If a multi-step manufacturing process has its capacity limited by a single workstation, which action most directly increases overall capacity?

If a multi-step manufacturing process has its capacity limited by a single workstation, which action most directly increases overall capacity?

• A. Increase the Capacity of the Constraining Workstation
• B. Increase Production Starts (Work Put Into the First Operation)
• C. Decrease the Utilization of All Workstations in the Process
• D. Decrease the Utilization of the Constraining Workstation

Answer: (A)

In a multi-step process, the overall capacity is set by the slowest station—the bottleneck. To raise the system’s total capacity, you must increase what that bottleneck can handle, because nothing else can run faster than the bottleneck allows. If you just add more starts at the first operation, you’ll push more work into the line, but the bottleneck still limits throughput and you’ll build more work-in-process without actually producing more finished units. Lowering utilization elsewhere doesn’t raise capacity and reducing utilization at the bottleneck reduces throughput even further. So, increasing the bottleneck’s capacity directly increases the overall capacity.

In a multi-step process, the overall capacity is set by the slowest station—the bottleneck. To raise the system’s total capacity, you must increase what that bottleneck can handle, because nothing else can run faster than the bottleneck allows. If you just add more starts at the first operation, you’ll push more work into the line, but the bottleneck still limits throughput and you’ll build more work-in-process without actually producing more finished units. Lowering utilization elsewhere doesn’t raise capacity and reducing utilization at the bottleneck reduces throughput even further. So, increasing the bottleneck’s capacity directly increases the overall capacity.