Every plant has one step that caps its output. DO.Impact makes that constraint visible in capacity numbers, then guides the team through the five focusing steps — exploit it before you elevate it, and let it set the pace for everything else.
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Step-by-step capacity compared against demand shows where the plant actually pins. The constraint-based scheduling Gantt confirms it: work queues in front of the bottleneck while other steps starve or build inventory.
Identify, exploit, subordinate, elevate, repeat. Each step is a phase in the workspace with its own checks and linked actions, so the team works the method instead of reading about it.
Once the constraint sets the pace, everything else serves it: maintenance prioritises it, quality fast-tracks its output, material is kitted ahead of it. Daily management boards keep the subordination visible shift by shift.
When exploitation is exhausted, the case for new capacity writes itself: constraint utilisation, queue time and the throughput at stake. Investment goes where the system — not the loudest voice — says it pays back.
Theory of constraints (TOC) software helps a plant apply Goldratt's five focusing steps: identify the constraint, exploit it, subordinate everything else to it, elevate it, and repeat. DO.Impact provides this as a guided workspace linked to real capacity and scheduling data.
The constraint is the step whose capacity caps the whole plant's output. DO.Impact compares step-by-step capacity against demand so the bottleneck is visible in numbers, and the constraint-based scheduling Gantt shows where work actually queues.
Identify the constraint, exploit it (get the most out of it without spending), subordinate everything else (let the constraint set the pace), elevate it (add capacity), then repeat because the constraint moves. DO.Impact walks the team through each step with linked actions.
Yes — small shops often have one obvious constraint like a CNC cell or inspection. The gain from keeping that one step fed and protected is immediate, and it costs nothing before anyone buys another machine. That is exactly the exploitation step TOC starts with.
The constraint sets the drumbeat for the schedule. DO.Impact's constraint-based Gantt sequences work around it, and the SIOP process checks the demand plan against the constraint's real capacity before sales commitments are made.
Open the read-only demo workspace first — a complete manufacturer with boards, jobs, KPIs and a full board report. Then start the free 7-day sandbox with your own numbers.
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