QBA 361

Process Flowcharts

Process flowcharts help operations managers to identify bottlenecks in operations. A

bottleneck is a factor that limits production.

The following symbols are used in process flowcharting:

Operation

Decision

Wait

Flow

Terms

Cycle Time the average time between completions of successive units

Bottleneck a constraint on the output of the system that can arise for several rreasons
Capacity measure of output per unit of time when the system is fully busy
Capacity utilization measure of how much output is actually achieved when the system
is fully busy
Throughput time the time it takes to complete a process from the time of arrival to the
time of exit. It is the sum of the critical path and the average time spent waiting.
Rush Order Flow Time the time it takes to go through the system from beginning to end
without waiting time.
Sample Problem

Dr. Jones, an ophthalmologist, just moved to Hilo and wants to set up a laser eye surgery
center. She knows that people on the Big Island do not like to wear glasses and a market
survey showed that there is enough demand to establish a laser eye surgery practice. In
her Los Angeles office, completing the surgery required the following steps:
1. Patient check-in (3 minutes)
2. Patient completes insurance forms (5 minutes)
3. Patient transports insurance forms to the business office (5 minutes)
4. Patient waits in the surgery waiting room (10 minutes)
5. Patient is administered anesthesia (10 minutes)
6. Surgery is completed (30 minutes)
7. Patient is monitored in recovery room (20 minutes)
8. Patient waits for driver to come for the pick-up (60 minutes)
9. Discharge instructions are given to the patients driver since he/she is still
groggy from the anesthesia (10 minutes)
10. Pain medication is picked up at the on-site pharmacy (10 minutes)
11. Patient leaves facility (5 minutes)

Dr. Jones thinks she can increase productivity in her Hilo office. In her previous office in
Los Angeles, patients were normally dropped off by a friend and picked up when the
surgery was completed. This driver was often late and the average amount of wait time
was 60 minutes. People in Hilo seem to be much more family oriented and in the market
survey, 99% of respondents indicated that they would have a family member who would
deliver them to the surgery center and stay with them during the procedure. Dr. Jones
thinks she can perform surgery on more patients per day if she can get the family member
to stay during surgery and help with some of the administrative work (steps 3, 9, & 10).
In the Los Angeles office, she was able to complete 8 surgeries per day. She wonders
how many more patients she can see per day if the family member stays and helps with
the administrative work.

a) Prepare a flow chart of the Los Angeles facility

b) Prepare a flow chart of the proposed Hilo facility

c) Provide the cycle times for each activity, the bottleneck, the capacity of the
system, the throughput time, and the rush order flow time.

d) How many more patients can be seen per day at the Hilo facility?
a)

Patient Patient Patient takes Anesthesia Surgery is

checks-in completes insurance Patient is given done
CT=3 min insurance forms to to surgery CT=10 min CT=30 min
forms business area
CT=5 min office CT=5 CT=10 min

Patient is
monitored in
Patient Medication Discharge Patient recovery
leaves is picked up instructions waits for room
CT=5 at pharmacy are given to driver CT=20 min
minutes CT=10 min the driver CT=60min
CT=10
minutes

b)

Patient Patient Patient

checks-in completes to surgery Anesthesia is Surgery is
CT=3 min insurance area given done
forms CT=10 min CT=10 min CT=30 min
CT=5 min

Family Family
member takes Family member
insurance member gets receives
forms to medication at discharge
business pharmacy instructions
office CT=10 min CT=5 min Patient is
CT=5 min monitored in
recover room
CT=20 min
Patient
leaves
CT=5 min
c)

Measure Los Angeles Hilo

Cycle Times (time to complete an See flow charts for cycle times of each activity
activity)
Bottleneck activity (activity with the Wait for driver Surgery -30 minutes
longest cycle time) 60 minutes
Capacity of the system 8 patients per day** 16 patients per day
(1/CTbottleneck )*(unit)
Throughput time (critical path + all 168 minutes 83 minutes
waits)
Rush Order Flow Time (critical path - 98 minutes 73 minutes
the waits)

**Unit refers to the unit of measure that the CT is measured in versus what the Capacity is measured in.
If CTbottleneck is measured in minutes and Capacity is measured in days, then the unit is 480. So in our
example, CTbottleneck is measured in minutes (minutes per activity) and Capacity is measured by how many
patients can be handled in a day, our unit is 480. Capacity in Los Angeles = (1/ 60)*480 = 8, Capacity in
Hilo = (1/30)*480 = 16. The following table provides the value used for the unit in different situations.

Measurement Unit Value

CTbottleneck in minutes, Capacity in hours 60
CTbottleneck in hours, Capacity in days 8
CTbottleneck in seconds, Capacity in minutes 60
CTbottleneck in seconds, Capacity in hours 3,600
CTbottleneck in minutes, Capacity in days 480

d) 8 more