Bottleneck Process
Week Three
Gamal Gilchrist
University of Phoenix OPS/571
April 16, 2012

Improving and developing processes is to identify and address the bottlenecks that can happen inside that process. A bottleneck is any point in a process that the flow slows down and delays process completion. As technology vastly continues to improve bottlenecks will be addressed but there is always another bottleneck, just as Goldratt stipulates (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006). To simplify my driving to work process and improve apron it, it’s vital to identify and take care of the bottlenecks that can mess up the process of getting to work on time. The data collected from the process identified in week, One I recognized two bottlenecks in driving to work. The first bottleneck that usually affects my everyday driving to work are the traffic lights that I run into sometimes on my way to work. Sometimes I would catch back to back red lights and this would impede my process to work. To elude this bottleneck, I leave the house early enough to make sure I have ample time to get to work on time even if I get stuck at a light or two. Four days ago, another bottleneck I ran into which affected my drive to work was a car accident on the highway. The highway backed up bumper to bumper, which made driving very slow. I finally arrived at work 15 minutes later than my standard arrival time. This was a major and rare bottleneck I faced. Still, I got to work on time because I leave home early enough to encounter against any unexpected bottleneck that may hamper my early appearance to work. The first thing with bottlenecks is finding them so that they can be addressed. Once known, the checks need to be made as real as possible. With the bottlenecks found in my drive to work in the morning, how could I stop running into traffic lights that stop my progress to work and how could I avoid car accidents. For the first bottleneck, I could find an alternative route to work where there are less or no traffic lights to stop my flow to work. The second bottleneck, I would not take the highway anymore and find street roads to work. Answering these questions, I need to bring together my process to support my decisions. If these steps do not to solve the problem, I will need to rethink the process and identify the bottlenecks that still can be existent. Identifying and addressing the bottlenecks this way will improve the process and reduce the time needed to drive to work on time.

References

Chase, R.B., Jacobs, F.R., & Aquilano, N.J. (2006). Operations management for competitive advantage (11th ed.). New York, New York: McGraw Hill/Irwin.