Bottlenecks_in_a_Process

Running head: BOTTLENECKS IN A PROCESS Bottlenecks in a Process Lynne Willis University of Phoenix OPS 571/ Operations Managment Professor Kara McFall February 22, 2010 Bottlenecks in a Process What is a process' According to Chase, Jacobs and Aquilano (2005), it is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs that, it is hoped, are of greater value to the organization than the original inputs. It was with this in mind that I designed my flowchart single stage process around either taking a bath or a shower at the start of my day. The main bottleneck in my process turned out to be whether or not I immediately got out of the bed or continued to hit the snooze button on the alarm, which then made the decision for me if I had time to even take a bath. The week of February 1st, I was motivated by the challenge I set for myself and I was determined to wake up when the alarm went off and have a leisurely start to my mornings. Each day I took a bath, read parts of a book and managed to get myself to work by 8:30am. My days were nice and calm and it was a great week. Then the snow began all over the country the week of February 8th and the beginning of a rough week! That week definitely had me longing for the old days of me working in a traditional school. I did not want to face having to go outside, drive in all the bad weather, on all the bad roads, with all the bad drivers. Needless to say, that entire week I did not get to work any earlier than 9:00am, in spite of me taking showers all week. This past week of February 15th was a better week than the previous one, but not without struggles. I took baths all week, woke up when the alarm first rang, and arrived to work by 8:30am each day except Tuesday. Friday, I had to report to work by 7:30am and I was not looking forward to it at all. However, I managed to get up at 6:30am, take a bath and made it to work by 7:30am and was heading to Columbus by 7:45am. The main bottleneck in my process each morning was my willingness to get out of bed at an appropriate time. This limited my time and my option of taking a bath or a shower. I have weighed my options and looked at the data collected and I want more pleasant days. I have decided to wake up on time consistently, take a relaxing bath, and arriving at work by 8:30am to start and have more pleasant days. References Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R., & Aquilano, N.J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed). New York: McGraw-Hill.