Bottlenecks in a Process

Willie L. Davis

OPS/571

February 15, 2011

Dr. Angelia Williams

According to Chase, Jacobs and Aquilano (2005), A process a is any part of an

organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that, it is hoped, are of

greater value to the organization than the original inputs. While designing my flowchart

in a single stage process, around either taking a bath or a shower at the start of my day.

The main bottleneck in my process turned out to be my journey to work and finding

parking. There are several tasks that need to be completed for successful completion of

the process. As the neck of the bottle lessens the speed of flow in bottle, the slowest task

in the process is called the bottleneck as it impedes the efficiency of operational activities

through highest through input rate or longest cycle time. Identification of bottleneck is

necessary for correct analysis of process capacity which can help in improving the overall

performance of operational activities (NetMBA, n.d.).

Oskar Olofsson (2009) also recommends the using bottlenecks to improve the

productitvity of system in theory of constraints. Once bottleneck is eliminated or reduced

to considerable extent, other task can be identified as new area of focus to improve the

performance of the process. In my daily activities, next bottleneck in driving to work

process of getting through traffic and finding parking. Hence, we can say that the main

bottleneck has significant impact on the capacity of process whereas second bottleneck

has limited concern in the efficiency of process.

 References

Chase, R. B., Jacobs, F. R., & Aquilano, N. J. (2006) Operations management for

competitive advantage (11th ed). New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.

Anon. (2007). Process Analysis. Retrieved March 08, 2010, from NetMBA-Business

Knowledge Center:http://www.netmba.com/operations/process/analysis/

Oskar Olofsson( 2009).Theory of Constraints.Retrieved March 08, from World Class

Manufacturing (WCM):http://wcm.nu/toc.html

Wake
Wake
up
up

Brush
Brush
Teeth
Teeth

Find
Find parking
parking
Search
Search for
for
parking
parking
Get
Get
Dress
Dress Shower
Shower
ed
ed
Turn
Turn off,
off,
exit
exit and
and
lock
lock
vehicle
vehicle

Eat
Eat
breakfast
breakfast Reach
Reach
Destination
Destination

End
End --
enter
enter final
final
destinatio
destinatio
nn (work)
(work)
Prepare
Prepare Lunch
Lunch

Drive
Drive to
to work
work

Get
Get in
in car
car
 Flowchart
Wake
Wake
up
up

Brush
Brush
Teeth
Teeth

Find
Find parking
parking
Search
Search for
for
parking
parking
Get
Get
Dress
Dress Shower
Shower
ed
ed
Turn
Turn off,
off,
exit
exit and
and
lock
lock
vehicle
vehicle

Eat
Eat
breakfast
breakfast Reach
Reach
Destination
Destination

End
End --
enter
enter final
final
destinatio
destinatio
nn (work)
(work)
Prepare
Prepare Lunch
Lunch

Drive
Drive to
to work
work

Get
Get in
in car
car