Course: Lean Six Sigma

Process Performance measures

Yogesh Brahmankar,
SIBM Pune
Have you ever experienced/ heard or read?

At Some restaurants once you are done with food, they

want you to leave asap.
 Critical factors

Profit depends on: Space Utilization, Number of Customers

Served in limited hours, Menu design.

Critical Factors:
Time to prepare dish
Turn around time for one table of 4 persons
Number of tables can be arranged in limited space
Timings and Menu Offerings

*Self- Service is another way

Do we see this very often ?
If you want to understand restaurant
profit/cost/Timings gamut or if you want to
understand why there are queues ?

We should understand performance measures of a

process
 Process Performance parameters

 Measuring the process in order to understand how efficient it is.

 What is to be measured ?

Cycle Time, Throughput, Capacity, Bottlenecks, Inventory

 Defining Performance Measures
 A] Processing time/cycle time = how long does the worker
spend on the task?
How much time required to prepare one dish / Manufacture
one product / Print passbook for one customer at Bank .

 B] Capacity =1/cycle time: how many units can the worker

make per unit of time.
How many sandwiches can be made and sold in 1 hr?

 C]Inventory = The number of flow units in the system.

Continued..
 Capacity Measurement

Capacity can be defined as ‘How much can be processed at the

particular task/ work station?’

Cycle Time: Average time for completion of a unit at a production

step or process. Measured as time/unit.

Capacity = Throughput Rate = 1/ cycle Time

e.g. If a machine can process 20 jobs in One Hour, it’s

Throughput rate / Capacity is 20 pieces/hr and cycle time is
3 min/unit.
 Computing Cycle Times
It involves consideration of time for all activities in manufacturing a
product or delivering a service.
e.g. For manufacturing industries we have to consider set up
time, maintenance breaks, downtime, etc.

Example: Producing 100 bikes on an assembly line.

On an average, production takes 5 hours per bike assembly.
It takes 10 hours to set up the production line.

Set-up Time + (Batch size) x (Time per unit)

Cycle Time =
Batch size

Continued..
 Computing Cycle Times

Setup time: Production Time:

15 min 18 min/unit

A B

Question: What is the cycle time between points A and B

of the process, if we work in batches of 10?

It would be 18 x 10 + 15 min set up = 195 min.

Significance of process analysis

To serve more customers in less time –

Organisations have to reduce cycle
time, increase capacity.

To make profits----- Serve More customers

More tables in limited space.
Less time to prepare food / Cycle time
Increase Capacity - Quick Turn around /
Quick cleaning
What is Bottleneck ?
 What is Bottleneck ?

 Capacity of a system = capacity of the most constraining

resource. This resource is called a ‘bottleneck.’
Which task is the bottleneck in the following process ?

Activity 1 Activity 2 Activity 3 Activity 4

6 min 2min 8 min 3 min

Bottleneck is the
process stage with the
Task/ Activity having longest cycle time
Which task is the bottleneck in the following process ?

Machine 1 Machine 2 Machine 3 Machine 4

15 units/hr 10 units/hr 14 units/hr 08 units/hr

Bottleneck is the
process stage with the
smallest throughput rate
(i.e. Task/ Activity having longest cycle time)
Which task is the bottleneck in the following process ?

Machine 1 Machine 2 Machine 3 Machine 4

15 units/hr 10 units/hr 14 units/hr 08 units/hr

Bottleneck is the
process stage with the
smallest throughput rate
(i.e. Task/ Activity having longest cycle time)
 To improve upon bottlenecks

08
Units/hr

15 units/hr 10 Units/hr 14 units/hr 08 units/hr

Major ways to improve:

1. Increase Efficiency:
automation, training of people, identifying & reducing wastages

2. Add capacity
Start Searching for bottlenecks
in life!

Thank you !