INFRASTRUCTURE a y Heuristic Optimisation of Port Operations Commander Anil Kumar Kar CdrAK Karis a Mechanical Engineer Z with Post Greduation in Indust 4 Engineering from NITE, Mumbai a » 4 wm Having served the Indian Navy with dstinction for 20 years, he joined the Dredging Corporation of india, a Mini Hayaratna PSU, where he completed various important assignments culminating in the Sethusamundram Project at Rameswaram. Thereafter as head of project at Dhamra Port Company, hie completed the construction of the Green Field, All Weather, Deep Water Port at Dhamra in ‘Ocisha 1 time which became operational in May 2011. As head of port operations he stabilized the port operations and was instrumental in quick samp up of ‘aigo handling resulting in the port hanéling 14 MPTA caigo lastycar g He left Bhamra Port in juns 2044 t0 sat up his own consultancy in the comain of Marine Infrastructure relating to Turnkey Port Planing, Project Management Consulting for Port Construction & Commissioning, Port Pre Feasibility Study, Detailed Projact Report, Reaulatory Environimental and Safety Framework of Ports, Panning and Execution of Dredging, Reclamation and Rail Infiasteucture, Port Operation De-bottlenecking and Cost Optimisation, FIDIC Chil and Dredging Contract Review ani Arbitration Consulting & implementation of Quality Assurance Plans g _ Applying Theory of yy Constraints International trade being synonymous with shipping industry, Port Infrastructure has to attain the critical mass in order to fuel the growth engine of the country. With unrelenting rise in input costs it is essential that port operations be optimised continuously far survival and to maximise return to the stake holders. As a corollary, all the segments of port operations must be seamlessly integrated to achieve maximum throughput for the whole system to thrive and achieve Keizen in a calibrated manner. AAt the macro level, operations process in any port has3 main systems : 4. Marine infrastructure : For import & export by ships 2 Material Handling System stacking & loading 3 Rail/Road Infrastructure + despatch ofcargo. Cargo unloading, For inceming & oYFase (we eae All the 3 above systems are configured into subsystems in the port design each of which has to operate at the rated efficiency for optimised performance. At the interface of each system and sub 6ystem seamless integration will erhance cargo handling efficiency without compramising the throughput However, all port designs and layout being imperfect to the changing needs of cargo hendling each of the system/subsystem is likely to become a bottleneck to seamtess flow of cargo in a port contributing to cargo handling inefficiency with resultant negative financial implications. It is therefore imperative to quickly identity these bottlenecks of systems subsystems. analyse them and put in place a solution for optimal contribution by the constrained system/subsystem. These bottlenecks or vonstraints are amenable for solution by application of Theory of Canstraints through statistical, computational, analytical or heuristic methods. No matter the typo of industry, there is aways scope for boosting the overall performance, A great way of doing this is to identify and eliminate constraints that are holding back the organisation from achieving its potential. tt is said that a chain is as strong as its weakest link. Organisational performance is dictated by constraints whiich are restrictions oF barriers that prevent the growth of an organisation in terms of maximising performance. Constraints can pertain to people, equipments, layout, communication, policies, information, infrastructure or supplies ete which can be internal or external to the organisation. Constraints which are internal are within the control of the organisation and can be addressed head on whereas external constraints are reasonably complicated to address. While this article suggests methadology to eliminate internal constraints similar procedure can be employed to eliminate external constraints. The core constraint of virtually every organisation is that organisations are structured, measured and managed in parts rather than 28 a whole. This compartmentalisation is detrimental to the seamless integration of various systems and subsystems of the organisation and results in lower performance, difficulty in maintaining strategic advantage in the market place, financial hardship, seemingly constant fire fighting, the constraint constantly shifting from ono system to the other and chronic conflicts between people managing different parts of the organisation. However, once the barriers iat block those parts from working together as an “integrated system are removed, significant and sustainable improvement will occur to make the system work efficiantly, What blocks these organisations from identifying and, oliminating the constraints /barriers is a matter which management thinkers have always struggled to identify. Organisations are often so consumed by the pressure to achieve their short term performance. targets that taking time to plan for the future is @ luxury that they can’t afford. It is also possible that juture plans are in place but are faced with difficulties of balancing the risks of change with the opportunities that they create. This brings us to the fact that organisations mus’. continuously innovate and improve performance. While many management strategies have been evolved over the past century to make organisations nimble, cost effective and efficient, applying Theory of Constraints has emerged as a solution since the 1980s to acdress specific issues relating to debottlenecking of systems. Theory of Constraints (TOC) is an overall management philosoohy introduced by Dr EM Goldratt in his 1984 book titled “The Goal”. Itwas the contention of Dr Goldratt that any manageable system is limited in achieving its goal by a small number of constraints and thet, however well managed an organisation be, there is always at least ‘one constraint in the system at any given time liniting the output of the entire system. A systemis generally