By:

Saumitr Chaturvedi M-065

Himanshu Chaurasia M-066
Urvaksh Contractor M-067
Ajeet Kumar M-075
Abhimanyu Saraswat M-083

Question

Define bottlenecks with reference from the novel, The Goal. How did they optimize the
bottlenecks?

What is Bottleneck?
A point ofcongestionin a system that
occurs when workloads arrive at a given
point more quickly than that point can
handle them. The inefficiencies brought
about by the bottleneck often create a
queue and a longer overall cycle time.
The term is used to describe points of
congestion in everything from computer
networks to a factoryassembly line.

Bottleneck According to Jonah

A manufacturing firm

should distinguish
between bottleneck and
non-bottleneck resources

Bottleneck are resources

whose capacities are
equal to or less than the
demand placed upon it
The bottleneck resources
determine the flow of
product through the plant

Is Bottleneck Good for a manufacturing

plant?
An hour lost on the bottleneck is an hour lost
for the entire plant
An hour lost on a non-bottleneck is a
mirage
Manage the plant by the bottlenecks

Optimising the Bottlenecks

Problem No.1
Does Bottleneck has a slack capacity?
Jonah: Bottleneck has no slack capacity
Alex organized the bottlenecks to work only on overdue
orders from the most overdue to the least
In order to keep the bottlenecks constantly busy, the team
formed a new system to inform the workers what materials
have priority at non bottlenecks.
Answer: Red and Green Tags
Twelve Orders got shipped

Materials

TAG

Bottleneck Parts

TAG
Non-Bottleneck
Parts

Problem No. 2
Increasing the Production Capacity and Efficiency of the plant
Solution:
The production Manager fixed some of the old machines to
complement what one of the bottlenecks did, thus increasing
the capacity
More Workers: One foreman for each location all the time.
Increasing the Efficiency: Mixing and Matching orders by
priority to process more parts, increasing efficiency by 10%.

Problem No. 3

Lower
Inventory

More
Bottlenecks
Revealed

Observation
What actually had happened was a result of some old thinking.
Working non-bottlenecks to maximum capacity on bottleneck
parts hadcaused the problem. All parts were stacked up in front
of the bottlenecks and others were awaiting non-bottleneck parts
for final assembly.
There needs to be balance
The red and green tags need to be modified.

Solution
Schedule for the bottleneck parts can be
made in order to decide when they should be
released, leading to elevation of any excess
inventory
For non-bottlenecks: Out of the data for the
bottleneck parts to the final assembly, nonbottleneck parts can be predicted.

Conclusion
Keep bottleneck running, subject the rest to the bottleneck
Batch sizes: Long on bottleneck, short elsewhere
Five steps of bottleneck management

Identify the systems bottlenecks

Decide how to exploit the bottlenecks
Subordinate everything else to the bottlenecks
Remove the systems bottlenecks
Identify the systems new bottlenecks

Bottleneck may be external (such as demand)

Gains from bottleneck management inThe Goal
Increased revenue from $2 million and 31 orders to $3 million and 57
orders
Reduction of WIP by 12%
Bucky Burnside was delighted 5 month order in 5 weeks
Order for 10,000 model Ts ensures survival of the plant for one year

Thank You