The Goal

been shortages of some non -bottleneck parts as well.

She says, 'Last week we had a case in which we had to build an order for 200 DBD-50's. Out of 172 different parts, we were missing 17. Only one of them was a red-tagged part. The rest were green tags. The red part came out of heat-treat on Thurs-

205

day and was ready by Friday morning. But the others are still missing.'

I lean back in my chair and pinch the bridge of my nose.

'Dammit, what the hell is going on out there? I had assumed the parts that have to go through a bottleneck would reach as- sembly last. Is there a materials shortage on those green-tagged parts? Some kind of vendor problem?' I ask her.

Stacey shakes her head. 'No, I haven't had any problems with purchasing. And none of the parts have any processing by outside contractors. The problem is definitely internal. That's why I really think we have one or more new bottlenecks.'

I get up from my desk, walk around the office.

'Maybe with the increase in throughput, we've loaded the plant to a level that we've run out of capacity on some other resources in addition to heat-treat and the NCX-10,' Stacey sug- gests quietly.

I nod. Yes, that sounds like a possibility. With the bottlenecks more productive now, our throughput has gone up and our backlog is declining. But making the bottlenecks more productive has put more demand on the other work centers. If the demand on another work center has gone above one hundred percent, then we've created a new bottleneck.

Of the ceiling, I ask, 'Does this mean we're going to have to go through the whole process of finding the bottlenecks all over again? Just when it seemed like we were on our way out of this mess...'

Stacey folds the print-outs.

I tell her, 'Okay, look, I want you to find out everything you can-exactly which parts, how many, what products are affected, which routings they're on, how often they're missing, all that stuff. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to get hold of Jonah to see what he has to say about all this.'

After Stacey leaves, and Fran does the calling to locate Jonah. I stand by the window in my office and stare at the lawn while I think. I took it as a good sign that inventory levels had declined after we implemented the new measures to make the bottleneck- more productive. A month ago we were wading through parts on the non-bottleneck routings. There were piles and piles, and the piles kept growing. But some of the stocks have dwindled over the past couple of weeks of product assembly. Last week, for the first time since I've been at this plant, you could actually walk

206

over to the assembly line without having to turn sideways to squeeze between the stacks and bins of inventory. I thought it was good. But now this happens.

'Mr. Rogo,' says Fran through the intercom speaker. 'I've got him on the line.'

I pick up the phone. 'Jonah? Hi. Listen, we've got trouble here.'

'What's wrong?' he asks.

After I tell him the symptoms, Jonah asks what we've done since his visit. So I relate all the history to him- putting Q.C. in front of the bottlenecks, training people to give special care to bottleneck parts, activating the three machines to supplement the NCX-10, the new lunch rules, assigning certain people to work only at the bottlenecks, increasing the batch sizes going into heat- treat, implementing the new priority system in the plant...

'New priority system?' asks Jonah.

'Right,' I say, and then I explain about the red tags and green tags, and how the system works.

Jonah says, 'Maybe I'd better come have another look.'

I'm at home that night when the phone rings.

'Hi,' says Julie's voice when I answer.

'Hi.'

'I owe you an apology. I'm sorry about what happened on Friday night,' she says. 'Stacey called me here. Al, I'm really embarrassed. I completely misunderstood.'

'Yeah, well... it seems to me there's a lot of misunder- standing between us lately,' I say.

'All I can say is I'm sorry. I drove down thinking you'd be glad to see me.'

'I would have been if you'd stayed,' I say. 'In fact, if I'd known you were coming, I would have come home after work.'

'I know I should have called,' she says, 'but I was just in one of those moods.'

'I guess you shouldn't have waited for me,' I tell her.

She says, 'I just kept thinking you'd be home any minute. And the whole time, your mother kept giving me the evil eye. Finally she and the kids went to bed, and about an hour later I fell asleep on the sofa and slept until you came in.'

'Well... you want to be friends again?'

207

I can hear her relief.

'Yes, I would,' she says. 'When will I see you?' I suggest we try Friday all over again. She says she can't wait that long. We compromise on Wednesday.

208

25

Deja vu. At the airport next morning, I again greet Jonah as he walks out of Gate Two.

By ten o'clock, we're in the conference room at the plant. Sitting around the table are Lou, Bob, Ralph and Stacey. Jonah paces in front of us.

'Let's start with some basic questions,' he says. 'First of all, have you determined exactly which parts are giving you the problem?'

Stacey, who is sitting at the table with a veritable fortress of paper around her and looking as if she's ready for a siege, holds up a list.

She says, 'Yes, we've identified them. In fact, I spent last night tracking them down and double checking the data with what's on the floor out there. Turns out the problem covers thirty parts.'

Jonah asks, 'Are you sure you released the materials for them?'

'Oh, yes,' says Stacey. 'No problem there. They've been released according to schedule. But they're not reaching final assembly. They're stuck in front of our new bottleneck.'