[Visit the full Chapter by Chapter Summary!][Watch the video summary of Chapter 36.]

Again the chapter opens in a meeting, but this time Rogo’s spider sense about the state of the plant foreshadows a re-evaluation of Jonah’s teachings.

Highlight

STEP 1. Identify the system’s bottlenecks. [Constraints!]

STEP 2. Decide how to exploit the bottlenecks. (That was fun. Realizing that those machines should not take a lunch break, etc.)

STEP 3. Subordinate everything else to the above decision. (Making sure that everything marches to the tune of the constraints. The red and green tags.)

STEP 4. Elevate the system’s bottlenecks. (Bringing back the old Zmegma, switching back to old, less “effective” routings. . . .)

STEP 5. If, in a previous step, a bottleneck has been broken go back to step 1.

This is a good set of rules to follow if you’re looking for a process.  There may be a better set for your specific situation, but if you don’t know them – it is better to have some rules and some process rather than none.

Page by Page

P295 – Repeating the specific actions won’t work.

“A good job will be to start our division on a process of on-going improvement.” – Lou

P296 – “We have not launched even one formal improvement project.”

Bob Donovan highlights a paradox of operations.  If improvement programs require formality, they are often too slow to be effective.

P297 – “We haven’t launched so many improvement projects,” he says.

Rogo’s plant didn’t have to launch lots of programs once they focused on the right goal.

P298 – “The entire bottleneck concept is not geared to decrease operating expense, it’s focused on increasing throughput.”

“What you claim is that we have moved from the ‘cost world’ into the ‘throughput world’.”

Costs can only go down so much. Throughput can increase as much as the market can adsorb!

P299 – “Do you think that launching several improvement projects is a process? We haven’t done that, we have followed a process.”

P300 – “So if you want to improve the strength of the chain, what must your first step be?”

“To find the weakest link. To identify the bottleneck!”

“STEP 1. Identify the system’s bottlenecks.”

P301 – The operating steps continue…

“STEP 2. Decide how to exploit the bottlenecks. (That was fun. Realizing that those machines should not take a lunch break, etc.)

STEP 3. Subordinate everything else to the above decision. (Making sure that everything marches to the tune of the constraints. The red and green tags.)

STEP 4. Elevate the system’s bottlenecks. (Bringing back the old Zmegma, switching back to old, less “effective” routings. . . .)

STEP 5. If, in a previous step, a bottleneck has been broken go back to step 1.”