Theory of Constraints:

Goldratt's theory of constraint has attracted the attention of several practioners in the industry. His concept of goal, constraint, and throughput, critical chain, thinking process, and scheduling through OPT have helped several industries to improve their performance. You have learned nine rules which help to guide the logic of an operating system and to identify the significant points. These are basic to any operating system and originally were named as the Nine Rules of OPT. These rules are helpful in producing the framework for TOC. The Theory of Constraints directs companies to discover what is stopping them from moving toward their goals and find ways to get around this limitation. If, in a manufacturing environment, the limitation is inadequate capacity, then ways to break the constraint might be over time, supporting equipment, specialized tools, exceptionally skilled workers, subcontracting, redesigning product or process, alternative routings etc. You have learned from this unit that the key to competitive advantage through operation for the firm, is to operate as a synchronized system, with all of the parts working in concert.