The high-profile improvement technologies -- Lean Thinking, Six
Sigma, TQM, Theory of Constraints -- are individually so powerful that advocates can
easily become defensive; "my technology is better than yours."
A sign of maturity in the movements is the recognition that each brings things
to the table that the others do not; and the combination is more powerful than
the independence. For example, managers trained in TOC know that the Theory of
Constraints is the ultimate "mixer" -- it pulls other technologies in to an
implementation, in a focused manner and with a high degree of leverage that
helps each to achieve better results than they could have individually. Everyone
wins.