What you have learned is that the capacity of the plant is equal to the capacity of its bottlenecks,” says Jonah. - Eliyahu M. Goldratt

You’re right,” I say. And then, “It’s a little odd to call the market or the system of material release a bottleneck. Why don’t we change the word, to . . .” “Constraint?” Stacey suggests. We correct it on the board. Then we just sit there admiring our work.

For a foreman, heat-treat seems like a very small kingdom, not much of a prize. There is nothing intrinsically attractive about running that operation, and having only two people to manage makes it seem like no big deal. To prevent it from seeming like a demotion to them, I make a point to go down there periodically on each of the shifts. In talking to the foreman, I drop some rather direct hints that the rewards will be great for anyone who can improve the output of heat-treated parts.

If the first thinking process should lead us to answer the question ‘what to change?’ the second thinking process should lead us to answer the question ‘what to change to?’ I can already see the need for a third thinking process.” “Yes, so can I. ‘How to cause the change.’ ” Pointing to the fifth step I add, “with the amount of inertia that we can expect in the division, the last one is probably the most important.