Page 97 - The Handbook for Quality Management a Complete Guide to Operational Excellence

84 I n t e g r a t e d P l a n n i n g S t r a t e g i c P l a n n i n g 85

Consider a raw material warehouse. What is its objective? The
stor ing and releasing of material is needed as a “bridge” between
the time materials arrive from the vendors and the time the same
materials are needed on the production floor. When a specific
work center is the con straint, any materials needed by that
particular work center should be released precisely at the required
time. If market demand is the only constraint, any order coming in
should trigger material release.
However, even if no new orders enter the system, shop foremen
often like to continue working, so as to keep their efficiency high.
But if the non-constraints in a production system are properly
subordinated, material should not be released. The material release
process must be subordinated to the needs of the system constraint,
not to arbitrary effi ciency measurements. Maintaining the order in
the warehouse is part of the subordination process. Release of
materials not immediately need ed for a firm order should be
treated as a lower priority than the quick release of materials the
constraint will soon need to fulfill a definite cus tomer requirement.
Subordination serves to focus the efforts of the system on the
things that help it to maximize its current performance. Actions
that contra dict the subordination rationale should be suppressed.
It’s possible that, after completing the third step, the system con-
straint might be broken. If so, it should be fairly obvious. Output
at the system level will usually take a positive jump, and some
other part of the system might start to look like a “bottleneck.” If
this is the case, go back to the first step and begin the five focusing
steps again. Identify which new factor has become the system
constraint, determine how best to exploit that component and
subordinate everything else.
4. Elevate. However, if, after completing Step 3, the original constraint
is still the system constraint, at this point the best you can be
assured of is that you’re wringing as much productivity out of it
as possible—it’s not possible for the system to perform any better
than it is without additional management action. In taking this
action, it’s necessary to proceed to the fourth step to obtain better
performance from the system. That step is to evaluate alternative
ways to elevate the constraint (or constraints, in the unlikely event
that there is more than one). Elevate means to “increase capaci ty.”
If the constraint is an internal resource, this means obtaining more
time for that resource to do productive work. Some typical
alternatives for doing this might be to acquire more machines or
people, or to add overtime or shifts until all 24 hours of the day are
used. If the constraint is market demand (lack of sales), elevation
might mean investing in an advertising campaign, or a new product
intro duction to boost sales. In any case, elevating invariably means
“spend more money to make more money.”

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