Author Description

Written as a business novel, Epiphanized: Integrating Theory of Constraints, Lean and Six Sigma, is an attention-grabbing and fast-paced story of the transformation of Barton Enterprises, a manufacturer of fuel tanks for the aviation and defense industry. Like so many other companies, Barton is struggling to meet customer due dates while eking out a minimal profit margin. Joe Pecci, a process improvement expert, is hired by Barton to change their fate, but Joe soon realizes that the culture and performance metrics in place will make this a difficult thing to do. When Barton's VP of Operations, Sam Henderson, is given an ultimatum to turn Barton around or lose his job, Sam becomes a willing partner for change.<br/><br/>Things really begin to change when Joe meets a very unusual, but very clever and talented bartender named Connor Jackson in a bar named Jonahs. Jonahs becomes a regular meeting place and training venue where strategies are developed to transform Barton using some common and not so common improvment tools and principles. One-by-one each of the cast of characters is Epiphanized by their own personal experience.<br/><br/>One other central figure in Epiphanized is Becky Chen who has been sent from Corporate to reduce Barton's parts inventory using traditional improvement methods. However, Becky listens to Connor, Joe and Sam's improvement message and is also Epiphanized. Becky soon realizes that the traditional improvement methods are not what should be used to accomplish her mission. Together, Connor, Joe, Sam and Becky form a formidible alliance and as the story unfolds, things do change and do so rapidly.<br/><br/>Epiphanized is different from other business novels in that the authors, Bruce Nelson and Bob Sproull, have incorporated a very active Appendix for those readers who want more technical know-how and details for how the various improvements tools and principles that are woven into the story line work. Epiphanized also demonstrates the power of