F5-业绩管理-考官文章-through-accounting-and-the-theory-of-constraints-.pdf

RELEVANT TO ACCA QUALIFICATION PAPER F5 AND PERFORMANCE OBJECTIVES 12, 13 AND 14 Throughput accounting and the theory of constraints In the previous article, I told you all about The Goal, the book in which the theory of constraints and throughput accounting were introduced in the context of a novel. In this second article, I want to set out the five focusing steps of the theory of constraints, briefly explaining each one. Then, I will go through two examples showing you how these steps might be applied in practice or in exam questions. It’s worth noting at this stage that, while the theory of constraints and throughput accounting were introduced in The Goal, they were further developed by Goldratt later. THE FIVE FOCUSING STEPS The theory of constraints is applied within an organisation by following what are called ‘the five focusing steps.’ These are a tool that Goldratt developed to help organisations deal with constraints, otherwise known as bottlenecks, within the system as a whole (rather than any discrete unit within the organisation.) The steps are as follows: Step 1: Identify the system’s bottlenecks In my first article, I discussed how Alex Rogo and his team set out to identify the bottlenecks within the factory. They talked to factory workers and physically saw the machines in front of which were stacked up piles of inventory. Consequently, they were able to identify the bottlenecks, or constraints on production as being one of the new robotic machines (NCX 10) and the furnaces. Often, in exam questions, you will be told what the bottleneck resource is. If not, it is usually quite simple to work out. For example, let’s say that an organisation has market demand of 50,000 units for a product that goes through three processes: cutting, heating and assembly. The total time required in each process for each product and the total hours available are: Process Cutting Heating Assembly Hr