Hearing this, Dave is shocked. He says, "You mean... all that stuff we learned about on the hike, about Herbie setting the speed for the whole troop and all that-none of that was true?"
"Of course it's still true, Dave," I tell him. "The problem is, we discovered we've got two Herbies at the plant, and they're right where we don't want them. It would be as if we couldn't rearrange the boys on the trail and Herbie had a twin brother- and now they're both stuck in the middle of the line. They're holding everything up. We can't move them. We've got piles and piles of inventory stacked up in front of them. I don't know what we can do."
Mom says, "Well, if they can't do the work, you'll just have to let them go."
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"It's not people; it's equipment," I explain . "We can't fire machines. And, anyway, what they do is essential. We couldn't produce most of our products without these two operations."
"So why don't you make them go faster?" asks Sharon.
"Sure, Dad," says Davey. "Remember what happened on the hike when you took Herbie's pack from him? Maybe you could do something kind of like that in the plant."
"Yeah, but it's not quite that simple," I say.
Mom says, "Alex, I know you'll do the best you can. If you've got these two slow pokes holding everything up, you'll just have to keep after them and make sure they don't waste any more time."
I say, "Yeah, well, I've got to run. Don't wait up for me. I'll see you in the morning."
Waiting at the gate, I watch Jonah's plane taxi up to the terminal. I talked to him in Boston this afternoon just before he was leaving for Los Angeles. I told him I wanted to thank him for his advice, but that the situation at the plant was impossible so far as we could see.
"Alex, how do you know it's impossible?" he asked.
I told him, "We've only got two months left before my boss goes to the board of directors with his recommendation. If we had more time, maybe we could do something, but with only two months..."
"Two months is still enough time to show an improvement," he said. "But you have to learn how to run your plant by its constraints."
"Jonah, we've analyzed the situation thoroughly-'
He said, "Alex, there are two ways that the ideas I'm giving you won't work. One is if there isn't any demand for the products your plant makes."
"No, we have a demand, although it's shrinking as our prices go up and service deteriorates," I said. "But we still have a size- able backlog of orders."
"I also can't help you if you're determined not to change. Have you made up your mind to do nothing and let the plant close?"
"It's not that we want to give up," I told him. "It's that we don't see any other possibilities."
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"Okay then. Have you tried to take some of the load off the bottlenecks by using other resources?" he asked.
"You mean offloading? We can't. These are the only two re- sources of their type in the plant."
He paused for a moment and finally he said, "All right, one more question: Does Bearington have an airport?"
And so here he is tonight, walking out of Gate Two. He changed his flight to Los Angeles to make a stop here for the evening. I walk up to him and shake his hand.
"How was your flight?" I ask him.
"Have you ever spent time in a sardine can?" he says, then adds, "I shouldn't complain. I'm still breathing."
"Well, thanks for coming," I tell him. "I appreciate you changing your plans, although I'm still not sure you can help us."
"Alex, having a bottleneck-"
"Two bottlenecks," I remind him.
"Having tw o bottlenecks doesn't mean you can't make money," he says. "Quite the contrary, in fact. Most manufactur- ing plants do not have bottlenecks. They have enormous excess capacity. But they should have them-one on every part they make."
He reads the puzzled look on my face.
"You don't understand, but you will," he said. "Now I want you to give me as much background on your plant as you can."
All the way from the airport, I talk non-stop about our pre- dicament. When we reach the plant, I park the Mazda in front of the offices. Waiting for us inside are Bob, Lou, Stacey and Ralph. They're standing around the vacant receptionist's desk. Everyone is cordial, but as I make the introductions I can tell the staff is waiting to see if this Jonah guy-who bears no resemblance to any consultant they've ever seen walk through the door-really knows what he's doing. Jonah stands in front of them and begins to pace as he talks.
"Alex called me today because you perceive a problem with the bottlenecks you've discovered in your plant," says Jonah. "Ac- tually, you are experiencing a combination of several problems. But first things first. From what Alex has told me, your most immediate need is to increase throughput and improve your cash flow. Am I right?"
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"That sure would be a big help," says Lou. "How do you think we might be able to do that?"
"Your bottlenecks are not maintaining a flow sufficient to meet demand and make money," he says. "So there is only one thing to do. We have to find more capacity."
"But we don't have the money for more capacity," says Lou.
"Or the time to install it," says Bob.
"I'm not talking about more capacity from one end of the plant to the other," says Jonah. "To increase the capacity of the plant is to increase the capacity of only the bottlenecks."
"You mean make them into non-bottlenecks," says Stacey.
"No," he says. "Absolutely not. The bottlenecks stay bottle- necks. What we must do is find enough capacity for the bottle- necks to become more equal to demand."
"Where're we going to find it?" asks Bob. "You mean it's just layin' around out there?"
"In effect, yes," says Jonah. "If you are like most manufac- turers, you will have capacity that is hidden from you because some of your thinking is incorrect. And I suggest that first of all we go into your plant and see for ourselves exactly how you are managing your two bottlenecks."
"Why not," I say. "After all, no one visits this plant and es- capes without a tour."
The six of us put on the safety glasses and hats and go into the plant. Jonah and I head the column as we walk through the double doors into the orange light. It's about halfway into second shift now and somewhat quieter than it is on day turn. That's good because it lets us hear each other better when we talk. I point out various stages of production to Jonah as we walk. I notice Jonah's eyes measuring the stacks of inventory piled every- where. I try to hurry us along.
"This is our NCX-10 n/c machine," I tell Jonah as we arrive at the big machine.
"And this is your bottleneck, correct?" asks Jonah.
"One of them," I say.
"Can you tell me why isn't it working right now?" asks Jo- nah.
Indeed, the NCX-10 is stopped at the moment.
I say, "Well... ah, good question. Bob, why isn't the NCX-10 running?"
Bob glances at his watch.
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"Probably because the set-up people went on break about ten minutes ago," says Bob. "They should be back in about twenty minutes."
"There is a clause in our union contract which stipulates there must be a half-hour break after every four hours of work," I explain to Jonah.
He asks, "But why should they take their break now instead of when the machine is running?"
Bob says, "Because it was eight o'clock and-"
Jonah holds up his hands and says, "Wait a minute. On any non-bottleneck machine in your plant, no problem. Because, after all, some percentage of a non-bottleneck's time should be idle. So who cares when those people take their breaks? It's no big deal. But on a bottleneck? It's exactly the opposite."