| gen. |
bottleneck (1. a specific problem in part of a process, that causes delays to the whole process: bottlenecks in production, resulting from a lack of spare parts 2. a place where a road is narrow or blocked, causing traffic to move very slowly. MED. The effective constraint on the maximum speed or level of an activity. Its use in economics is a physical analogy to the maximum rate at which a liquid can be poured through the neck of a bottle. In production, transport, or administration, the effective constraint is often a shortage of some specific form of labour or some particular piece of equipment. In production this could be a machine; in transport, a narrow bridge or roadworks; in distribution, a queue for a checkout assistant; in administration, a queue to see the boss. A major role of efficient management is to observe and remedy bottlenecks as they arise, or still better to foresee them and take action in time to prevent them from emerging. OE Alexander Demidov) |
