you work with great people. Uh, cool technology. And, and to the extent you know what the mission is that you know the facts of why you're doing it, it's very important stuff.

[00:09:36] Andy Busch: The young men and women that we have doing that stuff today to include our two daughters. Uh, one of my best friend's son who's at a submarine under the Pacific right now, this is important work, and they're experiencing the same benefits that, that I did. But when they're done with it, they're gonna say the same thing.

[00:09:50] Andy Busch: I don't think I'd do it again.

[00:09:53] Scott W. Luton: Well, you know, really quick, uh, Andy, you, you hit the nail on the head, the people, uh, that you serve with and the unity of the mission, that, that is undeniable every single day. Uh, those are two really big, palpable aspects of, of serving, at least, at least in my service. And it can kind of, as you speak to it, you're bringing it back, uh, between my ears, um, uh, Wong and Boozer and Gill.

[00:10:19] Scott W. Luton: Uh, and many others that I, I spent time with in the office and or in the dorms or, or you name it. Um, very, very special people. And I bet you've got, I bet you've got a long list as well, Andy.

[00:10:30] Andy Busch: Mm-hmm. I do. I do.

[00:10:33] Scott W. Luton: We're gonna get into, uh, theory of constraints and, and unpack that a little bit more, but when you think about 30, really, I gotta, I gotta nerd out for just a second because, you know, I spent, uh, just under four years in the Air Force.

[00:10:46] Scott W. Luton: So when I hear 38 years, I can only imagine the books you could write. What was one of your favorite assignments or bases or, or just, you know, locales across the world that you visit as part of that 38 year tour?

[00:11:01] Andy Busch: Yeah, we were, so before my fork in the road when I was doing very operational things, we were, um, we were in Northern Japan at an air base called Misawa.

[00:11:10] Andy Busch: So this was in the nineties. There were a lot of things happening with the. Dissolution of the Soviet Union, North Korea constantly acting up. We were there only about five years after an event that none of you probably remember, but that was the Korean Airlines 7 47 shoot down, which is why our airplanes were put there in the first place.

[00:11:28] Andy Busch: Right. And it was an extremely focused mission. I mean, the people that were there knew exactly why they were there. To include the kids, your, you know, our kids were in kindergarten. They would know my exercise schedule, uh, not physical fitness, but you know, when we were gonna do war games and things like that.

[00:11:44] Andy Busch: And it was just one of the most, you know, personally rewarding, but most compressed times that we had. And it, we flew through there and I, and I would probably offer them the, the last job that I had, I was the director of the Defense Logistics Agency and, and it is a fascinating agency. You know, there's 25,000 people, about 35 billion a year in spend for all of those supply chains you talked about.

[00:12:09] Andy Busch: And the opportunities to work internationally with businesses, large and small, across all of the socioeconomic programs that are a great nation, expect us in contracting to advance. Uh, all of those are competing demands. And so when you talk about, you know, variability and uncertainty and ambiguity and all that.

[00:12:29] Andy Busch: I would say, yeah, there's a lot of that today, but there's a lot of that just in managing those environments under a time that might seem, you know, normal.

[00:12:38] Scott W. Luton: That is so well said. And, uh, you know, Kim and Andy, I was talking to a dear friend of mine that, uh, has spent a lot of time in, in supply chain leadership roles and I was complaining to her a little bit the other day if I'm gonna keep it real about, you know, some of the, um, trade.

[00:12:56] Scott W. Luton: Challenges we have, right? And all the, all the negotiations and stuff. And she reminded me really quickly, Scott, if it wasn't tariffs and trades, it'd be something else. It's global supply chain. It's what we do. And you know, we all need a kind of a, keep it real, Kim. We all need to keep it real moment from time to time.

[00:13:12] Scott W. Luton: Is that right?

[00:13:14] Kim Humphrey: We absolutely do. We've been through a lot even in the last five years. Think about it. So,

[00:13:18] Scott W. Luton: oh, you're so true, so true. Uh, all right, so, and by the way, we're gonna talk more about Japan and India here in a minute, but Amanda, um, my significant other and one of our daughters went to Japan early this year, and they can't wait to go back.

[00:13:32] Scott W. Luton: They had a, such a wonderful, wonderful time. Yeah. So, uh, we're gonna have to take a trip, I guess. So, theory of constraints. Um, now as I mentioned on the front end, I bet lots of folks in our. Very bright, very savvy, very smart audience, have dealt with theory of constraints or read the, the very popular book called The Goal by Eli Goldratt, which I believe Andy, I was, I was on Amazon earlier.

[00:13:57] Scott W. Luton: I think it's in its 40th renting or something like that. It's like one of the world's bestsellers. Yeah. But for the handful of folks out there that that haven't, that may be new to TOC or the goal, would you unpack what Theory of Constraints is kind of at a high level?

[00:14:12] Andy Busch: Sure, I will. Before I do though, I wanted to talk a little bit about the goal, not a, just, just to let set the stage in terms of its impact on me because you, you might be a little humor by how I was exposed to it when I was in my fork in the road looking to go towards more of a MRO supply chain environment.

[00:14:30] Andy Busch: I went, got my grad, uh, went to grad school and I read the goal. So this was in 1991 ish or so. I read the goal and I promptly passed the test and I sold the book. And I didn't forget, remember it again, because if you read the book, it's a, it's a business novel. It speaks about a plant manager who has a mandate to, you turn a plant around in, I don't know, 60 days, 90 days or whatever, we're shutting your plant down.

[00:14:55] Andy Busch: And then there's a chance encounter with a former professor who is an A TOC advocate and sort of walks him through in a very, um, questioning style, what it is that he's doing and why he is not improving throughput. But here is the, here's the failure for Andy Busch. My problem was that I could not extrapolate from the reading of that book into what Eli Goldratt really wanted me to know, and that is I can take TOC and I can apply it in any domain that is complex and has lots of high variability.

