Which statement about bottlenecks is true?

A bottleneck is a point in a process where the capacity is limited, restricting the overall throughput of the system. In this context, the statement that is true asserts that a bottleneck will control the throughput of all products processed by it. This means that no matter how much demand there is or how much work is attempted in other parts of the process, the maximum output of the entire system is constrained by the capacity of the bottleneck.

When a bottleneck occurs, it is the slowest part of the process that dictates the pace at which the overall operation can function. Therefore, increasing efficiency or capacity upstream (before the bottleneck) or downstream (after the bottleneck) will not improve the overall throughput beyond the limit set by the bottleneck itself.

The context of the other statements helps clarify why they are not accurate. For instance, work centers after a bottleneck working at full capacity does not help since they cannot increase throughput past the bottleneck's limit. Similarly, while time buffers can be useful in managing workflow around a bottleneck, the effectiveness of those buffers depends on the bottleneck's capacity. Lastly, the assertion that work centers feeding a bottleneck should work at full capacity is incorrect because if they produce more than the bott