Knowra Theory of Constraints Theory of Constraints A management philosophy that improves a system’s performance by identifying and managing the constraint that limits its output. It treats the system’s constraint as the key leverage point for improvement.
Five Focusing Steps : A repeating method for identifying a system constraint, exploiting it, subordinating other activity, elevating it, and starting again. These steps turn the philosophy into a cycle for improving throughput.
Throughput : The rate at which a system generates money through sales, or more generally produces its intended output. Throughput is the primary system-level outcome the method seeks to increase.
Eliyahu M. Goldratt : An Israeli physicist and management author who developed and popularized the Theory of Constraints. Goldratt formulated the approach and brought it to a wide business audience.
Critical Chain Project Management : A project management method that schedules around resource constraints and protects completion dates with buffers. It adapts constraint principles to project schedules and shared resources.
Six Sigma : A data-driven method for reducing process variation and defects through structured improvement projects. Six Sigma targets variation and quality problems rather than necessarily the system’s capacity limit.
Drum-Buffer-Rope : A production scheduling method that sets pace by the constraint, protects it with a buffer, and controls releases with a rope. It applies constraint logic to shop-floor scheduling and work release.
Inventory : Resources invested in items intended for sale or use in producing them. The method treats excess work-in-process as investment, not as evidence of progress.
The Goal : A 1984 business novel by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox about a plant manager using constraint-focused improvement. The novel introduced the core ideas through a manufacturing turnaround story.
Supply Chain Management : The coordination of sourcing, production, inventory, and distribution across organizations and locations. A supply chain’s limiting capacity can govern the delivery performance of the whole network.
Total Quality Management : An organization-wide approach to improving quality through participation, process control, and customer focus. It emphasizes broad quality improvement, while constraint management sequences effort around a limiting factor.
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