One real system, managed end to end
Choose a process or system you own and apply every lesson to it. Your result is a defended plan for raising throughput in your own operating context, not merely a theoretical diagnosis.
Monarch Management Institute · Micro Course
Finding and Breaking the Bottleneck – Using Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints
Stop improving everywhere at once. Find the one constraint governing your system and manage it so the whole delivers more—strengthening your ability to raise throughput, focus resources and lead credible operational improvement.
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Course introduction
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About This Course
Finding and Breaking the Bottleneck is a one-week applied micro-course on the Theory of Constraints. It develops one practical capability: seeing an organisation as a system limited by one constraint, finding that constraint rather than chasing symptoms or local inefficiencies, and managing it so the throughput of the whole rises.
You will choose one real process or system you own and carry it through the course. You will learn to locate its constraint, measure whether the whole system is really improving, exploit the constraint, subordinate the rest of the system to it, and judge when additional capacity is warranted.
By the end of the week, you will hold a defended one-page plan that identifies the constraint, specifies the exploitation and subordination moves that will raise throughput, considers elevation, and anticipates where the constraint may move next.
Why this course is different
Most improvement programmes ask every department, activity and resource to become more efficient. This course teaches the more disciplined alternative: identify the single constraint that governs the output of the whole system and concentrate improvement where it can actually change performance. Using the Theory of Constraints, you will distinguish real bottlenecks from symptoms, test progress through throughput rather than local busyness, and build a defensible plan for exploiting, subordinating and—only when justified—elevating the constraint. The result is a repeatable management routine for focusing scarce attention and resources where they produce the greatest operational effect.
A repeatable constraint-management routine
Build and apply the full sequence—identify, exploit, subordinate, elevate and repeat—supported by throughput measures and drum-buffer-rope logic.
The method taught with its limits
Examine where single-constraint logic strains, why policy constraints are often harder than physical bottlenecks, and when the framework should remain a disciplined lens rather than a universal cure.
Learning objectives
- Distinguish a true system constraint from a symptom or local inefficiency.
- Identify the step or factor governing the output of a whole system.
- Measure improvement through throughput, inventory and operating expense.
- Apply the five focusing steps in the correct sequence.
- Design exploitation and subordination using drum-buffer-rope.
- Judge when to elevate a constraint and anticipate where it will move next.
Practical outcomes
- A defensible identification of the constraint governing one real system.
- A throughput-based assessment of whether the whole system is improving.
- A no-cost exploitation plan for protecting and using constraint capacity.
- A subordination design that aligns non-constraints to the system’s pace.
- An evidence-based judgment on whether added capacity is warranted.
- A reusable one-page constraint-management routine.
Modules at a glance
Module 01Managing the System ConstraintDuration = 1 Week
Identify and manage the bottleneck in one real system by measuring throughput, applying the five focusing steps, using drum-buffer-rope and anticipating where the constraint will move next.
Principal themes
- Theory of Constraints and weakest-link logic
- Throughput, inventory and operating expense
- The five focusing steps
- Exploitation and subordination
- Drum-buffer-rope
- Elevation, moving constraints and method limits
Intended outcomes
You will learn to distinguish a true constraint from symptoms and local inefficiencies, measure improvement at the level of the whole system, apply the five focusing steps, design exploitation and subordination through drum-buffer-rope, and assemble a defensible plan for raising system throughput.
Prof. Maliakas
Professor of MIS & Production Management
Prof. Konstantinos Maliakas is an internationally credentialled project-management practitioner with senior leadership experience across telecommunications, information technology, banking and air-traffic-control systems. He has held director and management roles with organisations including Motorola, Ericsson-LG, Nokia, Siemens, Alenia and Emirates Advanced Investments. A Project Management Professional and Balanced Scorecard Professional, he has contributed to PMI standards including the PMBOK and OPM3 guides. He brings MMI participants a disciplined, practical perspective on stakeholder engagement, project governance, operational excellence and sustainable organisational performance.