The Secret to Maximizing Profitability: A Business Novel on How to Successfully Combine the Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma to Drive Profit Margins to New Levels

This book fully details, as the title suggests, the real secret to maximizing an organization's profitability. While many companies have implemented improvement initiatives such as Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing, there is a missing link which, when discovered and implemented, will take these same companies to profit levels not seen before. This missing link is the Theory of Constraints, and when it’s combined with Lean and Six Sigma, true transformational improvements are sure to follow.

In this book, the author walks you through the step-by-step method on how to combine these three methodologies with the result being significant improvements to flow, major improvements in variation, substantial reductions in waste, superior on-time delivery, and ultimately, maximized profitability. He has been using this integrated methodology for many years and each time, the results realized were well beyond what the leadership teams had experienced previously. The genesis behind this combined improvement cycle is based upon many years of analysis of both failures and successes using Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints as stand-alone improvement initiatives.

By integrating Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints into a single improvement cycle, the author has developed a recipe that will maximize your return on investment, cash flow, and net profit. The Secret to Maximizing Profitability is both stimulating and thought provoking, but more importantly it will provide your organization with a roadmap for maximizing the use of your resources to achieve more bottom-line improvement than you ever imagined possible.

Bob Sproull is an Independent Consultant and the owner of Focus and Leverage Consulting. Bob is a certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt and a Theory of Constraints Jonah. Bob has served as a Vice President of Quality, Engineering, and Continuous Improvement for two different manufacturing companies, was General Manager for a manufacturing company, has an extensive consulting background in Healthcare, Manufacturing, and Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO), and focuses on teaching companies how to maximize their profitability through an integrated Lean, six Sigma, and Constraints Management improvement methodology. Bob is an internationally known speaker and author of numerous white papers and articles on continuous improvement. Bob’s background also includes 9 years with the Presbyterian University Hospital complex in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he ran the Biochemistry Department at Children’s Hospital, performed extensive research in breakthrough testing methods and assisted with the development of organ transplant procedures. Bob completed his undergraduate work at the University of Pittsburgh and University of Rochester with a dual Math/Physics major. A results-driven Performance Improvement Professional with a diverse healthcare, manufacturing, MRO and technical background, he has significant experience appraising under-performing companies, developing and executing highly successful improvement strategies based upon the integration of Lean, Six Sigma, and Constraints Management methodology. Bob is the author of four books, including, The Focus and Leverage Improvement Book, CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, 2018; The Problem-Solving, Problem-Prevention, and Decision-Making Guide - Organized and Systematic Roadmaps for Managers, CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, 2018; The Ultimate Improvement Cycle: Maximizing Profits Through the Integration of Lean, Six Sigma and the Theory of Constraints, Productivity Press, 2009; Process ProblemSolving: A Guide for Maintenance and Operation’s Teams, Productivity Press, 2001; and Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma Improvement Methodology: Making the Case for Integration, Productivity Press, 2019; and co-author of Epiphanized: Intergrading Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma, North River Press, 2012; Epiphanized: A Novel on Unifying Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma, 2^nd Edition, and Focus and Leverage: The Critical Methodology for Theory of Constraints, Lean, and Six Sigma (TLS).

Degrees, Certifications, and Memberships:

• Bachelor of Science Equivalent in Math and Physics, University of Rochester
• Certified Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt, Kent State University
• Certified Six Sigma Black Belt, Sigma Breakthrough Technologies, Inc.
• TOCICO Strategic Thinking Process Program Certificate
• TOC Thinking Processes (Jonah Course) L-3 Communications
• Critical Chain Expert Certificate, Realization Technologies
• Lean MRO Operations Certificate, University of Tennessee

Bob resides in Prattville, Alabama.