Constraint Cycles
Run a bike workshop for four weeks. Find the bottleneck, decide what it works on first, tie a rope to it and protect it from breakdowns, the Theory of Constraints way.
What you’ll learn
- Identify: one station sets the pace for the whole workshop, and it isn’t always the one people blame.
- Exploit: the bike that earns most per unit isn’t always the one that earns most per minute of the constraint.
- Subordinate: releasing work just to keep everyone busy only builds piles of inventory and ties up cash.
- Buffer management: a buffer in front of the constraint absorbs breakdowns elsewhere, so you only act when it turns red.
- Elevate: in free play, add a second welder and watch the constraint move to the market.
Money is counted the TOC way: throughput (sales minus raw materials), operating expense and inventory. Mohit used factory simulations like this when teaching TOC to students; this one is built from scratch for the web.