The Charles Machine Works (Ditch Witch), and Oregon Freeze Dry. Mr. Smith is also a certified expert in all disciplines of the Theory of Constraints, studying directly under the tutelage of the late Dr. Eli Goldratt.
Chad Smith makes his home in Wenatchee, Washington, with his wife, Sarah, and two daughters, Sophia and Lily.
Carol Ptak
Carol Ptak is currently a partner with the Demand Driven Institute (www.demanddriveninstitute.com) and was most recently at Pacific Lutheran University as Visiting Professor and Distinguished Executive in Residence. Previously, she was vice president and global industry executive for manufacturing and distribution industries at PeopleSoft, where she developed the concept of demand driven manufacturing (DDM). Ms. Ptak spent four years at IBM Corporation, culminating in the position of global SMB segment executive
A leading authority in the use of ERP and supply chain tools to drive improved bottom line performance, Ms. Ptak’s expertise is well grounded in four decades of practical experience as a successful practitioner, consultant, and educator in manufacturing operations. Her pragmatic approach to complex issues and dynamic presentation style has her in high demand worldwide on the subject of how to leverage these tools and achieve sustainable success.
She holds an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology and completed the EMPO program at Stanford University. Ms. Ptak is a frequent educator at the university level and presents at many key technical conferences around the world, in places such as South Africa, France, Israel, Australia, Ireland, and the Netherlands, as well as thirteen APICS International conferences. She is the author of numerous articles and the books DDMRP (Industrial Press, 2016), Orlicky’s Material Requirements Planning 3e (McGraw-Hill, 2011) with Chad Smith, in addition to MRP and Beyond and ERP, Tools, Techniques and Applications for Integrating the Supply Chain, Theory H.O.W. with Harold Cavallaro, and Necessary but not Sufficient with Dr. Eli Goldratt and Eli Schragenheim. Together with Dean Gilliam she updated Quantum Leap, originally written by John Constanza. Ms. Ptak has lent her name to the internationally coveted Ptak Prize for Supply Chain Excellence, which is awarded annually by ISCEA (International Supply Chain Education Alliance).
Ms. Ptak is certified through APICS at the fellow level (CFPIM) and was certified in Integrated Resource Management (CIRM) with the first group internationally. Ms. Ptak was the President and CEO of APICS, The Educational Society for Resource Management for the year 2000. Prior to her election as APICS President, she served on the Society in a variety of positions.
Carol Ptak currently makes her home on a working cattle ranch in the Pinal Mountains near Globe, Arizona, with her husband, Jim, her two dogs, three horses, and the largest fold of purebred registered Scottish Highland cattle in Arizona.
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 evolve. Your business has a choice: continue to operate with rules, metrics, and tools developed more than fifty years ago, or make a break from convention, recognize the complex supply chains we live in, and make a fundamental change in the way it 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 co-authored 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 education 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.
High Impact Simulations and Games
The Demand Driven Institute offers a suite of co-branded and fully endorsed simulations and games that teach various aspects of the Demand Driven Adaptive Enterprise Model. Simulations are offered throughout the world as both public and in-house events.
Professional Endorsement Certificates
As the leading authority on Demand Driven methods, 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, and ability to apply, analyze, evaluate, and create value using Demand Driven methods.
Software Compliance
As the leading authority on Demand Driven methods, Demand Driven Institute evaluates and certifies software ensuring that a specific software has enough features and/or functions to implement, sustain and even improve a DDMRP implementation. This objective evaluation and certification is provided free of charge to software entities. If you are considering a software claiming DDMRP functionality, look for the DDI compliance label.
Learn more at 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 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 to 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.
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 of effectiveness 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, Laurent Vigouroux, 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 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
