CF Dictionary · Theory of Constraints Terms
Balanced Plant (anti-pattern)
Designing every step for 100% utilisation. ToC's classic anti-pattern — it makes the system slower, not faster.
A balanced plant is a factory designed so every workstation runs at 100% utilisation. This sounds efficient. ToC says it makes the system slower.
Why balanced plants fail
- Variance is real. When one step slows, it cascades.
- Bottleneck starvation. The bottleneck gets starved by upstream variance.
- No buffer anywhere. Every step is fragile.
ToC's alternative
- bottleneck at 100%. That's the constraint; maximise it.
- Non-bottlenecks below 100%. They need slack to feed the bottleneck reliably.
- Buffers in front of the bottleneck.
CF's adoption
CF treats balanced-plant as a metaphor for many systems:
- Personal schedules. Every hour booked = fragile.
- Education. Every minute packed = no margin for difficulty.
- Organisations. Every employee at capacity = no resilience.
CF recommends leaving slack deliberately, especially at the constraint.
"Balanced plant: A factory designed for 100% utilization of every workstation." — LessWrong summary of CF