9.4 THE STRATEGIST IN YOU: Strengthening Your "Weakest Link"

SHARED FROM:

(SHORT NOTES FROM STRATEGY TOOLS:

Manufacturing and Operations at http://www.mindtools.com)

The Theory of Constraints (TOC)

A great way of for boosting overall performance is trough the identifying and eliminating of the "bottlenecks," or things that are holding you back.  One of the approach use is the Theory of Constraints (TOC) which helps to identify the most important bottleneck in the processes and systems, so that it can deal with it and improve on.

The adage, "A chain is only as strong as its weakest link," is what the Theory of Constraints reflects.  It was created by Dr Eli Goldratt and was published in his 1984 book "The Goal."  According to Goldratt, organizational performance is dictated by constraints which restricts an organization from maximizing its performance and reaching its goals.  Constraints can involve people, supplies, information, equipment, or even policies, and it can be internal or external to an organization.

According to the theory, every system, no matter how well it performs, has at least one constraint that limits its performance – that is the system's "weakest link."  The theory says that a system can have only one constraint at a time, and that other areas of weakness are "non-constraints" until they become the weakest link.  The theory was originally used successfully in manufacturing.  It's most useful with very important or frequently-used processes in the organization.

Theory of Constraints
Step 1: Identify the Constraint	identify your weakest link - the factor that's holding you back the most look at the processes that is being use regularly working as efficiently bottlenecks use tools such as Flow Charts Swim Lane Diagrams Storyboarding Failure Modes and Effects Analysis Brainstorm 5 Whys Technique Root Cause Analysis Pareto Analysis Queuing Models constraints may not just be physical may include ineffective communication restrictive company policies even poor team morale decide which factor is the weakest link
Step 2: Manage the Constraint	figure out how to manage the constraint increase efficiency cure the problem approaches that can be used Lean Manufacturing Kanban Kaizen 5S System Some of the problem-solving tools used are: Five Whys Cause and Effect Analysis
Step 3: Evaluate Performance	look at how your constraint is performing