Theory of Constraints: An Application in U.S. Army\u27s Recruiting Process

The five-steps of Theory of Constraints based approach are schematically presented with each step being described and applied in context of U.S. Army recruiting procedures. We interviewed the Station Commander of Affinity Recruiting Station and his staff (name changed for confidentiality) in Kentucky and studied the data and recruiting processes to identify any constraint(s) and make recommendations that would help increase the throughput. The major constraint was identified as the number of appointments that are conducted by the recruiters. In order to exploit this constraint, we provide several recommendations which would allow recruiters to contract more army recruits without any additional financial resources