Bottlenecks_in_a_Process

Bottlenecks in a Process Bottlenecks in a Process Cedric Johnson University of Phoenix Marietta Campus OPS/571 Prof. Ben Olmos January 26, 2010 The slowest task in a process is known as the bottleneck. Identification of the bottleneck is a critical aspect of process analysis as it determines the process capacity and reveals opportunity for improvement (NetMBA, 2009). Bottlenecks in a process create delays and limit the ability to reach maximum capacity. The major bottleneck that is occurring with the inoperative gauge procedure is the calls received by the fuel agent. The calls that are received are sometimes paperwork, fuel transfers, and mechanical issues that are not related to the lengthy inoperative gauge procedure; although these issues expend no more than 10 minutes of ground time it could possible cause delays on other flights. The inoperative gauge procedure on the average has a start to end time of twenty minutes, and most flights arriving and departing have an average ground time of 50 minutes. The stumbling block that has caused a bottleneck is the number of employees that are answering calls for these issues. There are only three fuel agents that are responsible for more than sixty flights, and there is a possibility that 7 to 10 calls could occur within an hour; although all calls are not inoperative gauges calls. The bottleneck is when you have threethtth [pic] (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006, p. 157). References Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R., & Aquilano, N.J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage. Retrieved from University of Phoenix. Inoperative Gauge Procedure. (3.0) [Computer Software]. Retrieved from http://dlnet.delta.com NetMBA Business Knowledge Center (2010). Process Analysis. Retrieved January 26, 2010 from: http://www.netmba.com/operations/process/analysis/