Bottlenecks_in_a_Process

Bottlenecks in a Process Arthur Bain OPS 571 Jim Hoelscher May 10, 2010 A process is any part of an organization that takes inputs and transforms them into outputs (Richard B. Chase, F. Robert Jacobs, Nicholas J. Aquilano, 2006, p. 154). The goal is for the outputs to be a greater value than the inputs. Process analysis is important to ensure that the process is accomplishing the desired goals. Keeping in mind these desired goals are not just the finished product but the finished product resulting in a profit. If the finished product doesn’t result in a profit then the process is inefficient and must be revised. .A process can be a single stage or a multiple stage process. In a single stage process, all the activities are linked into one stage and can be analyzed as such. In a multiple stage process, all the activities are linked through stages. In process management, managers focus on cost, quality, flexibility, and speed. These aspects can be measured by process capacity, capacity utilization, flow through rate, flow time, cycle time, process time, idle time, work in process, set up time, direct labor content, and direct labor utilization. Process capacity is the maximum output of the process. Capacity utilization is the actual percentage of the process being used. Flow through rate is the mean rate in which units past a sa predetermined point in the process. Flow time is amount of time a units requires to pass through the entire process. Cycle time is the elapsed time between units of output. Process time is the mean time a unit is worked on. Idle time is the amount of time when no work is being done. Work in process is the amount of inventory in the process. Set up time is the required time to prepare the equipment necessary to run the process. Direct labor content is the amount of labor used to run the process minus idle time. Direct labor utilization is the percentage of labor used in the process versus the amount of total labor capacity. Bottleneck is where the capacity of a entire system is limited by a process or resources. In reference to business, an organization should address the bottlenecks present in any and all production. . This paper is about bottlenecks therefore it will focus on the measures in Arthur’s process that have the limit the process capacity. The paper will explore areas of low capacity utilization. Before the process is analyzed for the bottleneck, here is a recap of the process in question. Arthur works five days a week and must drive 30 minutes to work from his house. At this time, the preparation for Arthur is an hour to complete. The process can be broken into two stages. The first stage is dressing and the second stage is driving. The driving stage occurs directly after the dressing stage, and therefore having no need for a buffer. There is no buffer but the driving stage cannot occur until the dressing stage is complete The dressing stage begins with Arthur waking up to the set alarm. The alarm is set for one hour before Arthur is scheduled to work. For instance, if Arthur is scheduled to work at 9:00 am, then the alarm clock will be set for 8:00 am. When the alarm goes off, Arthur hits snooze one time which resets the alarm for seven minutes later. Once the alarm goes off again, Arthur gets up and goes to the bathroom to take a shower. Arthur spends five minutes in the shower and then dries off and gets dress. The drying and dressing takes another five minutes to complete. Now it is 8:20 am and Arthur has 40 minutes to arrive at work. After the dressing and drying process, Arthur still has to brush his hair, put on deodorant and cologne, and gathers his work materials such as name tag and computer bag. These tasks take eight minutes, which allows Arthur 32 minutes to arrive at work. In the transition from the dressing stage to the driving stage, Arthur must gather his keys both personal and work, set the house alarm, walk out the door, lock the door, and walk down the stairs to his car. Now that Arthur is at his car, he must disarm the alarm and unlock the doors before getting into the car. Once Arthur is in the car, he must start the car and turn on the air condition. Next Arthur puts the car in reverse and backs out of the parking space. Then he puts the car in drive and proceeds to his route to work. His route consists of driving down city streets and interstate driving. Once Arthur leaves his complex, he turns east onto Johnson Street. He drives one block to a light and turns south onto Palm Avenue. On Palm, Arthur drives another block to a light and turns east on Pines Boulevard. Arthur goes east on Pines for seven miles and enters the Florida Turnpike headed north. He takes the Turnpike north for 10 miles and exits to I-595 going east. Arthur takes I-595 east for five miles to I-95 north. From there, Arthur goes north on I-95 for five miles and exits onto Sunrise Boulevard east. He takes Sunrise east for about 5 miles to US-1 north. Arthur then takes US-1 north for 3 miles and makes a u-turn in front of Best Buy. Quickly after the u-turn, Arthur turns right into the Best Buy and parks into a parking spot on the perimeter of the parking lot. The flow time for this process is one hour. The cycle time of this process is one day. The capacity of the process is Arthur making it to work in uniform accompanied with his work materials. In analyzing the process, stage two of the process would have the bottleneck. The driving stage is regulated by the ability of Arthur to make it through traffic. This can be seen by the amount of time in this stage of the process. It also shows that by minimalizing the flow time of any function in stage one would make minimal impact on the overall flow time of the process. Stage two is also positioned appropriately since in the critical path method, managers attempt to arrange the most continual tasks together. This contains the bottleneck form slowing down other processes in the entire process. To be more specific about which portion of the process would be considered the bottleneck, the analysis puts focus on the local driving in stage two. The highway driving is typically unobstructed unless there is an accident which would be considered an equipment failure and not a bottleneck. The local driving is affected by consistent traffic and traffic lights that cannot be avoided as they are part of the system. References Richard B. Chase, F. Robert Jacobs, Nicholas J. Aquilano, (2006). Operations Management for Competitive Advantage (11th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw Hill/ Irwin.