The Short Answer

What Is a Bottleneck in Business?

Textbook Definition

A bottleneck is the stage in a process with the lowest capacity, which limits the throughput of the entire system. In the theory of constraints, it is called the constraint, and improving any other stage does not increase total output.

In Plain English

A bottleneck in business is the slowest step in how work gets done. Every order passes through it, so the whole business can only move as fast as that one step. The pile of waiting work always sits right in front of it.

Why It Matters

Why Does Speeding Up Other Steps Not Help?

A business is a chain of steps. Every order passes through all of them. The whole chain moves at the speed of its slowest link. Not its average. Not its best. Make every other step twice as fast, and if the slow one stays the same, nothing comes out the end any faster.

Most owners fix whatever step is easiest to see. If it is not the bottleneck, the pile just gets bigger. Find the slowest step first, fix that, and throughput, the work that actually comes out the end, goes up.

Signs you have this problem:

  • You added staff and output did not change.
  • Some people stand around while one person never stops.
  • Work piles up in one place, every busy day.
  • Customers wait in a line in front of one step.
  • You keep improving the steps that already keep up.
  • Your busiest employee skips breaks to try to catch up.
The pile is always in front of the slowest step. Find the pile and you have found the bottleneck.

What It Looks Like

What It Looks Like When Everyone Waits at One Door

From the Fabled Forest · Chapter 18

Otto the Octopus hired two more helpers for the counter and one more for packing. He said the shop was twice as fast. But it was not sending twice as many parcels. Every Tuesday, a line ran from a small side door out to the street. Everyone in it held a finished, ready parcel.

Doctor Owl walked the chain with Otto, looking for where work was waiting. The counter helpers stood idle between customers. The packers had nowhere to put finished parcels. Behind the little door, one young helper at one scale weighed, wrote, and calculated without ever stopping. She was the bottleneck. She thought she was slow and had been skipping lunch.

The fix cost two coins: a second scale, staffed by one of the idle counter helpers. The next Tuesday there was no line, and the shop sent almost twice as many parcels. Then Doctor Owl had Otto walk it again. The next bottleneck was the ferry cart, which had room for only so many parcels.

Otto's story is Chapter 18 of Operations for Small Businesses, Book 3 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.

The Fix

How to Find and Fix a Bottleneck in 5 Steps

Do this on a busy day, when the bottleneck is easiest to see.

  1. Walk the process the way one order travels.

    From the moment a customer orders to the moment they receive it. Watch every step.

  2. Look for where work is waiting.

    A pile, a line, a full table, a stack of tickets. The pile is always just in front of the bottleneck.

  3. Look at who never stops.

    The busiest person is often the bottleneck. Everyone else is idle because they are waiting on that step.

  4. Improve that one step only.

    More hands, a better tool, fewer steps, or moving work away from it. Leave the other steps alone for now.

  5. Walk it again.

    When you widen one neck, the next narrowest place becomes the new bottleneck. Your job is to know which one it is today.

Dr. Paul's Insight

The most common mistake is adding people or equipment to steps that already keep up. It makes the line longer, not shorter. Watch out for praising the bottleneck, too. The person who never stops working is not always your best worker. Sometimes they are the one everyone else is waiting on, and they need help, not a pat on the back.

Worked Example: Why One Scale Mattered More Than Three Hires Counter: can take in 60 parcels an hour. Packing: 50 an hour. One scale: 25 an hour. Throughput is set by the slowest step: 25 an hour, no matter how fast the counter is. Adding a second scale: 50 an hour. Throughput doubles. Packing is now the limit. Three extra hires at the wrong steps added cost and zero output. One scale and one moved helper doubled output. Figures are an illustration to show the math, not a projection for your business.

Sample: A Bottleneck Walk

Rate each step per hour. The lowest number sets your speed.

Business: Shipping counterWalked on: Busiest weekday
StepPer hourWork waiting?People
Counter intake60No, staff idle4
Packing50Some3
Weighing and postage25Yes, long line1
Dock and cart40No1

Sample for illustration. Fix the lowest step first, then walk it again.

Watch

Video: How to Find the Bottleneck in Your Business

Video Coming Soon

What Is a Bottleneck in Business? How to Find and Fix It

Dr. Paul walks a process, rates each step, and finds the constraint on screen.

From the Book

She's Never Sitting Down

Chapter 18 · The Bottleneck

Eight Arms, One Door: An Octopus's Slowest Step

"She's not slow," said Otto. "She's never sitting down. She's always working. Everybody else stands around half the time, and she never does." He stopped, hearing what he had just said. "Oh."

What did the fix cost, and what was the next bottleneck? Find out in Chapter 18. Book 3 of Dr. Paul's Fabled Forest Business School Series.

Get the Book on Amazon →

FAQ

Bottleneck Questions

How do you identify a bottleneck in business?
Walk your process the way an order travels and look for where work piles up or customers wait. The pile is almost always right in front of the bottleneck. Also look for the person or machine that never stops while others sit idle.
What is the difference between a bottleneck and a constraint?
In everyday business use they mean the same thing: the step that limits how much the whole process can produce. "Constraint" comes from the theory of constraints, a management approach built around finding and improving that limiting step.
What is throughput?
Throughput is how much finished work actually comes out the end of a process in a given time, such as orders shipped per day or customers served per hour. It is set by the bottleneck, not by the fastest steps.
How do I fix a bottleneck?
Add capacity at that one step with more people, better tools, or longer hours, or reduce the work it has to do by removing steps or moving tasks elsewhere. Then walk the process again, because a new bottleneck will appear somewhere else.

Keep Going

Related Foundations

Bottlenecks connect four foundations that decide how much your business can really produce. New to a term on this page? Every one is in the operations glossary.

Foundation 7 · Capacity

The bottleneck sets your real capacity.

Foundation 17 · Operational Metrics

Watch output per day to spot when a new bottleneck appears.

Foundation 3 · Workflow and Prep

A smooth workflow keeps work from piling up between steps.

Foundation 6 · Process Discipline

Fix the bottleneck with one tested change at a time.
← Back to the GuideAll 20 Operations Foundations

Written by Dr. Paul Borosky, DBA, MBA, business consultant and author who helps owners build businesses that run on systems. Added people and still not faster? See fractional COO services.

This page is for general educational purposes only. It is not legal, safety, employment, financial, or tax advice. Safety and employment rules differ by place and industry. Dollar figures are illustrations. The Fabled Forest and its characters are fictional. For decisions about your own business, consult a qualified professional.