Why I Rarely Start at the Bottleneck

Why I Rarely Start at the Bottleneck

When I walk into a production environment, one of the first questions I ask is simple:

Where did the operational flow begin to slow down?

Not where the problem is visible.

But where it actually started.

In many factories, the department under the most pressure is quickly labelled as the bottleneck. Extra people are assigned, overtime is introduced or another machine is considered.

Sometimes that's the right decision.

Quite often, it isn't.

Recently, I analysed a production process where welding was believed to be the constraint. At first glance, it made sense. Work was waiting, delivery dates were under pressure and everyone was focused on increasing welding capacity.

After analysing the complete operational flow, the picture changed.

The welding department wasn't waiting for capacity.

It was waiting for information.

It was waiting for materials.

It was waiting for outsourced operations.

It was waiting for decisions that should have been made much earlier in the process.

Adding capacity would never have solved the problem.

It would simply have moved the queue to the next department.

That is exactly why I developed DTS FLOW™.

Not as another improvement programme.

Not as another Lean tool.

But as a practical way to understand how information, engineering, procurement, planning and production are connected.

Operational performance is rarely determined by one department.

It is determined by the flow between them.

When that flow is interrupted, the consequences become visible somewhere else.

Finding that point is where improvement begins.

Don't improve the symptom.
Restore the flow.

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