Capacity Crisis In The United States Trucking Industry, A Conceptual Model From A Theory Of Constraints Perspective

Abstract

Although we do not operate in a static world, the Theory of Constraints can help us reach our goals by focusing our attention to the important constraints or drivers that are limiting the performance of the U.S. trucking industry. In order to explain the capacity crisis affecting the United States trucking industry, this paper develops a theoretical framework based on the Theory of Constraints to suggest that there are three drivers of significance: the national truck driver shortage, the infrastructure, and sustainability initiatives. Not only do these three drivers of significance interact, they have the combined ability to produce multiplicative effects on individuals, companies, industries, and the economy alike. By focusing on these particular constraints or drivers, we can better manage them and gradually devise strategies to alleviate them using the constraint-based approach.