Israeli Air Force
"F-16 overhaul time: 14 months → 7 weeks."
The IAF's engineering depot turned a multi-month bottleneck into a 7-week cycle.
The challenge
The Israeli Air Force's maintenance depot was taking approximately 14 months to complete each F-16 overhaul. The root cause was a classic multi-project trap: engineering specialists were simultaneously assigned to dozens of open projects, causing constant context-switching and delays. Every aircraft waited on the same overloaded experts.
The TOC solution
TOC CCPM was applied with one critical rule change: engineering specialists were limited to a maximum of 3 open projects at any time. This WIP limit eliminated multitasking, dramatically reduced coordination overhead, and allowed the experts to complete work in sequence rather than constantly switching.
What happened
This case, developed during Goldratt's consulting engagements with Israeli defense institutions, became a canonical example in CCPM training worldwide. The insight was counterintuitive: slowing down the start of new projects made overall throughput faster. The IAF case is featured in official Goldratt Group CCPM learning programs and the TOC Handbook.
Source
Goldratt Group CCPM Training Curriculum; Theory of Constraints Handbook (Cox & Schleier, McGraw-Hill)