Editing Theory of constraints (section)

{{Short description|Management paradigm}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Manufacturing}}
The '''theory of constraints''' ('''TOC''') is a [[management paradigm]] that views any manageable system as being limited in achieving more of its goals by a very small number of [[Theory of constraints#Constraints|constraints]]. There is always at least one constraint, and TOC uses [[#The five focusing steps|a focusing process]] to identify the constraint and restructure the rest of the organization around it. TOC adopts the common idiom "a chain is no stronger than its weakest link". That means that organizations and processes are vulnerable because the weakest person or part can always damage or break them, or at least adversely affect the outcome.