Smith makes his home in Wenatchee, Washington, with his wife, Sarah, and two daughters, Sophia and Lily.
About the Demand Driven Institute
With affiliates, compliant software alliances, and instructors throughout the world, we are changing the way businesses plan, operate, think, and adapt. Every business has a choice: continue to operate with rules, metrics, and tools developed more than 50 years ago or make a break from convention, recognize the complex supply chains we live in, and make a fundamental change in the way industry does business—but don’t take too long or the choice will be made for you.
Thought Leadership
The Demand Driven Institute (DDI) was founded in 2011 by Carol Ptak and Chad Smith. Collectively, Ms. Ptak and Mr. Smith have authored or coauthored several published works on demand driven principles, finance and information, and planning systems.
Powerful Educational Programs
DDI educational products are a powerful suite of enterprise educational tools designed to enable companies to begin and sustain an implementation of a demand driven operating model (DDOM) and the demand driven adaptive enterprise (DDAE) model.
Professional Endorsement Certificates
The Demand Driven Institute offers a comprehensive series of professional endorsement certificates. These endorsement certificates are the gold standard in ensuring and identifying an individual’s understanding of demand driven methods and the ability to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create value using those methods.
Software Compliance
As the leading authority on demand driven methods, the Demand Driven Institute evaluates and certifies software, ensuring that a specific software has enough features and functions to implement, sustain, and even improve a DDMRP implementation. This objective evaluation and certification is provided free to software entities. If you are considering a software that claims to have DDMRP functionality, first look for the DDI compliance label.
Learn more at http://www.demanddriveninstitute.com.
This book is truly built on the shoulders of many giants. From the original work of the practitioners who developed MRP, including Joe Orlicky, George Plossl, Richard (Dick) Ling, and Ollie Wight, to the great thinkers behind Lean, Six Sigma, and the Theory of Constraints—Taiichi Ohno, W. Edwards Deming, and Eliyahu Goldratt. The authors have stood on the shoulders of these giants to unite these different theories and methodologies and take a leap forward—into a future of planning with relevant visibility that mitigates the volatile, uncertain, and variable world that seems impossible to plan. We have known many of these giants personally and wish to express our continued appreciation for them.
Collectively the authors would like to thank the members of the Demand Driven Institute Global Affiliate Network for a great partnership in bringing demand driven concepts to the mainstream throughout the world. These businesses include:
• Advanced Operations Management School
• Advanced Value Chain Institute (AVCI)
• Agilea
• A.L.T. Limited
• Ardent Solutions
• Australasian Supply Chain Institute (ASCI)
• Axoma Consultants
• B2Wise
• Bevolta
• Camelot Consulting Group
• Catena Strategies
• Centro Ecuatoriano para la Excelencia Operacional (CEEO)
• Citwell
• CMG Consultores
• Constraints Management Group (CMG)
• Demand Driven Mexico
• Demand Driven Technologies
• École Centrale de Lyon
• EPCS
• Festo Italy
• Flowing Consultoria
• High Impact Coaching and Strategies
• International Supply Chain Solutions (ISCS)
• K-2 Solutions
• Kent Outsourcing Services
• Knowerx
• MGCM
• Olivehorse
• Orchestr8
• Production Management Institute
• San Martín & Asociados
• SAPICS
• SmartChain
• Steam
• TOC Vision
• Transitive Management
• VAPICS
• Venture International
Additionally, the authors would like to thank various members of the APICS community for their amazing input and support in trying to restore the promise and effectiveness of planning and information systems. Those people include Keith Launchbury, Roberta McPhail, John Melbye, Ken Titmuss, Olivia Reary, and Abe Eshkenazi.
The authors would like to point out particular individuals who have made a lasting contribution to the demand driven body of knowledge and awareness. These people include Greg Cass, Debra Smith, Erik Bush, David Poveda, Dick Ling, Paddy Ramaiyengar, Kirk Black, Caroline Mondon, Alfonso Navarro, Dr. Patrick Rigoni, Dr. Steven Melnyk, Christoph Lenhartz, Dr. Romain Miclo, and Alfredo Angrisani.
Chad Smith would like to thank his wife, Sarah, and two daughters, Sophia and Lily, for putting up with the process of writing books and courseware. The support and love of these three people has kept him going. Chad would also like to thank the team at Constraints Management Group, LLC, for an amazing journey for nearly 20 years. Specifically, Chad would like to acknowledge the inspiration and accomplishments of his mother, Debra Smith; her direction-setting vision has been instrumental in articulating the demand driven adaptive enterprise model. Finally, Chad would like to thank his partner and coauthor Carol Ptak for an extremely rewarding and fulfilling partnership.
Carol Ptak would like to thank her husband, Jim, for the understanding and the continued support to keep going through the tough times. Words are so insufficient to acknowledge her parents, Dorothy and Bud, who
