Key Personnel




Dr Ted Hutchin - Managing Director and TOC Expert

Dr Hutchin is a fully TOCICO Certified practitioner

Ted Hutchin, PhD is the Managing Director of I & J Munn and Principal of the TOC-Lean Institute. He is also a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute, a member of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development and an Industrial Fellow in the University of Nottingham Business School.

He started his working life as a radar engineer with the REME, primarily focused in maintenance and repair operations (MRO) and quality control. On leaving the Army he spent three years in the computer industry before joining the EITB as a specialist advisor on IT and Advanced Manufacturing. He followed this with time at the University of Nottingham in Production and Inventory Control and then the Open University in the Business School and the Faculty of Technology. During this time Ted completed a BA (Hons) with the Open University in Systems, Technology and Economics and an MA in Human Resource Management at Leicester Polytechnic as it then was, carrying out research into the Management of Technological Change and Organisational Development.

Ted first met Dr Eli Goldratt in 1987 and by 1990 he was a certified associate of the Goldratt Institute (UK), working with many different companies both in the UK and Europe, implementing the Theory of Constraints (TOC) applications of Drum – Buffer – Rope and Critical Chain Project Management. Indeed he was one of the first to implement CCPM in Europe, within the construction industry.

During his time with the Institute he was actively involved in the development of the Thinking Processes and completed his PhD at Cranfield University, examining the application of TOC within manufacturing with specific focus on the Psychology of Organisational Change and Organisational Behaviour. Ted has since written four books focusing on organisational change, leadership and the impact of the primary barriers to achieving successful change.

As can be seen from his research and writing over the past twenty five years, the dominant theme has been the management of change and the problems and issues change creates for people. Ted has a proven ability to guide people in the creation of breakthrough solutions that get to grip with the core issues of the organisation, the team, and the person’s own life. Using an holistic approach to addressing such issues and developing robust solutions that move people forward towards their goal in life is central to the work Ted does today.

During many implementations of TOC Ted has met and worked with people who have asked for help in addressing their own individual problems and issues in achieving their life goals. This has inspired him to develop the Personal Coaching programme where time is spent on a one-to-one basis, addressing those core issues that seem to stand in the way of personal goals and developing breakthrough solutions that overcome whatever the blockage might be.

Personal Interests

Outside of his professional life, Ted is a Lay Reader and Evangelist with the Diocese of Leicester. He enjoys classic car rallies in his 1968 MGC GT with his wife and is a keen sailor in the Laser class, having taken part in various championships from National, through European to World Masters, including the Laser World Masters in Melbourne in 1999. He has played Rugby for Nottingham RFC, and enjoys playing Blues and Folk music and participating in local musical productions.

Tony Lumb - Director

Tony has held many significant company positions including Director and General Manager, Technical director and most recently Managing Director of Toyoda Gosei Fluid Systems. He holds two Masters degrees from the University of Cambridge - Engineering and Manufacturing Engineering - and has completed an MBA from Brunel University Management College. He is a qualified Chartered Mechanical Engineer, a Theory of Constraints Jonah and a member of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.

During his time at Toyoda Gosei Fluid Systems, Tony introduced substantial operating performance improvements, making major changes in order to address the wide gap between operational capabilities and the required level of performance. He also initiated changes and measures to bring back customer confidence and satisfaction resulting in the company being a winner of "Britain's Best Factory". Tony has implemented Lean Manufacturing, TOC Operations, TOC Project Management, and TOC Supply Chain solutions and has integrated these approaches with other business excellence techniques including the EFQM Excellence Model.

He joined the team in March 2006, bringing his wide knowledge and experience of manufacturing within the UK, particularly in automotive supply, where he was operating at levels tier one and two. Tony has used his extensive knowledge of TOC flow management, as well as IT systems, to pioneer and develop the supporting software tools which complement the training courses which we offer.

In addition to teaching many of our Operations, Project Management and Supply Chain programmes, he is the driver behind the implementation of the software support tools that I&J Munn Ltd are able to provide clients.

Tony is also a visiting lecturer in Critical Chain Project Management for Warwick University.

Diane Jeary - Office Manager

Diane manages the office administration, invoicing and accounts, designs and produces company material, maintains the website and organises training events and she'll usually be the person you speak to when you first contact the company. She also makes a very tasty buffet lunch on training days!

In her spare time she enjoys swimming, walking in the beautiful Leicestershire countryside and listening to music - preferably hard rock or prog metal!

David Stevens FRSA, has extensive experience in the manufacturing industry. He began at grass routes as an apprentice with GEC and then joined Rank Taylor Hobson in 1978. His career started as an electronics engineer, but soon changed focus to software engineering. Within a decade he was a worldwide expert in the field of surface metrology and presented many international papers on the subject. During his 24 years with Rank Taylor Hobson David gained a Masters research degree in mechatronics, and developed his skills portfolio to include HR, Health & Safety and quality assurance management.

In 1998 he formed Cooke Optics where he was Managing Director for the next ten years. The transition pruned an SME from a large, corporate organisation, starting initially with 36 people and £2.5 million turnover. Under David’s management the company grew to employ 65 people with a £6.5 million turnover, won a double Queen’s Award for International Trade and Innovation, became the DTI “UK Exporter of the Year” and transformed from a highly unionised structure to a company associate culture.

David is a visiting fellow with the Loughborough University Business School and visiting professor in the Faculty of Technology at De Montfort University. He is currently Pro Chancellor at De Montfort University where he has also been on the Board of Governors since 2005.

John Ashford - Associate

John Ashford has developed extensive expertise in leadership, team and personal development on the back of a successful first career in marketing to board level. He is now focused on using this combination of commercial experience and people development expertise on a freelance basis to help senior executives and their organisations to transfer people’s potential and learning into tangible bottom line business performance.

Following an initial foray into production control with DRG Group he then changed to develop his marketing career working for both large and small and manufacturing companies with leading brands in the building products sector such as Sellotape, Evo Stik, Twyfords and Aqualisa. He then broadened his experience to join Kent Training and Enterprise Council as Director of Marketing and Business Support where he led the development of Business Link in the county.

In parallel to this John became a Tutor for The Leadership Trust and developed a passion for people development that led him to join The Trust full time in 1975. As Course Director he worked with a portfolio of clients including Barclays, M&S Money, British Sugar, Crown Prosecution Service, DWP, designing and delivering a range of open and tailored leadership, team and personal development programmes. He also led the development of The Trust’s coaching and mentoring programme and discovered a talent for one to one work that he found equally if not more appealing than group facilitation. As a result he has now moved to working freelance in order to spend more time applying coaching, mentoring and facilitation practices to the area of transferable skills.

To support his considerable experience he is trained as an Assessor for the EMCC Quality Award, has Diplomas in Performance and Life Coaching, and is an NLP practitioner and TA trainer. He also has The Diploma in Marketing and an honours degree in Maths.