Racing Breakneck to the Bottleneck

BP Proves Theory in Macondo Spill Response: How the Theory of Constraints and Lean Manufacturing Were Used to Boost ... 1,000 percent and Save $700 Million

By: Mark J. Woeppel

Narrated by: Dean Stewart

What can you do to boost capacity overnight when you’re running at 100%? When failure of your mission could be broadcast worldwide? These questions were central to the team that supplied equipment to the Gulf of Mexico during the Macondo spill and the historic mop-up–the cleaning of more than 10,000 boats, ships, and rigs.

A small team of experts fanned out across the globe to work with producers of skimmers, boom, absorbent materials, and other products to meet record-setting demand and timelines. When the flow stopped, they engineered the decontamination process for the vessels, building an organization the size of a Fortune 500 company in less than 90 days. Mark and Adam tell the compelling inside story. The team doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled suppliers’ output in hours and days.

Using the Theory of Constraints, Lean Manufacturing principles, and common sense, they increased productivity and saved over half a billion dollars in expenses under the worst conditions. The book ends by discussing the principles behind the tactics and offering process-improvement lessons learned applicable to any continuous improvement effort.

©2015 Mark j woeppel (P)2026 mark j woeppel

Mind opening

I'll be honest, this isn't my usual content. I normally wouldn't have naturally gravitated to this title, but something about it intrigued me and I'm glad I took a chance on it. Because it's so different from my norm, I have to admit that I found the material eye opening. This is a perspective I've never considered before.

The narrator carried the material and it felt conversational. Looking forward to considering more work like this in the future.