How do you eliminate constraints in your system?

If you work in manufacturing operations, you know how important it is to optimize your system and eliminate any bottlenecks or constraints that slow down your production. Constraints are anything that limits your system's output, such as equipment, materials, labor, or policies. They can cause waste, delays, quality issues, and customer dissatisfaction. In this article, you will learn how to identify and eliminate constraints in your system using lean manufacturing principles.

1 What is lean manufacturing?

Lean manufacturing is a philosophy and a set of tools that aim to reduce waste and increase value for customers. Waste is anything that does not add value to the product or service, such as defects, overproduction, waiting, inventory, motion, transportation, or overprocessing. Value is what the customer is willing to pay for. Lean manufacturing focuses on eliminating waste and improving the flow of value through the system.

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Miguel Pinilla

Technology and Supply Chain Executive @ Salduba Technologies | PhD, Manufacturing Information Systems
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After a number of years looking at different lean operations, my understanding of the key contribution of "lean" is to implement feedback signals and control that integrate demand management, planning and scheduling with the real-time status of the operation at the shop floor. Systems like Kanban with signals between operational stations or continuous improvement initiatives like kaizen or poka-yoke all share this principle of taking information from the shop-floor and feed it back to the system to control and adjust their operation.

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2 How to identify constraints?

The Theory of Constraints (TOC), developed by Eliyahu Goldratt, is a popular tool for identifying constraints. It is based on the concept that every system has at least one constraint that influences its performance. To identify the constraint, you must first define the goal of your system and the metrics to measure it. Next, map out the process flow and identify its inputs, outputs, and resources. Then, analyze the capacity and demand of each step in comparison to the system's goal and metrics. Finally, locate the step or resource with the lowest capacity or highest demand; this is your constraint.

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Anil Thomas

Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt | Continuous Improvement | Operational Excellence | Strategy | ASQ-CSSBB | PMP | Certified KPI Black Belt | Certified DISC Practitioner.
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One thing we should remember is looking at the system as a whole. If the demand is not pulling there is no point in eliminating constraints within the manufacturing process. Any improvement in constraint should improve your throughput and full fill the demand while keeping the inventory optimal, else it is meaningless.

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David Coyle

Advisory and operational excellence partner delivering cultural and business system transformation
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When considering how to identify your constraints, this must always be from the perspective of comparing it against takt time to meet customer demand. With IoT devices becoming more common place and additional tools such a Celonis to tell us how our processes are performing (in real time) and where the bottle necks are actually occurring, capturing actionable data to identify constraints paired with value stream analysis to identify how to break them is crucial to improving flow and achieving break-through improvements in True North metrics.

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3 How to eliminate constraints?

Once you have identified the constraint, you need to eliminate it or at least reduce its impact on your system. To do this, you must exploit the constraint by eliminating any waste or inefficiency that affects it, such as reducing setup time or improving quality. Additionally, subordinate the rest of the system to the constraint's capacity by synchronizing the flow of materials and information. This could include reducing inventory, batch size, or lead time. You should also elevate the constraint by adding more resources or improving its performance. Finally, you must repeat the process and continuously monitor the system for new constraints that may emerge after eliminating the previous one in order to reach your goal.

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Miguel Pinilla

Technology and Supply Chain Executive @ Salduba Technologies | PhD, Manufacturing Information Systems
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The first place to look at to eliminate or mitigate a bottleneck or constraint is looking at the variability of its operation and the local demand (the job arrival cadence to it) of the bottleneck. If the operation or demand cadence is very irregular it is going to result in idle times. Idle times wasted bottleneck capacity. "Subordinating the rest of the systems to the constraint" actually means to get the bottleneck operating as regularly and with the least amount of variability possible. This may mean changing production schedules or batch sizes in other processes, having dedicated maintenance crews if reliability is an issue and similar measures.

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4 What are the benefits of eliminating constraints?

Eliminating constraints in your system can have many benefits for your manufacturing operations, such as increased output and productivity, reduced waste and costs, improved quality and customer satisfaction, and enhanced flexibility and innovation. By removing the bottlenecks, you can produce more with fewer resources and time. You can also save money and materials while delivering better products and services to meet customer expectations. Additionally, optimizing the flow of value can help you adapt to changing market conditions and customer demands while creating new solutions and opportunities.

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Miguel Pinilla

Technology and Supply Chain Executive @ Salduba Technologies | PhD, Manufacturing Information Systems
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Eliminating constrains basically results in additional "free capacity" with the all important effect of significant lead time reductions and more predictable operations.

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5 How to sustain the improvement?

Eliminating constraints in your system is not a one-time event, but a continuous process that requires commitment and collaboration. To sustain the improvement, you must establish a culture of continuous improvement that encourages your team to identify and eliminate constraints and waste. Standard work and visual management should also be implemented to document and follow the best practices and procedures for each step of your system, as well as use visual aids and indicators to monitor and communicate the performance and status of your system. Furthermore, applying the PDCA cycle - Plan-Do-Check-Act - can help you plan, execute, evaluate, adjust your actions and results, and learn from mistakes and successes.

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Rich E.

Quality, Operational and Business Leadership
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I’m my experience, most projects and systems forget that the Customer is a constraint also. As in changing schedules, obsolescence, new programs etc. A well defined KPI tree that monitors all levels of the system including Customer and Supplier is important coupled with daily visual management will allow you to react to all system constraints as they happen.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Manufacturing Operations

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How do you eliminate constraints in your system?

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2

3

4

5

6

1 What is lean manufacturing?

2 How to identify constraints?

3 How to eliminate constraints?

4 What are the benefits of eliminating constraints?

5 How to sustain the improvement?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Manufacturing Operations

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How do you eliminate constraints in your system?

1

2

3

4

5

6

1 What is lean manufacturing?

2 How to identify constraints?

3 How to eliminate constraints?

4 What are the benefits of eliminating constraints?

5 How to sustain the improvement?

6 Here’s what else to consider

Manufacturing Operations

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