[00:15:29] Andy Busch: So in a VUCA environment where you've got all these challenges. Just keep open in your mind that the goal lays out the steps in a novel form that you can use to apply in that environment and help you through those, those challenges that just seem insurmountable. So anyways, I sold the book, and then I didn't think anything about TOC.

[00:15:52] Andy Busch: Gosh darn. It was like 2005, so 15 years, 14 years later, and I walked in and I had a complete train wreck on my hand, but TOC came right roaring to the front of the, of the plate again. And you asked me about TOC. And the thing that I would tell you is, is that. I, I did a lot of work with Lean and Six Sigma in the, the assignments I had in between my grad school and this, this train wreck that I, that I inherited, right?

[00:16:19] Andy Busch: And the thing that that, um, I found was that the Lean and Six Sigma created a lot of local Optima that were not improving the throughput of my large organization. And so that's where TOC became a central focus. And if you read, uh, anything that Eli Goldratt. Uh, puts out, he says, if you ask me to describe in a single word what TOC is all about, the answer is it's about focus.

[00:16:45] Andy Busch: And I find that to be extremely true for everything that I've done where TO C's been involved.

[00:16:53] Scott W. Luton: And I'm so glad, uh, that you said that because that's one of the words I was writing down as you were sharing. Um, how you were introduced and as I was doing my own research on theory of constraints and Kim Trust moves mountains, you think of a short list of things that really moves mountains in the industry and trust is certainly up there, but focus, if that is trust.

[00:17:15] Scott W. Luton: If trust is one, a focus is one B, would you agree with that, Kim?

[00:17:18] Kim Humphrey: Absolutely. Absolutely. You know, it's so funny, Andy, when you shared that story, I was going back to my early days when I first read the goal and then fast forward I was the same way. I thought it was great. I was in my early stage of, you know, learning and automotive manufacturing.

[00:17:33] Kim Humphrey: And then fast forward few decades later, we were approached by the Goldratt Group to partner with AME, and I was so, so impressed and so honored and humbled.

[00:17:45] Scott W. Luton: I've heard that, Kim, I've heard a version of that so many times in my career about what I'll call the Goldratt approach, so I'm so excited for you to be here, Andy.

[00:17:53] Scott W. Luton: Kinda unpack some, some key best practices and some learnings from your involvement with the organization and of course. Your longtime leadership record of of, of getting through, what'd you call it? Uh, you inherited a, um, what was the word you used earlier, Andy?

[00:18:08] Andy Busch: Well, I've called it several things. Some of them don't go on this podcast, but I think I just called it a train wreck.

[00:18:13] Andy Busch: Uh, okay. It was a train wreck. You know, there's,

[00:18:15] Scott W. Luton: that's right. Alright, really quick, two quick things before we move on, Kim. I think you're gonna ask about some anecdotes and lessons learned here in just a second, but before we do for some of our. Younger listeners or viewers, you know it. I was in college in the nineties, much like Andy was talking about as well, and you may not know that, that back then you would have to purchase.

[00:18:36] Scott W. Luton: Hard copy textbooks and they were very expensive. And in fact, there was a big cottage industry that grew up that that really offered brick and mortar marketplaces for students. As they wrapped up courses. They'd go back and they could sell their books back to these stores, which would then resell used books to other students.

[00:18:54] Scott W. Luton: It was amazing compared to where we are today, but as an undergraduate, during that time, after each semester wrapped. I would get lots of beer and pizza money from get from off many other students would too, from offloading these books that we no longer needed. So I wanna make that connection to what Andy was saying about selling the book.

[00:19:13] Scott W. Luton: And then also secondly, maybe as he, as he talked about theory of constraints. You know, a constraint can be really anything, and I think this is really important because it's not just a supply chain thing. Theory of constraints can be applied in any environment. I mean, think about the bottlenecks. That we have, you know, on shop floors or in offices or no matter, it could be a skills gap, it could be just a critical juncture in the process that is, is holding the organization back really unlock, take your blinders off of how we define constraints.

[00:19:46] Scott W. Luton: I think that'll really help you better understand not just three of constraints, but how it's applied. Andy, do I have all that right? Or would you, would you push back on any of that?

[00:19:55] Andy Busch: No, I wouldn't push back on any of it. I, I think that's a good, uh, good summary. And as I moved into Theory of Constraints, what I wasn't thinking about is I, if I had a large engine production operation.

[00:20:08] Andy Busch: Why is it I'm, am I not producing more engines? And, and I would have supervisors at various levels of the operation improving their portion of the operation. But the net effect was we made investments in those small things, which were important, but nonetheless did not move the needle when it came to doing more engines.

[00:20:28] Andy Busch: So Eli Goldratt, you know, left with us as part of his legacy of, of thinking. Was this five focusing steps, focusing on identifying the constraint, exploiting it, subordinating it, uh, elevating it, and then you repeat all over. And I, and I can speak at length on any of those, those steps and what I, what I ran into.

[00:20:48] Andy Busch: But despite all the other tools that are out there amongst TOC practitioners, the five focusing steps is the concept that leads you to focusing on flow and throughput through your operation. And so you don't get distracted by. Lesser things that are nice, but not necessarily helping your business.

[00:21:06] Scott W. Luton: I love that, Andy, we don't wanna major in the minors.

[00:21:09] Scott W. Luton: That's kind of, uh, um, what I'm hearing there. Alright, so Kim, we, we could take this, direct this conversation in a number of different directions. We have to have Andy back for part two and part three, but, uh, where are we going next? Uh, with Andy Busch, Kim.

