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| Criterion |  Operations Bottleneck Analysis |  Operations Fishbone Diagram |  Operations Root Cause Tree Analysis |  Operations Theory of Constraints |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Purposedifferent | For a flow that backs up at one point, the method looks for the capacity limit with the greatest leverage. It explains why extra effort elsewhere barely improves throughput. | When a problem has several possible contributing factors, the method sorts causes by cause areas. It prevents an initial hunch from blocking the view of other plausible drivers. | For a problem with several suspected causes, the method builds a causal structure instead of a mere list. It makes visible how causes connect and where the strongest points of leverage lie. | For a system that does not get faster despite effort, the method directs attention to the bottleneck. It concentrates improvement on the point that actually limits throughput. |
Complexitydifferent | Medium | Low | Medium | High |
Timedifferent | 1-3 h | 30-60 min | 1-3 h | 2-4 h Analyse, laufend |
Participantsdifferent | 3-8 | 2-8 | 2-8 | 3-12 |
Formatdifferent | Workshop + async | Workshop | Workshop | Workshop + async |
Outputdifferent | Bottleneck Map, Flow Metrics, Improvement Options, Follow-up Measures | Fishbone Diagram, Cause Categories, Investigation Backlog | Cause Tree, Evidence Notes, Countermeasures | Constraint Map, Improvement Plan, Flow Metrics |
Tagsno overlap | FlowMeasurementConstraints | Root causeQualityOperations | Root causeTreeIncidentQuality | OperationsConstraintsFlowImprovement |