The Bottleneck

Who this book is for

Người làm vận hành ở Việt Nam, quản lý vận hành, phụ trách sản xuất, kho vận, chăm sóc khách hàng hoặc dịch vụ; từ người quản một đội năm người tới người chịu trách nhiệm cả một chuỗi công đoạn. Người đọc là NGƯỜI LÀM NGHỀ: họ phải thay đổi cách làm việc của những người không báo cáo cho họ, và kết quả của họ thường là sự cố đã không xảy ra.

Sound familiar?

• Improves in several places and total lead time doesn't change.
• Every department is fully busy while total output stays flat.
• Doesn't know where the constraint is, because everyone says they're overloaded.
• Invests in more equipment where there was already spare capacity.

Each chapter answers one question

1. Chapter 1: Whose desk is the work piling up on?

   Where is work piling up in my system?

   The bottleneck is where work piles up in front and the step after it sits waiting.

2. Chapter 2: What's the harm in letting the bottleneck take lunch?

   How many idle hours does my bottleneck have each week?

   An hour lost at the bottleneck is an hour lost for the whole system, not recoverable anywhere else.

3. Chapter 3: Does the bottleneck need more people, or less work?

   Which work done at the bottleneck could be done elsewhere?

   Before buying more capacity, take unnecessary work out of the bottleneck.

4. Chapter 4: Isn't every upgrade a good upgrade?

   If I had money, where would I put it to raise output?

   Investing at the bottleneck turns straight into output; investing elsewhere only turns into inventory.

5. Chapter 5: Fixed one bottleneck, got another: did I fail?

   After clearing this, where will the next bottleneck be?

   Clear one bottleneck and it moves elsewhere, which is a sign you are doing it right.