THEORY OF CONSTRAINTS
Theory of constraints (TOC)
A management philosophy that extends the concepts of OPT.
Internal resource constraint
A regular bottleneck.
Market constraint
The condition that results when market demand is less than production capacity.
Policy constraint
The condition that results when a specific policy dictates the rate of production.
The theory of constraints (TOC) is an extension of OPT. According to the TOC, a system's output is determined by three kinds of constraints: internal resource constraint, market constraint, and policy constraint. An internal resource constraint is the classic bottleneck discussed in the previous section. A market constraint results when market demand is less than production capacity. Since companies do not want excess inventory buildup, the market determines the rate of production. Policy constraint means that a specific policy dictates the rate of production (for example, a policy of no overtime).
TOC tries to improve system performance by focusing on constraints. Improvement is measured financially and operationally. Financial measurements ...
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