Analyses: what the bottleneck costs
A workflow is modelled, simulated tens of thousands of times and converted into euros. What comes out is the annual cost of the bottleneck, what an intervention would return — and the cases where it does not pay.
Every analysis published here is a sample analysis: processes and figures are constructed from typical mid-market structures, not collected at clients. It says so on each one. We show the method, not an invented track record.
- AN-2026-08September 2026SamplePackaging printerOrder handling
The sales lead who shows up as two boxes
A packaging printer measures the path from incoming order to order confirmation. The bottleneck is the credit check. The second finding is a role two steps share, and it only becomes an action once the first one is dealt with.
FindingApproval and exception handling are two boxes in the flow and one person. Measured separately they read 57 % and 20 % utilisation, together 77 %, and above 100 % on a Monday. The finding is correct, and splitting that role would still be the wrong first move: as long as the credit check sits in front of it, splitting buys 0.05 working days.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 78 %Bonitäts- & Kreditprüfung
- Cost/year
- €48,000
- Lead time
- -50 %
- Saving/year
- €37,000
- Intervention pays
- AN-2026-07August 2026SampleEngineering consultancyLeave request
The loudest process in the building is not the most expensive
An engineering consultancy wants to digitalise leave requests. The measurement agrees with the complaint and still not with the investment. The process is slow, but cheap.
FindingSelf-service would work. Lead time would fall by 73 %. It still would not pay: 310 requests a year at 18 minutes each cannot carry €11,500 of setup plus €2,600 of annual licence.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 61 %Genehmigung Teamleitung
- Cost/year
- €4,000
- Lead time
- -73 %
- Saving/year
- €1,500
- Intervention does not pay
- AN-2026-06August 2026SamplePlastics processorPurchase approval
The €500 approval limit nobody has touched since
A plastics processor has every purchase above €500 signed by the managing director. The limit is old, the prices are not. Four out of five orders pass through a gate that opens twice a week.
FindingThe managing director signs off 79 % of all purchases. Not out of distrust, but because an approval limit dates from a different price era. That makes it the bottleneck in 78 % of runs, on 3 to 12 minutes of work per signature.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 78 %Freigabe Geschäftsführung
- Cost/year
- €49,000
- Lead time
- -66 %
- Saving/year
- €40,000
- Intervention pays
- AN-2026-05July 2026SampleManufacturer with in-house ITIT incident handling
The ticket waiting in second line for a password
A manufacturer measures its service desk. The median is two hours, one in four tickets takes longer than a day. The reason is a permission, not expertise.
FindingSecond line sees only 41 % of tickets and is the binding step in almost nine out of ten of them, at 93 % utilisation. Around 1,800 of those escalations a year fail not on first line's skill, but on first line's permissions.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 41 %Erstqualifizierung
- Cost/year
- €29,000
- Lead time
- -54 %
- Saving/year
- €26,000
- Intervention pays
- AN-2026-04June 2026SampleLogistics providerEmployee onboarding
The new hire whose desk stays empty
A logistics provider prepares new hires in four parallel branches. Almost one in three is not ready to work on day one. Not because a role is overloaded, but because a gate is waiting for the last branch.
FindingNo step costs more than half an hour of work, and it still takes almost 15 working days until someone is ready to work. Four branches run side by side, and nobody is ready until all four are done. The slowest one always wins.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 75 %Ausrüstung beschaffen
- Cost/year
- €35,000
- Lead time
- -25 %
- Saving/year
- €28,000
- Intervention pays
- AN-2026-03May 2026SampleTechnical wholesaleComplaint handling
The analysis where we would have advised doing nothing
A distributor wanted to automate complaint handling. The measurement shows the money would have been burnt: the bottleneck sits outside the company.
FindingThe bottleneck sits at the supplier, outside the company. Automation for €18,000 would change nothing. It would even make the bottleneck worse.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 74 %Klärung mit Lieferant
- Cost/year
- €61,000
- Lead time
- -7 %
- Saving/year
- €4,000
- Intervention does not pay
- AN-2026-02April 2026SampleConstructionInvoice approval
The invoice sitting in the site manager's car
A construction firm loses early-payment discounts. Not for lack of cash, but because approval travels the country on paper.
FindingThe bottleneck is paper-based approval, even though site management is only 31 % utilised. Capacity is not missing; a digital route is.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 71 %Freigabe Bauleitung
- Cost/year
- €29,000
- Lead time
- -67 %
- Saving/year
- €21,000
- Intervention pays
- AN-2026-01March 2026SampleMechanical engineering supplierQuotation
The quotation process that stalls in engineering
A supplier loses four days in its quotation process. Not in costing, but in the queries forced by an incomplete request.
FindingIt is not costing that slows things down, it is engineering chasing missing details. A mandatory-field form at intake would remove half the waiting time. With no new software.
Read analysis- Bottleneck
- 62 %Technische Klärung
- Cost/year
- €41,000
- Lead time
- -48 %
- Saving/year
- €26,000
- Intervention pays
Structure
How an analysis is built
Every analysis follows the same sequence. It is why there is a number at the end that can be challenged — and why the last section is never missing.
- 01
Model
The workflow is broken into steps: who does what, in which system, for how long. Handling times are given as a range from P10 to P90, never as a point value.
- 02
Measurement
The model is run tens of thousands of times. The spread yields lead time, throughput and utilisation per role — and the probability that a given step is the bottleneck.
- 03
Finding
One sentence, no jargon. Read only that sentence and you have the substance. Everything below it is evidence.
- 04
Intervention
Exactly what changes — one change, not a programme. Described so that someone could implement it on Monday.
- 05
Re-measurement
The same model with the change applied. Sometimes the saving turns out smaller than the effort; then that is what it says.
- 06
Limits
What the analysis does not show and where it can be wrong. Nothing is published without this section.
Why sample analyses
Flowrefy is young. A collection of real client figures would be quick to claim and just as quick to see through. Sample analyses are constructed, say so at every point, and still show in full what the instrument does. If you want to know what your own numbers would look like, model your own process — the software for it is out in the open.