PROCESS ANALYSIS

Example 2
The state automobile driver’s licence office (RTO) is under pressure to increase its productivity
to accommodate 120 applicants per hour with addition of only one clerk to its present staff.
The licence renewal process currently is designed as a service line, with customers being
processed in the fixed sequence listed in the table. Activity 1 (i.e. review application for
correctness) must be performed first, and Activity 6 (i.e. issue of temporary license) must be
the last step, and by state policy, be handled by a designated officer. Activity 5 (i.e.
photograph applicant) requires and expensive digital camera and colour printer.
______________________________________________________________________
Activity Average Time (Sec)
______________________________________________________________________
1. Review application for correctness 15
2. Process and record payment 30
3. Check for violations and restrictions 60
4. Conduct eye test 40
5. Photograph applicant 20
6. Issue license 30
______________________________________________________________________
(a) Identify the bottleneck activity, calculate cycle time and maximum number of people
who can be issued driving licence per hour.
(b) Using seven staffs, suggest a reallocation of activities that would result in the
increased service capacity. What is the capacity of your improved system?

Solution: Construct the flow chart for the existing process

Here, activity 3 is slowest (bottleneck) with cycle time 60 sec, which limits the current capacity to 60
applications per hour.

By focussing only on the bottleneck one might think that assigning an additional clerk to perform
activity 3 would double the flow through the bottleneck and can achieve the goal of 120 applicants
per hour. However, flow for this system would be limited to 90 applicants per hour, because the cycle
time for activity 3 would become 30 sec and the bottleneck would shift to activity 4.
Proposed design:

In the above proposed design, with the help of seven clerks, desired capacity of 120 applicants per
hour can be achieved. Activity 1 and activity 4 can be grouped together to create a new job that better
balances the work load among the staff. As activity 2 and activity 6 are already being performed at the
rate of 120 applicants per hour, they need not to be considered further.

While designing the service, cost implications must be reviewed before deciding upon reallocation or
grouping of activities with the aim of improving overall service capacity. Think further, whether any
other alternative design possible?

Note:

Activity number (s)

Capacity per hour

Cycle Time (Seconds)