Basic Process Vocabulary

Processing times: how long does the worker spend on the task?

Capacity=1/processing time: how many units can the worker make per unit of time
If there are m workers at the activity: Capacity=m/activity time

Bottleneck: process step with the lowest capacity

Process capacity: capacity of the bottleneck

Flow rate =Minimum{Demand rate, Process Capacity)

Utilization =Flow Rate / Capacity

Flow Time: The amount of time it takes a flow unit to go through the process

Inventory: The number of flow units in the system

 Station 1
Drawing a Process Flow
Station 2 Station 3

Symbols in a process flow diagram

Waiting
area/storage

Flow of
materials/people

Task
 Production Process in Tiger Drylac Vietnam

1. Draw a flow chart based on the diagram above.

 How to redesign a process
The following is an example of a simple sequential process. Please answer the following
questions about it.

A B C

Client Treatment Billing/

Intake Scheduling

6 clients/hour 3 clients/hour 12 clients/hour

2 servers 2 servers 1 server

1. What is the capacity or output rate for each task in the process
(number of clients served per hour)?
2. What is the capacity or output rate for the overall process?
3. Which task is the bottleneck?
4. What is the impact of this bottleneck?
 How to redesign a process
A B C

Client Treatment Billing/

Intake Scheduling

6 clients/hour 3 clients/hour 12 clients/hour

2 servers 2 servers 1 server

1. What is the capacity or output rate for each task in the process (number of clients served per hour)?
OR(A) = ORi(A) * servers(A) = 6 clients/hour * 2 = 12 clients/hour
OR(B) = ORi(B) * servers(B) = 3 clients/hour * 2 = 6 clients/hour
OR(C) = ORi(C) * servers(C) = 12 clients/hour * 1 = 12 clients/hour

2. What is the capacity or output rate for the overall process?

OR(overall) = 6 clients/hour

3. Which task is the bottleneck?

Task B

4. What is the impact of this bottleneck?

Limits the capacity or output rate of the whole process to 6 clients/hour
Creates idle capacity in Task A and Task C
Creates client waiting between Task A and Task B