[00:21:23] Kim Humphrey: Well, you know, you've led several large enterprise Theory of Constraints solutions in your journey, and it would be really interesting to hear a few anecdotes and valuable lessons that you've learned.

[00:21:34] Andy Busch: Well, thanks. And although TOC has been part of my life since 2005, whenever I speak publicly, I talk about, you know, three large instances where we did a, did TOC to affect a major outcome in our business. And one of the things, my first one, the train wreck that I referred to, uh, earlier, was when I became an Mr, the leader of a large MRO operation in Georgia at Robins Air Force Base in Georgia.

[00:21:59] Andy Busch: And at the time, or the C five. Aircraft, which was one of probably 10 major product lines we had, was just performing badly. And again, I, what was presented to me when I came in the door was, here's a TOC solution, a technique called critical chain project management, which is widely known, perhaps not so much in the, in the TOC environment.

[00:22:22] Andy Busch: And when we did the, the TOC uh, implementation, within six months, the focus on the constraint. All those steps subordinating exploiting before you add any more resources. All of those, the five focusing steps, improve flow to the point where we went from being producing airplanes way late, almost 200 days late, to producing them 50 to 80 days early.

[00:22:49] Andy Busch: We're talking a package of 340 days for an aircraft and we reduced it to 110 and it happened. Wow. Very quickly. And it happened because of TOC and the, and the strength of focusing. A large organization on an objective. And there were a lot of things that I, I learned out of it. I learned that I needed to become a better leader because I needed to focus on creating alignment with a lot of external people that I might have wanted to try to ignore.

[00:23:14] Andy Busch: I needed to break to very, have clear messaging to my team and I needed to motivate 'em. 'cause it wasn't a fun place to work. So when you produce the airplanes 200 days late and nobody likes what you're producing, you gotta do something. So that, that's probably the, the first example that I, of several that I've had that I can share if you're interested.

[00:23:35] Scott W. Luton: Yeah. Uh, Andy would definitely wanna get a couple more from you, but a couple quick comments. Um, first off, folks, the C five that he's referencing, that's the C five Galaxy and that I believe, uh, Andy, that's certainly the Air Force's biggest plane, but it's one of the biggest cargo aircraft in all the world.

[00:23:51] Scott W. Luton: Is that right?

[00:23:52] Andy Busch: It is. It is. It's a large aircraft and these aircraft were built in the eighties, se some in the seventies. So when I got 'em in 2005, they were 30 years old. And of course the commercial side doesn't use 'em that long. And, and when you break 'em open, you're gonna find things that are, Hmm, that's very surprising.

[00:24:12] Andy Busch: I gotta do something about this. Lot of unplanned work. A lot of variability.

[00:24:16] Scott W. Luton: That's right. And can we just give a shout out to all of our wonderful. Skilled maintainers out there around the globe that keep all these fleets going. And then secondly, Kim, did you hear moving from 340 days to produce a c five to 110 days, Kim?

[00:24:35] Scott W. Luton: Oh my gosh. We gotta write a book about that, huh?

[00:24:38] Kim Humphrey: We sure do.

[00:24:39] Andy Busch: We sure do. Well, we did. Wow. The team, the, the book that we wrote was for, um, the team wrote a book for the Franz Edelman. Uh, operations Research award. It's an international award and they won it.

[00:24:50] Scott W. Luton: Wow. Okay. Fantastic. I'll have to go check that out and get a new copy of the goal so I can share it with my kids.

[00:24:56] Scott W. Luton: Alright, so Kim, that's the first anecdote. What, what you hear, you know, he also mentioned, um, mentioned a lot there, but clear communication, Kim, that's something that's one of the timeless what's old is new again, is funny. Maybe it's just to me that the more we talk about communication, the better. We still gotta get at it.

[00:25:14] Scott W. Luton: Kim, your quick thoughts before we move to the next anecdote with Andy?

[00:25:17] Kim Humphrey: Yeah, well, I definitely heard Andy set talk about focus, clarity, and motivation along with elimination of constraints. So it's very, very, very, very clear. So thank you, Andy.

[00:25:27] Scott W. Luton: Absolutely. Uh, okay, so Andy, next anecdote.

[00:25:32] Andy Busch: So just prior to in, in my last assignment when I was at the Defense Logistics Agency, I was troubled by the fact that, um, I use these terms, but they're not technically correct by any stretch of the imagination.

[00:25:45] Andy Busch: I use the term that we were throwing away too much good stuff and, and basically we were over procuring we weapon system spare parts and by policy and also by good inventory management at some point. You need to let that stuff go if it's not used. And so our policy was requiring us to dispose of a lot of this very expensive hardware at essentially scrap value, fractions, pennies on the dollar.

[00:26:14] Andy Busch: So that was my pain point, and we always. I like to have a conversation with leaders on TOC about, tell me what your pain point is. What do you really wanna solve? And so for me it was very clear. I got in, I said, I don't wanna throw away so much stuff. And so they came back, the team came back to me and said, well, it's not that you're throwing away too much stuff, it's that you're buying too much stuff.

[00:26:33] Andy Busch: And you have a very poor discipline for how you do that. And in the weapon system environment, which is not. Unlike a lot of other high tech businesses, low volume, but high tech businesses, when you have a weapon system that has a lot of complex parts in it, you know, the, the impact of a single part can have a huge impact on mission accomplishment.

[00:26:54] Andy Busch: 'cause you ground the whole airplane, the whole airplane of thousands of parts is not gonna fly for the want, lack of a, of a single part. And so. What we took a look at was using the five focusing steps. How can we possibly buy less stuff? And what we settled on was to move to a consumption pool system.

