Found your bottleneck?
Let’s exploit it!
Start at the BOTTLENECK task.
If the output of the system is constrained, we must first try to increase the output of the bottleneck itself. Any idle time of the bottleneck reduces output.
Here’s what we can do:
- Eliminate any non-value-adding work
- Remove or limit interruptions (Remove impediments)
- Let the bottleneck resource work at a steady pace
- Provide high-quality tools and materials
- Carefully prioritize the bottleneck’s workload
- Ensure that there’s enough work to do for the team so that they don’t become idle
- Only use one resource at that task
- WARNING: don’t shield the team from useful information like input from the customer, production issues, and other feedback
- Plan for the variation in the bottleneck; know its mean and standard deviation
- Make sure bottleneck is running at max rates
- Reduce change-over time
- Synchronize flow before and after
*****Continue to ask WHY*****
