Breakthrough Solutions course offered in spring 2017 at Oakland Center

A popular course has a new name and a new department. Theory of Constraints: Breakthrough Solutions is now listed in the Wayne State University Bulletin under Global Supply Chain Management as GSC 7260 for M.B.A. students. It is also offered to undergraduates as GSC 5670: Special Topics in Supply Chain Management.

The class was formerly called Theory of Constraints Approach to Management Accounting and listed as ACC 7260 and BA 7260. Taught by Professor James T. Low, Breakthrough Solutions will be offered in spring 2017 at Wayne State's Oakland Center in Farmington Hills.

The course teaches students to use the breakthrough problem-solving approach called the Theory of Constraints Thinking Processes. These five problem-solving tools enable students to develop solutions to problems that even experts have considered unworkable.  

Through hands-on projects using cause-effect logic, students will learn to develop creative win-win solutions to conflicts that have stymied others. Students will learn how to achieve an ambitious goal by using the obstacles that normally derail any progress to achieving that goal. Instead, students will learn how to build a roadmap to achieving the goal by using the obstacles as a constructive means to get there. 

Students will also learn how to diagnose the root cause of problems so that they can avoid wasting time and energy on mere symptoms, as well as how to plan for implementation of solutions in ways that make sure they will really work. 

In addition to class exercises, students will work on a project related to an important problem in their own career or personal life. In previous semesters, a number of students have been able to implement their student projects with such success that they have, in some cases, saved their company millions of dollars. This has generally been accomplished in a very short time and without much financial investment.

There are no prerequisites beyond foundation courses in the M.B.A. or undergraduate business curriculum. The class is limited to 30 students, so register now.

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