[00:27:15] Andy Busch: That at, at a very wholesale level that only purchased what we had consumed. So we essentially set aside that large business system. I won't tell you who we used, not that 'cause they're all the same. But we set aside that large business system that wanted to give us very intricate forecasts out for many years, which is creating significant amount of variability in over purchasing.

[00:27:39] Andy Busch: And we used consumption pool. For a class of parts and the savings was in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Wow. What We were then able to use that money. Apply it to other parts that we weren't able to buy under the previous investment strategy. And so consumption pool was probably, it was surprising to me 'cause I thought I knew everything about TOC and it turns out my pain point wasn't what we really wound up.

[00:28:06] Andy Busch: We didn't directly address that, but in the end we wound up getting there.

[00:28:10] Scott W. Luton: Oh, Andy. Hundreds of millions of dollars. Uh, all right. I heard a lot of things there, Kim. I wanna get you to, what was one of the, the cool things you heard from that anecdote from Andy Busch?

[00:28:21] Kim Humphrey: Well, Andy, for one thing, every I, I'm listening to you and I'm thinking back to my shipyard shipbuilding days and everything you're saying aligns with what we went through as far as inventory and not so going to that consumption pool system.

[00:28:34] Kim Humphrey: It is, you know, it's, it seems like it's intuitive to most of us in supply chain, but it's not always so intuitive. So I think it's great that you shared that. Again, it's really about, um, looking at your procurement and your over procurement. Mm-hmm. And um, so I really like that you shared that as well.

[00:28:51] Scott W. Luton: A great call out to Kim, and I'll tell you.

[00:28:53] Scott W. Luton: Yeah, as Andy explains it now, he explains it with a lot of clarity and simplicity. But my hunch, Andy, when you're in the middle of that train wreck, it doesn't feel quite, not nearly as simple, uh, or straightforward, huh?

[00:29:06] Andy Busch: That's right. No. No, it doesn't. And one of the leadership lessons that I share with leaders that are contemplating something like this is you better have a big pain point.

[00:29:15] Andy Busch: You better be looking for breakthrough results, and you will absolutely will not be a hundred percent confident when you take the step off the gang plan. To execute your, your project. There will always be doubt in naysayers.

[00:29:27] Scott W. Luton: Uh, well said. Been there, done that perspective, for sure. Hey, one quick before we get one more anecdote from you.

[00:29:33] Scott W. Luton: You've mentioned the five focusing steps several times now, and I, you know, I'm not a TOC expert. Mm-hmm. But as you use that and the way you use it, it takes my mind to the five why's. Right? Which is a very common. A tool that's used out there, what's one element that's different between those two, uh, go-tos as we're driving an improvement out there?

[00:29:53] Andy Busch: Yeah, I think that certainly the, the five Ys are a very useful mental exercise for getting you, you know, focused on, on your objectives. So I don't wanna, I, I probably don't have, um. Anything profound to say about them, nor do I have anything bad to say about 'em. I, I will tell you on the five focusing steps, the clarity of having performed the analysis to know what your constraint is when you have a large system, a business system, whatever it is you're doing, wherever you wanna apply, TOC, everyone will have an opinion on where the constraint is and generally it'll be the other guy and, and you need some, you need to do the analysis.

[00:30:37] Andy Busch: And test that analysis to make sure you've identified it properly and when you do, you institute the physical change of the work so that you bring everybody into this. And that physical change could be something as straightforward as managing your work and process in all of the examples that I've, that I could share with you.

[00:30:58] Andy Busch: We had very poor work in process discipline, so work would just get put out on the floor and everyone would be required to stay busy for eight or 12 hours, however long they were there. Well, that was leading to a lot of multitasking, a lot of bad things that were causing you not to exploit the constraint.

[00:31:17] Andy Busch: And as a result, anytime you or effort that you lose out of that constraint, you'll never get it back. You'll never get it back. And so the focusing steps are very useful in that regard. I don't know that the five why's lead you to that. It's not been anything that I've, that I've practiced, but I would at least offer a half answer to your question.

[00:31:38] Scott W. Luton: No, that, that's, that's a full answer, Andy, and then some I from your explanation there, having never used the five focusing steps, it sounds like to me, Kim, that the five focusing steps is like the five why's on massive steroids, you know? That's right. And if y'all think to all of our audience members out there, you think about an operation to build a C five, we're talking about advanced, um, or a repair for that matter.

[00:32:01] Scott W. Luton: Uh, the maintenance of a c five, lots and lots of parts. And, and Andy mentioned sometimes. It is that single part that can stop a whole plant or, or, or stop a whole fleet. Right? Uh, it's, it's like that old, uh, stupid joke that we've said here a lot. You know, how many parts does it take to build a, a, a pickup truck?

[00:32:23] Scott W. Luton: All of them. You gotta have all of them, and it's so true. Okay. So let's get one more anecdote from you, Andy. I love these stories, uh, from, you know, turning things around and, and, and bringing everybody into the equation and finding clarity and finding big time results such as my head's still spending with that three 40 days down to 110 days.

[00:32:44] Scott W. Luton: But Andy, what's the third experience that comes to your mind?

[00:32:49] Andy Busch: Yeah, a lot of it gets down to some of the leadership things I, that I've learned that I, that I shared earlier. So I finished up with the C five story and I moved immediately to a supply chain job. So very different, although one was a customer of the other, and again, I had a complete failure of imagination to think that I could take TOC and I could take it from aircraft MRO, and I could move it into supply chain.

[00:33:12] Andy Busch: Yeah, but we had a real crisis on our hand because as we turned on our new business system, we had 15 months worth of backlog of purchase request. And those are the work pieces, the contract actions that we need to buy, the couple billion dollars a year of parts and 15 months. Can you imagine that that's, that is like ridiculous.

