In the Bulk Ordering Selection for schools there bottleneck process is could happen if the warehouse personnel do not take the following steps indicated in the flowchart design. “A bottleneck is a point in an organization where the flow of a process is impaired or stopped entirely”. (Definition, 2009) The flowchart indicates the necessary steps that must be taken to prevent the bottlenecks process from happening. However, if the bulk ordering selection experiences a break down which causes bottlenecking, then warehouse personnel must implement a process to continue the bulk ordering selection process.
The warehouse personnel must first determine what caused the bottleneck process. Process time, is the time that work is being done by human being (not just buy a machine). If the machine become non functional, what processes are in place to continue the workflow? By implementing other processes to select bulk orders, will prevent the bottleneck process. Considering the Lead Time, which is the time it takes to complete the process from start to finish with little or no down time.
These are the beginning of the main two process that is needed to allow the cross functional Teams to began their picking, pulling, and shipping process to the school in a timely manner. The flowchart includes all processes to connect and runs smoothly and to be completed without the bottleneck effect. If there is a bottleneck during the picking, pulling and shipping process then management must determine the next best process to eliminate downtime.
By implementing a new procedure as a contingency plan, training will help ease bottlenecks and there would be no down time for shipping the food items to the schools. Strategic planning is to help provide an approach for determining the overall level of capital intensive resources for the facilities, equipment, and overall labor force size that best supports the company’s long-range plans strategy to prevent bottlenecks. Flowcharts can help reveal non-value added activities such as bottlenecks, rework, redundant steps, and inspections when prevented.
