The Goal: a process of Ongoing Improvement

"What?’’
"The bottlenecks have spread.’’
"What do you mean ‘the bottlenecks have spread’?’’ I ask. "Is there a disease
out there or something?’’
"No, what I mean is we have a new bottleneck—or maybe even more than
one; I’m not sure yet. Here, let me show you,’’ she says as she comes around
the side of the desk with some computer print-outs she’s brought. "These are
listings of parts that are queued up at final assembly.’’
She goes over the lists with me. As always, the bottleneck parts are still in

---

short supply. But lately there have been shortages of some 
non
bottleneck
parts as well.
She says, "Last week we had a case in which we had to build an order for 200
DBD-50’s. Out of 172 different parts, we were missing 17. Only one of them
was a red-tagged part. The rest were green tags. The red part came out of
heat-treat on Thursday and was ready by Friday morning. But the others are
still missing.’’
I lean back in my chair and pinch the bridge of my nose. "Dammit, what the
hell is going on out there? I had assumed the parts that have to go through a
bottleneck would reach assembly last. Is there a materials shortage on those
green-tagged parts? Some kind of vendor problem?’’ I ask her.
Stacey shakes her head. "No, I haven’t had any problems with purchasing.
And none of the parts have any processing by outside contractors. The
problem is definitely internal. That’s why I really think we have one or more
new bottlenecks.’’ I get up from my desk, walk around the office. "Maybe
with the increase in throughput, we’ve loaded the plant to a level that we’ve
run out of capacity on some other resources in addition to heat-treat and the
NCX-10,’’ Stacey suggests quietly.
I nod. Yes, that sounds like a possibility. With the bottlenecks more
productive now, our throughput has gone up and our backlog is declining.
But making the bottlenecks more productive has put more demand on the
other work centers. If the demand on another work center has gone above one
hundred percent, then we’ve created a 
new
bottleneck.
Of the ceiling, I ask, "Does this mean we’re going to have to go through the
whole process of finding the bottlenecks all over again? Just when it seemed
like we were on our way out of this mess....’’
Stacey folds the print-outs.
I tell her, "Okay, look, I want you to find out everything you can—exactly
which parts, how many, what products are affected, which routings they’re
on, how often they’re missing, all that stuff. Meanwhile, I’m going to try to

---

get hold of Jonah to see what he has to say about all this.’’
After Stacey leaves, and Fran does the calling to locate Jonah, I stand by the
window in my office and stare at the lawn while I think. I took it as a good
sign that inventory levels had declined after we implemented the new
measures to make the bottlenecks more productive. A month ago we were
wading
through parts on the non-bottleneck routings. There were piles and
piles, and the piles kept growing. But some of the stocks have dwindled over
the past couple of weeks of product assembly. Last week, for the first time
since I’ve been at this plant, you could actually walk over to the assembly
line without having to turn sideways to squeeze between the stacks and bins
of inventory. I thought it was good. But now this happens.
"Mr. Rogo,’’ says Fran through the intercom speaker. "I’ve got him on the
line.’’
I pick up the phone. "Jonah? Hi. Listen, we’ve got trouble here.’’
"What’s wrong?’’ he asks.
After I tell him the symptoms, Jonah asks what we’ve done since his visit. So
I relate all the history to him—putting Q.C. in front of the bottlenecks,
training people to give special care to bottleneck parts, activating the three
machines to supplement the NCX-10, the new lunch rules, assigning certain
people to work only at the bottlenecks, increasing the batch sizes going into
heattreat, implementing the new priority system in the plant. . . .
"New priority system?’’ asks Jonah.
"Right,’’ I say, and then I explain about the red tags and green tags, and how
the system works.
Jonah says, "Maybe I’d better come have another look.’’
I’m at home that night when the phone rings.
"Hi,’’ says Julie’s voice when I answer.

---

"Hi.’’
"I owe you an apology. I’m sorry about what happened on Friday night,’’ she
says. "Stacey called me here. Al, I’m really embarrassed. I completely
misunderstood.’’
"Yeah, well . . . it seems to me there’s a lot of misunderstanding between
us lately,’’ I say.
"All I can say is I’m sorry. I drove down thinking you’d be glad to see me.’’
"I would have been if you’d stayed,’’ I say. "In fact, if I’d known you were
coming, I would have come home after work.’’
"I know I should have called,’’ she says, "but I was just in one of those
moods.’’
"I guess you shouldn’t have waited for me,’’ I tell her.
She says, "I just kept thinking you’d be home any minute. And the whole
time, your mother kept giving me the evil eye. Finally she and the kids went
to bed, and about an hour later I fell asleep on the sofa and slept until you
came in.’’
"Well... you want to be friends again?’’
I can hear her relief.
"Yes, I would,’’ she says. "When will I see you?’’
I suggest we try Friday all over again. She says she can’t wait that long. We
compromise on Wednesday.

---

25
D´ ej`a vu. At the airport next morning, I again greet Jonah as he walks
out of Gate Two.
By ten o’clock, we’re in the conference room at the plant. Sitting around the
table are Lou, Bob, Ralph and Stacey. Jonah paces in front of us.
"Let’s start with some basic questions,’’ he says. "First of all, have you
determined exactly which parts are giving you the problem?’’
Stacey, who is sitting at the table with a veritable fortress of paper around her
and looking as if she’s ready for a siege, holds up a list.
She says, "Yes, we’ve identified them. In fact, I spent last night tracking them
down and double checking the data with what’s on the floor out there. Turns
out the problem covers thirty parts.’’
Jonah asks, "Are you sure you released the materials for them?’’
"Oh, yes,’’ says Stacey. "No problem there. They’ve been released according
to schedule. But they’re not reaching final assembly. They’re stuck in front of
our new bottleneck.’’
"Wait a minute. How do you 
know
it’s really a bottleneck?’’ asks Jonah.
She says, "Well, since the parts are held up, I just figured it had to be...’’
"Before we jump to conclusions, let’s invest half an hour to go into the plant
so we can find out what’s happening,’’ Jonah says.
So we parade into the plant, and a few minutes later we’re standing in front
of a group of milling machines. Off to one side are big stacks of inventory

---

marked with green tags. Stacey stands there and points out the parts that are
needed in final assembly. Most of the missing parts are right here and all bear
green tags. Bob calls over the foreman, a hefty guy by the name of Jake, and
introduces him to Jonah.
"Yeah, all them parts been sittin’ here for about two, three weeks or more,’’
says Jake.
"But we need them now,’’ I say. "How come they’re not being worked on?’’
Jake shrugs his shoulders. "You know which ones you want, we’ll do ’em
right now. But that goes against them rules you set up in that there priority
system.’’
He points to some other skids of materials nearby.
"You see over there?’’ says Jake. "They all got red tags. We got to do all of
’em before we touch the stuff with green tags. That’s what you told us,
right?’’
Uh-huh. It’s becoming clear what’s been happening.
"You mean,’’ says Stacey, "that while the materials with green tags have
been building up, you’ve been spending all your time on the parts bound for
the bottlenecks.’’
"Yeah, well, most of it,’’ says Jake. "Hey, like we only got so many hours in
a day, you know what I mean?’’
"How much of your work is on bottleneck parts?’’ asks Jonah.
"Maybe seventy-five or eighty percent,’’ says Jake. "See, everything that
goes to heat-treat or the NCX-10 has to pass through here first. As long as the
red parts keep coming—and they haven’t let up one bit since that new system
started—we just don’t have the time to work on very many of the green-tag