[00:33:32] Andy Busch: Well, the only reason I didn't get fired was because nobody knew it. And so my pain point was, why are all of my supply metrics going down? And they had been going down for months and I said, I, you know, we gotta do something. I'm never gonna make it through this thing if we don't do something. And so we started the process of the five focusing steps, and we figured out that, you know, there was a certain skillset, our contracting officers or our buyers that were keeping us, that were the constraint, but we weren't fully utilizing them.

[00:34:04] Andy Busch: And in the meantime, we had 15 months worth of backlog on the shop floor, and I couldn't see it because it's all in the business system. It's all on some metric on a supervisor's desk. And then the worst thing is, is that the way the workforce was behaving was exactly what I told 'em to do. My world was filled with drug deals.

[00:34:23] Andy Busch: If the Marines called me and said, Hey, I need parts for Harriers, I'd say, Hey, we need to get parts for Harriers. So all of the stacks of parts that were for F16s and. Chinook helicopters, they'd go off to the side and they're gonna pull out stuff for the harrier. And, and that's how you get 15 months worth of backlog.

[00:34:39] Andy Busch: I'm oversimplifying it, but that's essentially what was happening. 'cause there was no control. Yes. And here's the other part of the, the, the experience. When you have a buyer, you're constraint and you're whipsawing around like that. And you're starting to focus on things like, well, how much did you produce today or this week?

[00:34:56] Andy Busch: What are they gonna produce? The hard ones or the easy ones. Mm-hmm. Easy ones. Absolutely. And so what happens is you're completely outta sync with what the customer needs because you're doing the thing to get your volume up. And. The learning lesson on that was just creating the motivation and breaking the inertia in the workforce to say, you're only gonna work what we release and we're gonna follow a priority.

[00:35:21] Andy Busch: You're not gonna get any more drug deals from Andy Busch. And that's the way we will exploit the constraint and continue to, to advance the, the objectives of the organization. In the end, it took about two years and we burned 15 months down to three months, which is where we should have been all along.

[00:35:38] Andy Busch: And it was, it was the focus of knowing where the work was at and then going through those steps that we've talked at length about.

[00:35:47] Scott W. Luton: Andy. Love it. And by the way, uh, for as much grief as the Marines have given us, uh, over the decades, we should make them wait longer, a little longer for those parts.

[00:35:56] Voiceover: They'll tell you they are.

[00:35:59] Scott W. Luton: That's right. I'm only kidding to all of our wonderful Marine, Marine, uh, friends out there. But really quick, one of the things I heard there, Kim, one of the many things. That has been a common refrain, especially in the pandemic days and days since the tyranny of the urgent. Right. And that's kinda one of the things I heard there from Andy.

[00:36:18] Scott W. Luton: You know, what's the burning hot order today that's gonna mess up everything else you're working on. Right. But what'd you hear there, Kim, from, from that third anecdote?

[00:36:27] Kim Humphrey: Yeah. I also heard a little bit of the, um, incentive to carry the inventory and then to prioritize the work. Not based on schedule and need, but based on what you could get done the quickest and,

[00:36:38] Scott W. Luton: yes.

[00:36:39] Scott W. Luton: That's

[00:36:39] Andy Busch: right.

[00:36:40] Kim Humphrey: And Andy. And Andy, I've been there, so I, I, I can totally relate to that.

[00:36:43] Andy Busch: A lot of people have, A lot of people have, yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:47] Scott W. Luton: Um, okay, so I'm gonna do this. We're, we're still gonna get some great general broader advice from Andy, and we're gonna talk about the AME International Conference as well in just a second, which you can't miss folks.

[00:36:58] Scott W. Luton: October 6th through the ninth in beautiful St. Louis home of the Cardinals. I'm not Atlanta Braids fan. It kind of pains me to say that, but a St. Louis the great city, but do this, let's do this really quick. Speaking of travel, Andy, you, uh, had some really cool conversations and experiences both in Japan and India.

[00:37:15] Scott W. Luton: As you were talking, uh, theory of constraints with folks out there, could you shed a little light on, on some of those experiences?

[00:37:21] Andy Busch: Sure, sure I will. So, um, Dr. Goldratt was very. Well known internationally, very well known, and had a considerable following around the world as evidenced by the fact that the book, the Goal you referenced, which is, you know what, 7 million copies, 30 plus languages, um, there's a tremendous.

[00:37:42] Andy Busch: Interest in it. And so Goldratt Group is a very, uh, relatively small consultancies as consultancies go, but we have, um, uh, partners in, uh, India. We have a partner in Japan, south America, Latin America, and obviously North America. So, um, I get kinda get share of around and, uh, people like to ask me to tell some of the same stories and vignettes that I've shared with, with your audience today.

[00:38:06] Andy Busch: So I've gone to, um, to both India, Japan, and you know how I can tell that I did a good job at those places, Scott?

[00:38:12] Scott W. Luton: How's that?

[00:38:13] Andy Busch: You invited me back. So, so I've been twice to both, and I'm hoping to get an invitation for a third time. I'll tell you that in, in Japan, what what struck me was, um, you know, I would talk to people in the Ministry of Defense, and then in the evening, in, in Tokyo, uh, or in Kyoto, the Japanese have a, a lot of, uh, rented spaces for people to use in the major metropolitan areas.

[00:38:38] Andy Busch: And I re I just have this striking memory. Uh, being in Japan on a Tuesday night, it's in the winter, it's raining, and I'm going, who's gonna come listen to this on Tuesday night in the rain? And it was standing room only 200 plus people. Wow. And they're very engaged in the topic. They wanna talk to you afterwards.

[00:38:59] Andy Busch: And even if they don't, we don't have the, the common language. They go grab somebody that speaks English and they'll come talk to you and, and it's. It, it was quite interesting to, to go through, but I did wanna tell the story on India, 'cause I've been there twice now. And what was fun about India was the most unusual question and answer session that I've ever been exposed to.