defined as a collection of interrelated incependent processes that work together to achieve the goal of the organisation. As such when one constraint is strengthened the system does not become infinitely efficient. The constraint simply migrates to a different component of tie system which till then was anon constraint. Like other management concepts, TOC is about thinking in logical, systematic or structured processes similar to the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) learning loop. The goal of TOG is to maximise the efficiency ofa provess selectively at the most critical points (constraint points) on a continuous basis as the critical points Keep on shitting. Accordingly, TOS has the distinct acvantage of focussing on the critical to produce immediate system improvements. Implementation of TOC consists of the following 5 focussing steps : 4. Step I: Identify the system constraint in this step the organisation identifies which part of the system constitutes the weakest link/the critical constraint 2. Step Il: Decide how to exploit the constraint Organisations exploit the constraint by utilising every bit of the constraining component without ‘committing to potentially expensive changes 3. Step III : Subordinate everything else with a plan to exploit the constraint the organisation adjusts the rest of the system if required to enable the constraint to operate atmaximum effectiveness and then evaluate the results to see if the constraint is still holding hack. IFitis, the organisation proceeds to step IV. If itis not then the constraint has been eliminated and the organisation skins ahead to step V. 4. Step IV : Eliminate the constraint The organisation takes whatever action is required to eliminate the constraint. 5. Step: Goback to Step! Normally constraints shift in the system, Accordingly, identify the new constraint and follow the ahove steps again to find a solution to the bottleneck In application of TOC to debottleneck the system in an organisation the most important step is, identification of the most critical constreint or the weakest link of the chain. If identification of the constraint is not done properly and instead a non ‘constraint is perceived as the weakest link, steps Il, Ill and IV above ie. exploiting the constraint, ‘subordinating all other activities and eliminating the constraint are unlikely to give the desired result. It is, therefore extremely important to identify the weakest, link for TOC to achieve the Gaal. This aspect has been recognised in application of TOC and a suitable statistical, managerial or analytical technique is generally used to identify the most entical constraint in the system. A few of the tools used to identify the most critical constraint are described selow: * Flow Charts: Flowchart is a type of diagram that represents an algorithm, workflow ot process showing the steps as boxes and their order by connecting them with arrows, This diagrammatic representation illustrates a solution model to a given problem + Swim Lane Diagram: This tool is @ specific method of Flowcharting. * Storyboarding: This tool is typically a series of illustrations displayed in sequence for the purpose of analysing a process, * Failure Modes and Effect Analysis: Too! to understand potential failure modes (constraint) ‘and their causes and the effect of the failure on the system for a given process. © SWhy Technique: This tool helps to determinethe cause effect relationship in a process. It can be used whenever the real cause of a problem is not Glear. It is a simple way to determine the critical constraint without a large detailed investigation requiring many resources. The tool is executed in afishbone or tabular formar. First used by Sahichi Toyoda in Toyota Motor Corporation. Peer Root Cause Analysis: This is a standard technique to investigate root cause of a problem zandto find a solution. Pareto Analysis: This tool uses the Pareto Principle - also known as the 80/20 rule- which is the concept that 20 percont of the causes generate 80 percent of the problems. It is a simple technique for priontising possible critical constraints by identifying the processes that require tobe streamlined Queueing Models: Queueing theory is the mathematical study of waiting lines and is extensively used in crany practical applications in areas such as production / inventory / communication systems. Queueing theory application is specifically relevant to answer questions like- Is the capacity sufficient? What should be the layout? What is the best way to divide work among several capecities? Queueing models help us to understand and quantify effects of variability Programme Evaluation Review Techwique (PERT): PERT is probably the single most popular roject management tool in use since decades. PERT provides the mears for idertifying the critical path which is the major determinant of the project completion date since the critical path is the single largest chain of linked events embedded in the overall project. PERT can therefore be used to identify the oritical chain in a process which can pe ulllised to identify the constraint. Critical Chain Methodology: This tool expands on, the notion of the critical path and presents. a means for determining where buffers should be laced to prevent unplanned disruption from, delaying the process completion. Brainstorming: This is @ group creativity tool through which efforts are made to find a conclusion to a specific problem. Brainstorming was originally conceived as “Applied Imagination” by Alex Osborn in the mid 4980s. Since then researchers have made many improvements to the original technique. Conventional group problem solving can often be undermined by unhelpful group behaviour. By contrast Brainstorming technique provides a free and open enviionment that encaurages everyone to participate. To run a group brainstorming session effectively the following steps can be adopted with the help of an expert. * Prepare the Group: Choosing the participants for the brainstorming exercise is a key task as / group of like minded people with similar 63)