Bottlenecks in a Process

Bottlenecks in a Process

Jean Paul Casas

OPS/571 - Operations Management

March 5, 2012

Yolanda Phipps

In week one, a flowchart showing the "preparing for work activities in the morning" was designed to analyze the process and determine if improvements could be implemented to reduce the time the process takes. One way to determine problems is identifying bottlenecks, during the first three weeks of the class some data was collected to help in the analysis. Bottlenecks affect the process in terms of functionality and timing, and those are critical in the process. In the following paragraphs I will identify what is the bottleneck and how to apply Goldratt's theory of constraints for that purpose.

Goldratt's theory of constraints is a problem-solving approach that can be applied to different businesses and situations, the five steps are:

1. Identify the system constraints.

2. Decide how to exploit the system constraints.

3. Subordinate everything else to that decision.

4. Elevate the system constraints.

5. If, in the previous steps, the constraints have been broken, go back to Step 1, but do not let inertia become the system constraint.

After checking the process and based on what the theory of constraints says, I identified three possible situations that delay the process: a) shave, b) clothes not ready, c) breakfast and/or lunch not ready. In some way the three activities represent opportunities for improvement, but the bottleneck is that clothes are not ready, with Goldratt's theory I will eliminate my constraint. Making an adjustment of this doing that activity the night before or during the weekend will permit save timing and make the process more efficient and fluid. Also the other two activities mentioned above can be done the night before or any other moment to not affect the morning process.

At the end is important emphasize the theory of constraints is a cyclic and repetitive process that can be changed constantly. Also it is important try to give an added-value to the process to make it more efficient. So with the time saved I can use that time for something else (as sleeping some extra minutes). I can focus then my efforts to find ways to correct the bottlenecks identified.

Reference

1. Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R., & Aquilano, N.J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.