Bottlenecks in a Process Sha??™ron Burton
OPS 571
Holly Hickman
October 2, 2012
Bottlenecks in a Process
According to “Businessdictionary.com” (2012), “Department, facility, machine, or resource already working at its full capacity and which, therefore, cannot handle any additional demand placed on it. Also called critical resource, a bottleneck limits the throughput of associated resources??? (Bottleneck). When producing the flowchart of my schedule I observed that I have bottlenecks, the measure I used was time. The main bottleneck in the process was to determine if the exercise could be done in the evening verses first thing in the morning. It mainly depends on the time I leave the house.
Finding the bottleneck is very critical; this will determine the process capacity and provides and will allow you to increase the capacity. In analyzing the flowchart I created I found the bottleneck is getting dressed. Should I already have my clothes out and ironed, or get them out that morning. Once I??™m in the house at the end of the work day I have dinner to cook, homework, listen to how the children??™s day went etc??¦ By the time I get my shower I fall straight to sleep.
Goldratt??™s theory is important simply because it??™s mostly known for managing change. According to Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilano (2006), the theory of constraints states that any manageable system is limited in achieving more of its goal by a very small number of constraints, and that there is always at least one constraint. (Wikipedia) The TOC Theory helps you identify the constraints and eliminate them in order to achieve the goal. The Goldratt??™s Theory provides a process in eliminating the constraints. (Chapter Goldratts Theory of Constraints). Five steps one should follow in order to identify the constraints:
1. Identify the constraint
2. Decide how to exploit the constraint
3. Subordinate all other process to above decision
4. Elevate the constraint
5. If, as a result of these steps, the constraint has moved, return to the first step
So with applying this theory I will be able to eliminate the bottleneck causing the time concern.
Reference
BUSINESSDICTIONARY.COM. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/bottleneck.html
Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F., & Aquilano, N. (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage (11th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection database..
