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Abstract
Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to describe a study of the successful application of the theory of constraints (TOC) to a manufacturing plant operations problem. The TOC application required the identification of a bottleneck constraint in the manufacturing process which limited through-put and thus negatively affected plant productivity and efficiency.
Design/methodology/approach - The methodology used was a detailed case study of the bottleneck in the manufacturing process. The bottleneck in this case was the mold-changing operations, consisting of a plastic injection process for heavy-duty truck-lighting systems components.
Findings - It was found that to eliminate the bottleneck four separate solution approaches were applied to the problem, and these four solutions collectively eliminated the bottleneck constraint.
Research limitations/implications - The limitation of this approach is that the application of the TOC method is highly specific to the particular operation.
Originality/value - On completion of the study the mold-changing process improvements resulted in increased through-put and concomitant improvements in productivity and efficiency in the heavy-duty truck-lighting systems plant.
Keywords Manufacturing systems, Production management, Productivity rate
Paper type Case study
Introduction
This paper presents a case study of the successful application of the theory of constraints (TOC), a productivity improvement tool proposed and developed by Goldratt and Fox (1986), Goldratt and Cox (1992), and Goldratt (1995). Following its development during the mid-1980s, it received a lot of attention from academics, practitioners, and the press. Although its precept was relatively simple and straightforward, the application of the precept was not easy or simple. As a result after several years of attention, its influence has waned.
Although TOC is no longer in the forefront it continues to be actively used in industry because of its considerable potential to:
* identify throughput problems;
* serve as a guide to correct the throughput problems; and
* generate considerable improvements in productivity and efficiency.
Recent examples of papers reporting on successful applications of TOC are those by Bolander and Taylor (2000), Bushong and Talbott (1999), Cook (1994), Miller (2000), Rezaee and Elmore (1997), and Stein (1996). TOC has also piqued the attention of cost accountants, as reported by Atwater and George (1997) and Holmen (1995).
The TOC precept is to identify and focus on bottlenecks in any operation...