Key Personnel

Dr Ted Hutchin - TOC Expert

Background

Ted Hutchin, PhD, Principal of the TOC-Lean Institute and Managing Director of I & J Munn, started his working life with sixteen years as a radar engineer with the REME, primarily focused in maintenance and repair operations (MRO) and quality control. His last two years of service were spent teaching Electronics and Radar Principles to technicians during their initial training. On leaving the Army he spent three years in the computer industry before joining the EITB as a specialist advisor on IT and Advanced Manufacturing.

He followed this with time at the University of Nottingham in Production and Inventory Control and then the Open University in the Business School and the Faculty of Technology. During this time he completed his Open University Degree in Technology and Economics and a Masters Degree in Human Resource Management at Leicester Polytechnic as it then was, carrying out research into the Management of Technological Change and Organisational Development.

Theory of Constraints (TOC) Experience

In 1987 he first met Dr Eli Goldratt and by 1990 had started working with the Goldratt Institute in the UK. He was a certified associate of the Goldratt Institute (UK), working with many different companies both in the UK and Europe, implementing the TOC approach to production known as Drum – Buffer – Rope and the TOC approach to project management known as Critical Chain. Indeed he was one of the first to implement CCPM in Europe, within the construction industry.

During his time with the Institute he was actively involved in the development of the Thinking Processes (TP) and completed his PhD at Cranfield University which examined the application of TOC within manufacturing with specific focus on the Psychology of Organisational Change and Organisational Behaviour. He has since written three books focusing on organisational change and the impact of the primary barriers to achieving successful change.

Ted is fully accredited by the governing body for TOC – the TOCICO - in all aspects of the TOC and the Applications and is recognised as one of the leading TOC educators in Europe. He has substantial experience and knowledge about the application of TOC in many different types of industry, including manufacturing, MRO, Construction, Healthcare and other service industries.

Other Related Activities

Ted is an Industrial Fellow with the University of Nottingham, where he implements change programmes and lectures on TOC, Operations Management and Supply Chain Management, and has also supervised research projects. At Cranfield University Ted teaches on the Fellowship of Manufacturing programme on TOC and Change Management using TOC. Ted has previously been a tutor, school director and examiner for the Open Business School. Recently he has acted as an external examiner for a TOC research thesis on behalf of the University of Pretoria in South Africa. He is qualified in the use of the Belbin Team Role Analysis and other related tools and techniques.

Managing Change

As can be seen from his research and writing over the past twenty five years, the dominant theme has been the management of change and the problems and issues change creates for people. Ted has a proven ability to guide people in the creation of breakthrough solutions that get to grips with the core issues of the organisation, the team, and the person’s own life. Using an holistic approach to address such issues and develop robust solutions that move people forward towards their goal in life is central to the work Ted does today:

- Managing change - Organisational and Team

Ted has developed a programme known as Thinking For Change, rooted in both his research and the TOC thinking processes. This programme is designed to significantly aid people tasked with leading change within their organisation. At the same time he developed a second programme to address issues within the team, known as Team Dynamics; this incorporates both the thinking processes and the Belbin Team Role Methodology.

- Managing change - the Individual

During many implementations of TOC Ted has met and worked with people who have asked for help in addressing their own individual problems and issues in achieving their goals in life. This has inspired him to develop the Personal Focus programme where time is spent on a one-to-one basis, addressing those core issues that seem to stand in the way of personal goals and developing breakthrough solutions that overcome whatever the blockage might be.

Personal Interests

Outside of his professional life, Ted is a Lay Reader and Evangelist with the Diocese of Leicester. He enjoys classic car rallies in his 1968 MGC GT with his wife and is a keen sailor in the Laser class, having taken part in various championships from National, through European to World Masters, including the Laser World Masters in Melbourne in 1999. He has played Rugby for Nottingham RFC, and enjoys playing Blues and Folk music and participating in local musical productions.

Tony Lumb - Director

Tony Lumb has held many significant company positions including General Manager and Director, Technical director and most recently Managing Director of Toyoda Gosei Fluid Systems, Market Harborough. Tony holds two Masters degrees from the University of Cambridge, Engineering and Mechanical Engineering and has completed an MBA from Brunel University Management College. Tony is a qualified Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a Theory of Constraints Jonah and a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

During his time at Toyoda Gosei Fluid Systems, Tony introduced substantial operating performance improvements, making major changes in order to address the wide gap between operational capabilities and the required level of performance. He also initiated changes and measures to bring back customer confidence and satisfaction resulting in the company being winner of "Britain's Best Factory". Tony has implemented Lean Manufacturing, TOC Operations - DBR and TOC Project Management and has integrated these approaches with other business excellence techniques including the EFQM Excellence Model.

He joined the team on 1st March 2006, bringing his wide knowledge and experience of manufacturing within the UK, particularly automotive supply, where he has been operating at levels tier one and two.

Steve Wray - TOC Expert

Steven Wray, MBA, has worked for 20 years in IT and organisational change projects for major companies including Coopers & Lybrand, Boots Co PLC, and BASF. He was IT manager for Knoll Pharmaceuticals R&D site at Nottingham, responsible for implementing a number of systems supporting discovery, pre-clinical and clinical research within a complex multi-national research organisation. As a consultant Steven has advised the phase one clinical research company Pharmaceutical Profiles on their IT management. He is professionally qualified in IT (MBCS), and is accredited through the Theory of Constraints International Certification Organisation - which accredits TOC practitioners around the world and is the standard for anyone professing to be a TOC expert - as an expert in Critical Chain.