Operations
Something in the process is the constraint. Find the bottleneck, because improving anything else changes nothing.
No practice cases of this type yet.
Output below target
- Find the bottleneck
- Map every step
- Output per hour at each step
- Why it holds things up
- Capacity
- Quality: rework and defects
- Scheduling and idle time
Output below target
Find the bottleneck
Map every step
Output per hour at each step
Why it holds things up
Capacity
Quality: rework and defects
Scheduling and idle time
Watch out: Speeding up any step except the bottleneck changes nothing.
On a case
A passport office clears 300 applications a day against 500 booked.
300 of 500 a day
- Find the bottleneck
- Token and document check
- Photo and biometrics
- Officer verification
- Why it holds things up
- Two biometric counters for five desks
300 of 500 a day
Find the bottleneck
Token and document check
Photo and biometrics
Officer verification
Why it holds things up
Two biometric counters for five desks
Sources and further reading
- Harvard Business School: the value chain
Examines the activities that create value, incur costs and connect suppliers to customers.
Go deeper
How it is lost
Numbers Without Benchmarks
Instead: A figure means nothing alone. Compare it against history, competitors, or industry norms before calling it good or bad.
Ignored Industry Context
Instead: Ask whether the problem is company-specific or industry-wide. If competitors face it too, the cause is external and the response is different.