Ralph, Theory of Constraints is now one of the courses most industrial engineering programs and even some manufacturing engineering programs require. As I have been told, it is an idea that Henry Ford started, later refined by Edward Demming, and perfected by Toyota. The theory can get quite in-depth, but in a nutshell, it is the idea of determining your slowest step or process on the manufacturing line; otherwise known as the constraint. Since nothing can move through the constraint any faster than the constraint, it makes no sense to produce things at the other steps faster than the constraint. If you want to manufacture things faster than the constraint allows, then speed up the constraint. Many people really have a BIG problem with slowing down other processes to match the speed of the constraint. (It's at this point that I start to argue with people). No matter how fast things are built at other points in the process, once it gets to the constraint, the speed by which it is processed is fixed. No matter what!!!!. Building things faster at other points in the process will never make it go through the constraint any faster. Since by definition, it must go through the constraint. However, finding the constraint is the hard part. Most people try to do it with a stop watch. I don't feel that a stop watch works at all; mostly because I have never seen a static manufacturing line. Typically, manufacturing lines are dynamic, causing a constraint to move from one hour to the next. Statistically, a constraint will occur is one process more often than any other place. It is because manufacturing lines are dynamic that a constraint is not obvious, consequently, people don't see the value in slowing down a process for some "phantom" constraint. Good luck Ryan G. > -----Original Message----- > From: Vaughan, Ralph H [SMTP:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Monday, January 24, 2000 9:23 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: [TN] Theory of Constraints > > 'mornin' T-net, > > I perusing the want-ads lately, I ran across a manufacturing engineering > job > that was looking for familiarity with the 'Theory of Constraints'. I have > asked around in mechanical design, design of experiments, and quality > groups, but no one seems to have ever heard of this. So now I resort to > this know-all, see all, do-just-about-all brain trust. Anybody heard of > this? > > Thanks > > Ralph Vaughan > > ############################################################## > TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c > ############################################################## > To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with > following text in > the body: > To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> > To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET > ############################################################## > Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for > additional > information. > If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or > 847-509-9700 ext.5365 > ############################################################## ############################################################## TechNet Mail List provided as a free service by IPC using LISTSERV 1.8c ############################################################## To subscribe/unsubscribe, send a message to [log in to unmask] with following text in the body: To subscribe: SUBSCRIBE TECHNET <your full name> To unsubscribe: SIGNOFF TECHNET ############################################################## Please visit IPC web site (http://www.ipc.org/html/forum.htm) for additional information. If you need assistance - contact Gayatri Sardeshpande at [log in to unmask] or 847-509-9700 ext.5365 ##############################################################