System Optimization vs. Local Optimization: The Biggest CI Blind Spot

One of the biggest failures in Continuous Improvement is the obsession with fixing everything everywhere rather than focusing on what actually limits the system. In production-type systems, this means asking two fundamental questions:

1?? Where is the bottleneck?

2?? How do we maximize its output?

Too many organizations chase local optimization—improving stations, reducing waste, or fixing "big problems"—without ever answering these questions. The result? A plant full of busy people, but no meaningful increase in Throughput.

In the Throughput Improvement System (TIS), we design improvement efforts around finding and fixing the constraint. When we “bust” a bottleneck, the constraint moves, and we must follow it, optimize it, and repeat.

In my upcoming book, currently being reviewed by experts in the field, I challenge one of the most damaging misconceptions in CI: that bottlenecks are too elusive to manage.

So here’s my challenge to you: How do you find the bottleneck? If your answers include:

?? "Every station is a bottleneck!"

?? "It moves too much to address!"

?? "What I fixed was a big problem, so it must be the bottleneck!"

Then you might learn something new in this book. Are you ready to accept the challenge? Drop your thoughts below. ??

#ThroughputImprovementSystem #DDMRP #hopium