A front-office process with high cu

A front-office process with high customer contact and divergence does not enjoy the simple line flows shown in Example 5.1. Its operations may serve many different customer types, and the demands on any one operation could vary considerably from one day to the next. Computing the average utilization of each operation can still identify bottlenecks. However, the variability in workload also creates floating bottlenecks.One week the mix of work may make operation 1 a bottleneck, and the next week it may make operation 3 the bottleneck. This type of variability increases the complexity of day-to-day scheduling. In this situation, management prefers lower utilization rates, which allow greater slack to absorb unexpected surges in demand.TOC principles outlined here are fairly broadbased and widely applicable to many types of processes. They can be useful for evaluating individual processes as well as large systems for both manufacturers as well as service providers. Service organizations, such as Delta Airlines, United Airlines, and major hospitals across the United States, including the U.S. Air Force health care system, use the TOC to their advantage.