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Article: Lead times and cycle times: to implement lead time reduction we may need to introduce a new definition for cycle time which embraces the whole business, not a single process.(production management)
- Article from:
- Metalworking Production
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Centaur Communications Limited. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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In manufacturing we may hear from our suppliers that the lead time for the delivery of a product is, say, six weeks. This is the time taken from when the supplier receives our purchase order to the time when he delivers the goods to our factory. We try to persuade our suppliers to reduce their lead times--but often to no avail. Understanding and measuring lead times is essential for planning our business, for good customer service and for identifying areas for improving the process.
We also hear from our manufacturing colleagues that the cycle time to make a component on a machine may be three minutes--that is the time to load and unload the component and for the ...