[00:39:20] Andy Busch: So there were, we were talking to people in their Ministry of Defense, all services, army, navy, uh, sea services, um, air Force, and. From mid grade people up to senior leaders, generals, admirals, that kind of stuff. About 200 people again. So I was presenting the material and uh, I got done and we turn into question and answer.

[00:39:41] Andy Busch: And the question and answer like turned into a donnybrook. I mean, they are debating and, you know, speaking with very forceful tones at one another. And I have no idea whether I've got a lieutenant colonel talking to an admiral and just telling him, no, you're wrong. But it was the most interesting thing.

[00:39:59] Andy Busch: I didn't do anything for the, for the remaining 45 minutes. I just sat and listened to this and these guys are going at it, and the whole group love it, engaged in it. And I found that interesting. And not unusual for just the level of interest that I've seen in both of those countries for, um, for theory of constraints and what the Goldratt Group does.

[00:40:18] Scott W. Luton: I love it. Uh, I love that passion it sounds like, was in, um, by the truckload in the, uh, conversations in India. And I'll tell you, uh, is, uh, I've often found tremendous. Inspiration and innovation, uh, from our audience members, from both of those wonderful countries. And I appreciate you sharing and I can't wait to hear.

[00:40:37] Scott W. Luton: Glad to have you back. And you give us an update on your other travel. Okay. Uh, broad, Kim. I bet. Passionate groups of people getting together and debating, you know, continuous improvement or manufacturing best practice. I bet you've seen a lot of that, which is one of the benefits of, of, uh, AME. Uh, can you relate to that picture in India, the Andy Pic, uh, uh, drew for us.

[00:40:59] Kim Humphrey: I sure can. Andy, you just make me laugh when, when I hear that, um, the AME at the AME, we really talk about best practices and we share with each other, and there's a lot of dynamic debates on how to approach things best, but that's the best way to get the conversation started. That's right. And so we love it.

[00:41:16] Kim Humphrey: And I will share with Scott that Rami Goldratt has spoken both to our Champions club at AME and to several of our regional boards. And there's been a tremendous amount of dialogue around that. You know, the conversation about theory of constraints and also how to prioritize and eliminate multitasking.

[00:41:36] Scott W. Luton: I love that. And I'll tell you that that's tremendously, those things are tremendously valuable in the smallest of operations, and certainly as you get bigger and bigger and kind of one of the things, one of the. Common threads in Andy's anecdotes was when you get to a big enterprise and you got multi plants and you got all the different departments that that require to build something as big as C five, it can be really difficult to find the real story because Andy, as you kind of put it, you got one answer over it over here, one other element of the, I mean, it takes a lot of, uh, what's the right word?

[00:42:09] Scott W. Luton: When you're pulling together data and observations and analysis from a wide variety, it's not cohesion. My vocabulary's gonna fail me. But you're taking lot of, I think,

[00:42:17] Andy Busch: uh, I think synthesize, you know, yes. To synthesize the environment, creating an artificial environment so you can see exactly what's happening in your large structure.

[00:42:26] Scott W. Luton: That's right. That

[00:42:27] Kim Humphrey: it takes a lot of collaboration.

[00:42:29] Scott W. Luton: That's right. Absolutely. And, and the cool thing these days here in 2025, what I refer to as a golden age of, of supply chain technology and technology in general, we've got some wonderful technology platforms that help us with those scenarios that we could run simulations and whatnot.

[00:42:44] Scott W. Luton: But, and with, uh, some of the synthesis of all the treasure troves of data. But at the end of the day, one of the great differentiators that human, the human, beautiful human element brings to the table is deciphering that what? The real story that all of that analysis and all that data is really saying, and it sounds like you had a full plate in all of those experiences, Andy, in doing just that.

[00:43:09] Scott W. Luton: Uh, Kim, we're gonna broaden out. We're gonna talk about the AME conference in just a second, but I know you've got a billion dollar question that you wanna pose to Andy next. Right.

[00:43:19] Kim Humphrey: Sure. So Andy, you know, you've got a tremendous background both in the civilian and in the military side, but you know, it's really about leadership.

[00:43:27] Kim Humphrey: So, um, what are the, what are two pieces of advice that you would give industry leaders that are, we're trying to navigate this volatile environment right now.

[00:43:37] Andy Busch: So we talked a little bit about. It a moment ago, and, and certainly as I shared my example for one of my favorite assignments, which was Masa Airbase in Japan, where TOC had nothing to do with what I, what I was involved in these, the variability, uncertainty, uh, uh, what ambiguity, I can't remember all of them.

[00:43:56] Andy Busch: I'm, but anyways, I mean all of those exist, but it. But from different sources. The thing that I learned was that I, as I got more senior, I couldn't solve problems by just working harder and then I couldn't work harder or, uh, solve problems as I got more senior by delegating 'cause I couldn't delegate enough.

[00:44:15] Andy Busch: And then the last thing I learned that TOC helped me with was developing a structure that allowed me to engage the workforce. That's what happened. The workforce becomes engaged when you do a large scale enterprise solution like TOC and the physical change of the work. For instance, the supply chain where you can't go work on whatever you want just 'cause you have five months of stuff work on your desk.

[00:44:40] Andy Busch: You gotta work on the priority. We have to focus on throughput. We have to identify. Focusing on the constraint. And that is a really important leadership, leadership lesson for me as you move from working hard to delegating, trying to delegate better, and then how do I get the whole workforce involved?

