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ABSTRACT
Theory of constraints (TOC) is a philosophy of management put forth by Eliyahu M. Goldratt, which claims that each system has at least one constraint. Although initially in manufacturing method, TOC has now developed into a theory of Management: a powerful systemic problem structuring and problem solving methodology which can be used to develop solutions with both intuitive power and analytical rigour. This philosophy is applied in many functional areas of companies, ranging from production flow management, marketing, services and project management to being a tool of logical reasoning. The present work aims at highlighting the extant literature with respect to the application of TOC and summaries important findings on the theory and practice of TOC.
KEYWORDS: Theory of constraints, Production flow management, marketing, services, project management.
I. INTRODUCTION
The theory of constraints (TOC) was invented by Dr. Eliyahu M. Goldratt in 1984 in his book 'The Goal'[22], Israeli physicist turned business guru, developed a revolutionary method for production scheduling [21] which was in stark contrast to accepted methods available at the time, such as MRP. TOC is evolved from the OPT (Optimized Production Timetables) system and was later known under the commercial name of Optimized Production Technology (OPT) . Central to the TOC philosophy was that any organization or system has a constraint or a small number of constraints which dominate the entire system.
The theory of constraints (TOC) adopts the common idiom "A chain is no stronger than its weakest link" as a new management paradigm. This means that processes, organizations, etc., are vulnerable because the weakest person or part can always damage or break them or at least adversely affect the outcome.
The analytic approach with TOC comes from the contention that any manageable system is limited in achieving more of its goals by a very small number of constraints, and that there is always at least one constraint. Hence the TOC process seeks to identify the constraint and restructure the rest of the organization around it, through the use of five focusing steps. The secret to success lies in managing these constraints and the system as it interacts with these constraints, to get the best out of the whole system.
The main motivation for the research review reported in...