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How much more can the system constraint deliver?
Companies using TOC are familiar with the ‘5 Focusing Steps’ to identify and manage the system constraint. The first step is to identify the system constraint, which is holding the company from achieving more of the goal units.
The second step is to exploit the system constraint to the maximum. I have seen many teams falter at this step by keeping their ambition low.
I was recently with a leading company where the system constraint was an equipment in a specific production line, due to which the line production was running at 90 TPD (tonnes per day). Rated capacity of the line was 100 TPD and market demand translated to production requirement of 120 TPD.
The team was doing a good job in identifying all the obstacles coming in the way of producing 100 TPD. They did believe that 100 TPD was attainable as they had done it on a few days.
When I asked them what’s the maximum this particular line has ever produced in an hour, they went through the records and were surprised to find that it was actually 6 TPH, amounting to capacity of 144 TPD!
They reset their ambitions, analysed obstacles in getting to 6 TPH consistently, and achieved production of 120 TPD quite easily.
How you look at the constraint capacity influences your ambition and the entire improvement process!