[00:44:56] Andy Busch: And that to me is, is very central

[00:45:00] Scott W. Luton: that Kim, we, we said it as being another question called as a being l piece of advice there, but Kim, the workforce in so many ways. Mm-hmm. Has the answers. They're the experts. That's why go into the gemba and really engaging and learning from the workforce, whether it's a frontline or, or, or other aspects of the operation.

[00:45:19] Scott W. Luton: Kim, that's, um, that's the big secret that some of us still refuse to learn. Huh?

[00:45:25] Kim Humphrey: We're talking a lot about that right now and how to make, um, employees more, how to help people be, be more engaged mm-hmm. By creating meaningful environments for them to work in. And allowing them to come up with the Scott and talked about earlier the five why's, how to help them come up with the answers to some of the problems we have in industry.

[00:45:45] Scott W. Luton: That's right. If you're not doing those things that Kim is describing, Andy's describing folks, you're missing out. Mm-hmm. But I'll tell you this, I love good practical advice here and I think one of the many. Ways of doing just that and act on, on what both of y'all are sharing is you gotta find good vehicles, right, and good tools and good opportunities to kind of unlock that.

[00:46:07] Scott W. Luton: And that's where we're going next with the AME International Conference coming up in St. Louis in October. And I wanna share a couple details and then Kim. Andy, I got a question about the conference for both of y'all, but as y'all can see there, folks, if you're watching versus just listening, which is fine, either way, over 1100 manufacturing leaders will be at this event, this yearly event.

[00:46:30] Scott W. Luton: They're right there in St. Louis, October 6th of the ninth, uh, 2025. It's always. I've been there. It's always a great event full of practitioner led sessions. I think we got over 30 practitioner led sessions coming up in October. Uh, hands-on workshops, right? Touch it, feel it, work it, break it, fix it, you know, all that helps you with new ideas and skill sets and, and market intel exchange, I'll call it tours.

[00:46:57] Scott W. Luton: We're getting some good factory tours. I think Kim there in the St. Louis area and. Networking. I know some folks don't like hearing that word, but it's not taking a stack of business cards and giving it to every single person in the room. Don't push that aside. Networking that I've seen in its most effective form is when leaders and practitioners get in a room and they're exchanging, oh, you've got that problem.

[00:47:21] Scott W. Luton: We've got the same problem. Oh, this is how you're doing it. Oh, this is how we're doing it. All of those eureka moments that can be unlocked. That's what. Really meaningful events can deliver. And Kim, I am just hitting some of the highlights, some of what I've seen at past AME events. Uh, what else would you add in terms of the value proposition that your members and, and lots of non-members that come out and enjoy, uh, this annual event, what else would you share with folks?

[00:47:47] Kim Humphrey: Yeah. Well, thanks Scott. You did a great, great, great advertisement for the conference. But I will tell you the AME conference is a little different from the conferences you typically go to because it really is about sharing, learning, and growing. And that's not just the tagline. That is really about connecting with people, talking about your issues, sharing best practices, sharing your problems.

[00:48:09] Kim Humphrey: Um, we are a very open organization, um, and that's really what we're here for. As you said, it's gonna be about 1100 people, but um, particularly for supply chain, it's really a gold mine. We're gonna not just talk about theory, it's gonna be real world execution. We're gonna go on tours to different companies, uh, to see best practices.

[00:48:29] Kim Humphrey: We're gonna hear. The people that wrote the books. Yeah. Andy, for the people that wrote the books on, um, best practices in industry and especially for our, our supply chain leaders. You're gonna see how companies are using lean. Continuous improvement in even AI to streamline global operations. You know, strengthen those supplier relationships and get the workforce engagement going.

[00:48:52] Kim Humphrey: Um, and also respond faster to the disruptions that we were talking about earlier. So what I'd like to say is we're not a conference where you come to look at PowerPoint slides. We're really a conference where people come back and learn from um, people and are able to lead with really practical tools.

[00:49:11] Scott W. Luton: I love it, Kim.

[00:49:12] Scott W. Luton: And you're so right. Gosh, I could be here for an hour, but, uh, two quick things then, Andy, I'm gonna get some of your highlights from your keynote. You're, you'll be offering in October, but Kim, you share some really important stuff, supplier relationships, that's a massive opportunity. Now, I would like to think the light bulb's going on for a lot of more folks, um, in terms of, you know, optimizing their ecosystems and all the relationships with them.

[00:49:32] Scott W. Luton: But you're gonna find some, uh, wonderful examples and actions you can take back to your own supply chain ecosystem and. Andy mentioned rattlesnakes. I think we talked about this pre-show, but if y'all go to AME, the international conference and you see Mark Preston there, be sure to ask the one only Mark Preston, what, just, what the heck is a rattlesnake hunt as it applies to manufacturing, supply chain and facilities.

[00:49:56] Scott W. Luton: And, um, you'll, you'll find a new tool to unlock how to engage the, um, the workforce. Okay, so Andy. We've got a small taste here today. Uh, probably elements of your message as part of your keynote coming up at the AME International Conference in October. Anything else you want to add as in terms of a sneak peek for folks that that show up and, and catch that, uh, in a few months?

[00:50:20] Andy Busch: Sure. Uh, absolutely Scott. The big thing is, as you alluded to, uh, the, the keynote is focused on Rami's messaging, so ROI is the current president and CEO of Goldratt. And, um, he travels to all of the places that we've talked about, India, Japan, Latin South America. He's all over the place and he does a lot of work here in North America as well.

[00:50:41] Andy Busch: He's on a regular, his travel is, is. Is beyond belief. Uh, what he does. So what Romney will talk about is a broader thinking of what TOC can do for you. My words not his, but I think what many people will take out of there that TOC is very, very, uh, applicable in, in. Domains like from healthcare to fashion to food preparation, and can include things like innovation based on how you can deliver value in a way that wasn't, wasn't possible before.

