Modeling Waiting

Waiting. This model demonstrates the waste of waiting in two ways: items waiting for the next step in the process and resources waiting for work to be available.

0. There is one item in this model: Item 1.

1. Generate Demand at some rate. This model assumes a constant time between arrivals of 1 minute.

2. Model a step that takes significantly longer. This Activity Block is set to take an average of 4 minutes, which is longer than the 1-minute processing time of the other two Activity Blocks.

3. Notice the bottleneck of items when running the process. These items are waiting for the Activity to be available.

4. The Idle Time represents the time an Activity has been waiting. This means the Activity was capable of taking on more work, but no work arrived.

Process modeling offers a powerful tool for understanding and optimizing complex systems by highlighting different types of defects, including waiting. By analyzing bottlenecks and idle time, these models enable us to pinpoint inefficiencies and make targeted adjustments to enhance process flow.