LearnLesson 2 of 8
There is only one
At any moment one thing limits your whole system. Finding it is the entire game.
Picture a pipe with one narrow section. It does not matter how wide the rest of the pipe is. The flow out of the end is set by the narrowest point, and only by the narrowest point.
Your business works the same way. At any given moment there is one thing that limits how much the whole system produces. Goldratt called it the constraint. It might be a person's hours, a rule, a supplier, the market, or cash. Whatever it is, there is one.
This is not a simplification for beginners. It follows from two facts about every business: the steps depend on each other, and every step fluctuates. Put those together and one step ends up governing the rest.
Owners often resist this. "We have lots of problems" is true. But problems are not the same as constraints. You can have many , places where capacity is below demand. Only one of them binds first as demand rises. That one is the . The others are waiting their turn.
The test is simple. Ask, "If this one thing had twice the capacity tomorrow and nothing else changed, would we produce more?" If the answer is no, it is not the constraint, however painful it is.
Finding the one is the entire game. Once you have it, every other decision gets easier, because you know what everything else is for.
Check yourself
Two questions. Pick one answer each; you will see why straight away.