engpass

Engpass is a German noun meaning bottleneck or chokepoint. In technical usage it denotes the element of a system that limits overall throughput. The concept is central to operations management, logistics, and process engineering. A bottleneck can be a machine, a workstation, a supplier, a transport link, or a policy constraint whose capacity is smaller than the demand placed on the system, causing longer cycle times and higher work-in-progress inventory.

Identification involves capacity analysis, value stream mapping, and the critical path method, as well as application of Little's law to relate throughput, lead time, and inventory. Mitigation strategies include elevating the bottleneck (increase capacity, improve efficiency), rebalancing the line, adding parallel processes, buffering, outsourcing, or redesigning the process; the Theory of Constraints emphasizes focusing on the bottleneck as the leverage point.

In road traffic or urban planning, chokepoints on roads or bridges are described as Engpässe; alleviation may involve traffic management, capacity expansion, or route diversification.

In English texts, the concept is typically translated as bottleneck, while Engpass is used mainly in German-language contexts. Related topics include bottleneck analysis, the theory of constraints, throughput, and cycle time.