Assumed Bottleneck
Line ran 3 different products in rotation. Throughput was limited; assumption was machine speed. Equipment upgrade was planned to increase speed.
What Became Visible
Detailed throughput analysis revealed: Machine speed enabled 200 units/day. Changeover duration (2.8 hours daily) consumed 30% of available production time. Changeover was the bottleneck, not speed.
Changeover Optimization Focus
Changeover procedures optimized, reducing setup time from 2.8 hours to 1.5 hours daily. This recovered production capacity equivalent to 25% throughput increase.
How it worked: Bottleneck analysis redirected investment from equipment speed to changeover efficiency. This had higher ROI and was implementable faster.
Results
equivalent to speed upgrade
vs ₹50+ lakhs for equipment upgrade
from changeover optimization
Throughput bottlenecks aren't always obvious. Process analysis may reveal that non-machine factors (changeover, material handling) are the true constraints.
Operational Reality
The facility was planning equipment investment. Analysis revealed changeover was the bottleneck. Procedure optimization was faster and cheaper.