Overcoming Process Bottlenecks
Overcoming Process Bottlenecks
Jauwanna Pitts
OPS/571
September 24, 2012
Michelle O'Hagan
Overcoming Process Bottlenecks
Bottleneck is defined as as any resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed upon it. A bottleneck is a constraint within the system that limits throughput (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006). In week one a flow chart was designed to measure and improve the process of International sales orders. The goal of the process flowchart was to create ways to make the order entry process less time consuming and more efficient. Action items were put in place to create a better process. An evaluation of the main bottleneck in the international order entry process will be reviewed. A definition and application of Goldratt’s theory of constraints to identify and overcome process bottlenecks will be included as well.
The Process
The main bottleneck in the international process is the fact that entering orders is such a manual process. There are twelve steps involved to enter one purchase order:
1. Receive orders by email
2. Flag orders according to importance
3. Print emails
4. Move orders to the individual countries folders in Microsoft Outlook
5. Correlate the orders
6. Staple the orders
7. Separate the orders by country for order entry
8. Pull up electronic copy of the international address book
9. Order Entry
10. Sent order acknowledgement to sales office to confirm accuracy before placing order in the production schedule.
11. Once order is confirmed by the international sales team member, order will be placed in the production schedule.
12. Place order in the outgoing basket so that the admin can scan orders in doc-view on customer service behalf.
The goal of the process flowchart is to create ways to make the order entry process less time consuming and more efficient. I will use sorting, correlating, separating as a metric because this process takes the most time in preparing to enter just one order.
The
Jauwanna Pitts
OPS/571
September 24, 2012
Michelle O'Hagan
Overcoming Process Bottlenecks
Bottleneck is defined as as any resource whose capacity is less than the demand placed upon it. A bottleneck is a constraint within the system that limits throughput (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006). In week one a flow chart was designed to measure and improve the process of International sales orders. The goal of the process flowchart was to create ways to make the order entry process less time consuming and more efficient. Action items were put in place to create a better process. An evaluation of the main bottleneck in the international order entry process will be reviewed. A definition and application of Goldratt’s theory of constraints to identify and overcome process bottlenecks will be included as well.
The Process
The main bottleneck in the international process is the fact that entering orders is such a manual process. There are twelve steps involved to enter one purchase order:
1. Receive orders by email
2. Flag orders according to importance
3. Print emails
4. Move orders to the individual countries folders in Microsoft Outlook
5. Correlate the orders
6. Staple the orders
7. Separate the orders by country for order entry
8. Pull up electronic copy of the international address book
9. Order Entry
10. Sent order acknowledgement to sales office to confirm accuracy before placing order in the production schedule.
11. Once order is confirmed by the international sales team member, order will be placed in the production schedule.
12. Place order in the outgoing basket so that the admin can scan orders in doc-view on customer service behalf.
The goal of the process flowchart is to create ways to make the order entry process less time consuming and more efficient. I will use sorting, correlating, separating as a metric because this process takes the most time in preparing to enter just one order.
The