Bottlenecks Quote by Eliyahu M. Goldratt
“Make the bottlenecks work only on what will contribute to throughput today … not nine months from now. That’s one way to increase capacity at the bottlenecks. The other way you increase bottleneck capacity is to take some of the load off the bottlenecks and give it to non-bottlenecks.”
About This Quote
Source Book: The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, 1984
Focus current bottlenecks on tasks that directly raise today’s output; shift other work to faster resources to boost overall capacity.
In simple terms: Improve throughput by targeting present constraints and redistributing load.
Key Takeaway
Address immediate constraints, reallocate work.
Themes
operations management
process improvement
capacity planning
Mood
pragmatic
analytical
Type
strategic
instructional
When to use this quote
- manufacturing lines
- software deployment pipelines
- customer service centers
- logistics hubs
Key Concepts
Theory of Constraints
lean thinking
Questions to Reflect On
- What current bottleneck limits your team?
- How can you offload work to faster resources?
A Different Perspective
Ignoring future needs may cause new bottlenecks later.
