Operations Management: Sustainability and Supply Chain Management, Twelfth Edition

Bottleneck Analysis and the Theory of Constraints

As managers seek to match capacity to demand, decisions must be made about the size of ­specific operations or work areas in the larger system. Each of the interdependent work areas can be expected to have its own unique capacity. Capacity analysis involves determining the throughput capacity of workstations in a system and ultimately the capacity of the entire system.

Capacity analysis

A means of determining throughput capacity of workstations or an entire production system.

A key concept in capacity analysis is the role of a constraint or bottleneck. A bottleneck is an operation that is the limiting factor or constraint. The term bottleneck refers to the literal neck of a bottle that constrains ...