The Need to Consider the Theory of Constraint in Your Firm

Jasz

VIP Contributor
Theory of constraint (TOC) is a management philosophy that seeks to eliminate bottlenecks in an organization.
TOC has been applied to many different areas, including manufacturing, project management and healthcare. It focuses on identifying the system constraint and improving its performance.

Theory of Constraints (TOC) is a management philosophy that seeks to eliminate bottlenecks in an organization. TOC has been applied to many different areas, including manufacturing, project management and healthcare. It focuses on identifying the system constraint and improving its performance.

In a manufacturing environment, for example, this means focusing on removing the bottleneck from production processes so that output is maximized at all times. If a company produces three products with two machines and one machine breaks down for some reason, it might seem logical to replace the broken machine as soon as possible so that production can resume at full capacity again. However, this approach would only address half of the problem: If there are still only two machines available for use in production, then they will soon become overloaded again unless something else happens first, such as hiring more workers or building more machines.

The constraint or bottleneck is what's limiting your ability to increase production or reduce costs. In other words, if you can remove the constraint, you'll be able to produce more or reduce costs without having any negative impact on quality or customer satisfaction.
 
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