| Article ID: | iaor20003759 |
| Country: | United Kingdom |
| Volume: | 38 |
| Issue: | 6 |
| Start Page Number: | 1459 |
| End Page Number: | 1463 |
| Publication Date: | Jan 2000 |
| Journal: | International Journal of Production Research |
| Authors: | Cheng Chun Hung, Balakrishnan Jaydeep |
| Keywords: | theory of constraints |
In a previous paper in this journal, Luebbe and Finch compared the theory of constraints (TOC) and linear programming (LP) using the five-step improvement process in TOC. This paper clarifies some of their results. Specifically, by modifying their example we show that some of their conclusions are not generalizable. Further it is shown that using LP is preferable to the $ return/constraint unit method in helping increase throughput and the reasons for this are discussed. Thus LP is a useful tool in the TOC analysis. [A response from Luebbe and Finch is published on pp. 1465–1466.]