OVERCOMING BOTTLENECKS

A bottleneck is a snag in the business process, or a way of doing business, that causes work to pile up. When work piles up, little progress occurs because the bottleneck acts as a traffic jam, preventing any further movement forward. So what do you do?

You analyze the problem and determine the cause of the bottleneck. A good way to do this is to view the bottleneck as a car on a highway that stalls and blocks the autos behind it. You should fix the cause of the traffic jam, but the tendency is to go around the stalled car rather than fix it, which may get the traffic moving again but will not eliminate the cause of the jam. Sooner or later the traffic jam will occur again, perhaps at a less opportune time, such as when the volume of traffic increases.

The benefits of overcoming bottlenecks are obvious. It enables productivity to hum, thereby increasing efficiency and effectiveness. It also increases morale by removing opportunities for frustration to arise. Further, it shortens the time of delivery to the customer and reduces the need for inventory.

for Overcoming Bottlenecks

• Develop a flowchart of the as-is process as it occurs with the bottleneck.
• Identify the who, what, when, where, why, and how for each step in the flowchart.
• Identify points that increase cycle time, such as too many review and approval cycles.
• Develop a flow chart of the to-be process that will eliminate the bottleneck.