[00:51:14] Andy Busch: I'll be supporting him. I'll provide, uh, some color at the end of it, and generally what I will talk about is expand on the messaging about leadership lessons and, uh, what it is that I took away from being a practitioner and doing implementations for about 15 years before I left government service.

[00:51:31] Scott W. Luton: It would be good Al it is gonna be good.

[00:51:33] Scott W. Luton: Uh, hey, if this is a sneak peek, I know it's gonna be great. Uh, Andy, and I'm so glad that we could get some of your time here today and, and get some of your experiences and anecdotes, expertise and, and best practices. Uh, I bet we're get a lot of feedback on this conversation. I hope so. Alright, so Kim, let's do this.

[00:51:51] Scott W. Luton: We're gonna make sure folks know how to connect with you and with Andy and your organizations in just a second. But I've got a really tough question for you, Kim Marick. We've covered a lot of ground and I've gotten my, uh, proverbial 17 pages of notes from what you and, and Andy both have shared. If you had to pick one thing that we learned here from Andy today that you would consider your patented key takeaway, what would that be?

[00:52:13] Scott W. Luton: Kim?

[00:52:14] Kim Humphrey: You know what Andy, it's always good to hear, uh, from you all, but I think exploiting the constraints and how that adds value to the organization and also how it engages the workforce, sometimes we don't align those two. And I think what you share today is extremely valid, valuable. So thank you.

[00:52:33] Scott W. Luton: You bet.

[00:52:33] Scott W. Luton: Completely, completely agree, Kim. Well, well said. And you know, the power of focus may sound cliche, but when you find a really proven. And scientific data-driven, powerful methodology that helps you and the organization do just that. Oh man. Uh, this, I would say the sky's the limit, but, uh, I think Eli, Ellie said the sky's not a limit.

[00:52:54] Scott W. Luton: I think it was one of the quiz quotes, Andy, is that right?

[00:52:57] Andy Busch: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. He left us with quite. Quite a library of, uh, quotable material. Some of it from his, uh, writings, but a lot of it from YouTube. You can find a lot of, that's a lot of stuff on there. And Rami's got, uh, a number of, uh, things to tell you as well that, uh, that are always interesting.

[00:53:15] Andy Busch: I've been working with ROI now for the last eight or nine years and, uh, and seen him in action, uh, you know, around the globe. He, he does a superb job,

[00:53:24] Scott W. Luton: must.

[00:53:26] Kim Humphrey: He is amazing. He is amazing. Andy,

[00:53:29] Scott W. Luton: we'll have to have y'all both back soon, but hey, let's do this. Um, Andy Busch, uh, how can folks connect with you, talk shop, maybe kick the tires on having you come into their organization?

[00:53:40] Scott W. Luton: How can they track you down, sir?

[00:53:41] Andy Busch: Sure. Best way is goldrattgroup.com. That will get you to the portal and people can reach me through that device. That's the best way.

[00:53:51] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding folks, and as you can tell over the last hour. Uh, never a dull moment. Uh, I love, again, I love your anecdotes and your per your point of view here today.

[00:54:01] Scott W. Luton: Uh, alright. So Kim, so folks, you're gonna be able to find a direct link to the conference. Check it out, register to join us. But Kim, beyond that, how can folks connect with you and the AME team?

[00:54:13] Kim Humphrey: Yeah. Um, just khumphrey@ame.org. khumphrey@ame.org.

[00:54:21] Scott W. Luton: Outstanding. It's just that easy. And folks, you, you, um, do that you can find, you know, connect over@ame.org, but I enjoy Kim, your, it may be a weekly message that you send out to the whole community, right?

[00:54:35] Kim Humphrey: I do.

[00:54:35] Scott W. Luton: I love it. It is so packed it, you keep it real and it's like real life. There's a little bit of humanity, a little bit of leadership, a little bit of manufacturing. So, uh, folks, you have to venture over to ame.org and sign up for that. But, um, Kim Humphrey. Always a pleasure to collaborate with you.

[00:54:50] Scott W. Luton: Thanks for being here today.

[00:54:52] Kim Humphrey: Thank you, Scott.

[00:54:53] Scott W. Luton: You bet. Uh, Andy Busch, strategic advisor with the Goldratt Group and Lieutenant General retired United States Air Force. Andy, it's been a pleasure to have you here today.

[00:55:04] Andy Busch: Thank you, Scott.

[00:55:05] Scott W. Luton: You bet. Okay,

[00:55:06] Kim Humphrey: thank you Andy.

[00:55:07] Scott W. Luton: Um, I'll tell you, we're gonna have to have Andy part two back.

[00:55:10] Scott W. Luton: I know this, you said it's your second podcast, but it's like, uh, you could do this in your sleep. Uh, I love it. Uh, we'll have to have you back soon. Um, folks, I hope you enjoyed the conversation as much as I have. I loved it. Uh, this is, this is, uh, my kind of stuff, uh, Kim and Andy, but, but it comes with homework.

[00:55:28] Scott W. Luton: You gotta take one thing. Just one thing that Andy or Kim shared here today, do something with it. Share it with the team. Act on it. Use it in your organization. Y'all know it's all about deeds, not words. That's how we're gonna keep transforming how global supply chain manufacturing, you name it, how business gets done.

[00:55:46] Scott W. Luton: So with all that said, uh, big thanks for being here. On behalf of the whole team here at Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton challenging you to do good. Give forward, be the change that's needed. We'll see you next time. Right back here on Supply Chain Now. Thanks everybody.

[00:56:00] Voiceover: Join the Supply Chain Now community for more supply chain perspectives, news and innovation, check out supply chain now.com. Subscribe to Supply Chain Now on YouTube and follow and listen to supply chain now wherever you get your podcasts.