What is a bottleneck? How to avoid it in your business?

That at a given moment a bottleneck occurs that slows down the usual production rate of your business is totally normal. However, the fact that it occurs frequently is no longer so, being an unequivocal sign that something is wrong.

Finding where the source of the bottleneck is and implementing the right solution is key to improving the productivity of your business and in this post we give you a solution that can be very effective for you.

What is a bottleneck?

A bottleneck is a point of congestion in the production process of a business that results in a stoppage or a delay in its usual workflow.

It is a frequent problem in online industrial production processes, being one of the main causes of the increase in production costs. But it can also happen in the management of projects that are carried out in an office.

The main problem with bottlenecks is that, although they occur at a specific point in the production process, they affect the rest of the phases, causing them to also see their work rhythms altered.

In short, a bottleneck causes a “bottleneck” in a production chain that will be felt in the general flow of work production.

Routine tasks, one of the reasons why they occur.

When it comes to the daily work that is done in an office, there are usually different reasons that cause bottlenecks.

The use of outdated or obsolete equipment and software is one of them, causing a slowdown in workflows. A slow printer or a computer that hangs constantly can be the starting point of a bottleneck in the management of a specific project.

But since these factors are easier to detect and solve, today we want to focus on another of the reasons that is usually behind these feared bottlenecks: poor organization and assignment of tasks among workers .

In many companies, their workers have to perform a series of routine and repetitive tasks that take up a significant percentage of their working day. What happens when the volume of work increases either due to the entry of a new project or due to a seasonal increase in the sale of your products or services? Well, these routine tasks prevent workers from focusing on discharging the extra production demanded, which causes a blockage in the flow of production.

Therefore, we are not facing a problem of performance or professionalism of the workers, but rather a poor organization and a lack of adequate resources.

Automation of repetitive tasks, the solution to bottlenecks.

If as a manager or intermediate position you detect a bottleneck in a work team, the first step is to know why the workers are having difficulties to get the work done in a timely manner. In many cases, you will see how there are a series of routine tasks that take up a lot of time and are the ones that cause these traffic jams.

The solution in most cases is to implement software that automates the performance of those repetitive tasks that employees have to do so that they can dedicate themselves to those others that allow projects to move forward.

It is important that, when a company suffers from bottlenecks in its production flows with relative frequency, it analyzes where the origin is and if it is in the accumulation of extra work generated by routine tasks such as sending invoices, payroll, reports… Assess the implementation of a computer tool specialized in the automation of tasks.

At Software RPA we can help you identify which are those tasks that originate the bottlenecks and program a custom tool to avoid them. We use cognitive computing, robotics, and artificial intelligence to develop tools that seamlessly execute time-consuming tasks for employees. Call us if you want more information.