Do you often miss deadlines and get bottlenecked? Most managers assume that delays happen due to inefficient employees. But that’s not the reason(mostly).
Instead, here’s how things work:
Your workflow consists of various interlinked activities. No matter how fast and effective the rest of the activities are, if one of them is weak, it causes constraints on the entire system.
So, in order to improve your workflow, you need to spot the constraints first.
But how do you figure out what parts need to be improved?
That’s where the Theory of Constraints(TOC) comes in.
Goal of TOC
The Theory of Constraints aims to help you eliminate barriers and maximize existing resources.
If you use what you already have, you save the budget for targeted automation. Eventually, you can optimize throughput and accomplish the company’s prime goal, i.e., profit and business growth.
Simple as that.
Optimize the Entire Process, Rather Than Just a Particular Part
Need more clarity? Here’s a story that helps you comprehend the entire concept.
The story starts with a reporter who once toured a manufacturing plant accompanied by a tour guide. The plant was known for its efficiency, quality, and throughput, so the reporter was taking notes on their manufacturing process.
At the first station, he observed that workers were working at a slow yet consistent pace. He couldn’t help but think that the factory’s output could improve if these workers sped up the process.
As the tour progressed, they reached a station where workers were busy working at a fast and manageable speed. Their task was to combine multiple conveyors arriving from the first station and weld them together into a single piece.
At this point, the tour guide said, “You must have thought that the first station’s workers were inefficient and they could produce faster. But now you can see it won’t be of any use, as more parts will arrive at the station than can be assembled. The workers will be under pressure, resulting in a decline in quality. We would also need to build a warehouse to store products until delivery, which dramatically increases costs. Even worse, it reduces throughput and decreases quality as parts get “banged up” during storage.”
So, the moral of the story is, “Do not aim to make your workers as fast as they can; instead, emphasize maximizing throughput while maintaining the highest level of quality.
Want to Get More Done in Less Time?
The theory of Constraints helps you identify the roadblocks and fix them. Hence leveraging TOC, you can streamline the procedures for faster and more efficient output.
The need here is to determine a single leverage point and fix it & the entire system will be streamlined.
Wondering how?
How TOC Works? The Five Key Steps
Here’s how the five key steps of the theory of constraints are applied to the workflow.
Identify the Constraints:
To achieve the end goal, you must identify the roadblocks.
With the above example, the constraints lie in the second station. However, they are not always as apparent. So, you might need to dig deeper to identify the constraint.
Exploit the Constraint:
This step is about maximizing your existing resources by making quick improvements to constraints.
For instance: Workers at the welding station are already working at full capacity. So instead of increasing their speed, you must take appropriate measures to optimize the workers’ performance.
Elevate the Constraint:
At this step, you ensure that all other activities in your workflow are aligned with and facilitate the needs of the constraint.Since speeding up the first station would only cause a clog. Hence, review the entire flow to ensure that the constraint, i.e., the welding station receives the appropriate amount of material. This way, the station will work at an optimal speed.
Elevate the Constraint:
Done with everything, and the constraint is still there? Look for other ways to break the constraint. Here you need additional training, equipment, or resources to boost the capacity of the welding station’s workers.
This is where LightHouse OSA’s software automation and applications provide exceptional value. Our team collaborates with you to pinpoint the bottlenecks. We identify the optimal areas where automation will help you optimize the workflow so that you can achieve desired outcomes.
Find the Next Constraint:
Monitor the entire process constantly once you have completed the above steps. Keep finding the new constraint to ensure a seamless process.
