Application of the theory of constraints to a bottleneck operation in a manufacturing plant

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe a study of the successful application of the theory of constraints (TOC) to a manufacturing plant operations problem. The TOC application required the identification of a bottleneck constraint in the manufacturing process which limited through‐put and thus negatively affected plant productivity and efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The methodology used was a detailed case study of the bottleneck in the manufacturing process. The bottleneck in this case was the mold‐changing operations, consisting of a plastic injection process for heavy‐duty truck‐lighting systems components. Findings It was found that to eliminate the bottleneck four separate solution approaches were applied to the problem, and these four solutions collectively eliminated the bottleneck constraint. Research limitations/implications The limitation of this approach is that the application of the TOC method is highly specific to the particular operation. Originality/value On completion of the study the mold‐changing process improvements resulted in increased through‐put and concomitant improvements in productivity and efficiency in the heavy‐duty truck‐lighting systems plant.