pullonkaulassa
Pullonkaulassa is a Finnish term describing a bottleneck: a point or stage in a process where capacity is insufficient to meet demand, causing delays and queues. The concept is used across fields such as manufacturing, logistics, transportation, and project or software development. A bottleneck determines the pace of the whole system, and its location can shift if the process is changed or demand varies.
In practice, pullonkaulassa occurs when a single step or resource bounds the overall throughput. Examples include
Indicators of a bottleneck include rising work-in-progress, longer cycle times, increasing lead times, frequent queues, and
Overall, recognizing and managing pullonkaulassa aims to maximize system throughput, minimize delays, and improve delivery performance.