Cycle time variation is a proven metric and philosophy for continuous improvement with the aim of driving down the deviations in the time it takes to produce successive units on a production line. It supports organizations' application of lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing

Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination...

 or lean production by eliminating wasteful expenditure of resources. It is distinguished from some of the more common applications by its different focus of creating a structure for progressively reducing the sources of internal variation that leads to workarounds and disruption causing these wastes to accumulate in the first place. Although it is often used as an indicator of lean progress, its use promotes a structured approach to reducing disruption that impacts efficiency, quality, and value.

Overview

The application of cycle time variation as a core area of focus for lean transformation efforts was subsequently expanded to describe the disruption caused by variation in flow from changing business conditions (such as an economic downturn), demonstrating that the disruption this causes creates skyrocketing "loss" as described by the Taguchi Loss Function

Taguchi loss function

The Taguchi Loss Function is a graphical depiction of loss developed by the Japanese business statistician Genichi Taguchi to describe a phenomenon affecting the value of products produced by a company. Praised by Dr. W...

. It led to a different approach to implementing lean manufacturing known as Lean Dynamics

Lean dynamics

Lean dynamics is a business management practice that emphasizes the same primary outcome as lean manufacturing or lean production of eliminating wasteful expenditure of resources...

, focused on addressing the disruption caused by dynamic business conditions that often causes "waste" to accumulate. A lean dynamics approach restructures the way operations, organizations, information, and innovation are structured to overcome this.

Cycle time variation is important for reinforcing the concept of dealing with variation to flow as a central focus in implementing lean manufacturing. This emphasis has made it an important building block to the Six Sigma

Six Sigma

Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...

 movement, driving an improved understanding of the common focus of two areas that were previously viewed as having separate objectives.

See also

The topics below are linked to this subject:

• Lean Manufacturing
  Lean manufacturing
  Lean manufacturing, lean enterprise, or lean production, often simply, "Lean," is a production practice that considers the expenditure of resources for any goal other than the creation of value for the end customer to be wasteful, and thus a target for elimination...
  
  
• Lean Dynamics
  Lean dynamics
  Lean dynamics is a business management practice that emphasizes the same primary outcome as lean manufacturing or lean production of eliminating wasteful expenditure of resources...
  
  
• Toyota Production System
  Toyota Production System
  The Toyota Production System is an integrated socio-technical system, developed by Toyota, that comprises its management philosophy and practices. The TPS organizes manufacturing and logistics for the automobile manufacturer, including interaction with suppliers and customers...
  
  
• Taguchi Loss Function
  Taguchi loss function
  The Taguchi Loss Function is a graphical depiction of loss developed by the Japanese business statistician Genichi Taguchi to describe a phenomenon affecting the value of products produced by a company. Praised by Dr. W...
  
  
• Six Sigma
  Six Sigma
  Six Sigma is a business management strategy originally developed by Motorola, USA in 1986. , it is widely used in many sectors of industry.Six Sigma seeks to improve the quality of process outputs by identifying and removing the causes of defects and minimizing variability in manufacturing and...
  
  
• Statistical Process Control
  Statistical process control
  Statistical process control is the application of statistical methods to the monitoring and control of a process to ensure that it operates at its full potential to produce conforming product. Under SPC, a process behaves predictably to produce as much conforming product as possible with the least...
  
  

Terminology

• Variation Management
• Value Curve
• Production Leveling
  Production leveling
  Production leveling, also known as production smoothing or – by its Japanese original term – , is a technique for reducing the muda waste and vital to the development of production efficiency in the Toyota Production System and Lean Manufacturing...
  
  
• Muda, Mura
  Mura (Japanese term)
  Mura is traditional general Japanese term for unevenness, irregularity or inconsistency in physical matter or human spiritual condition. It is also a key concept in performance improvement systems such as the Toyota Production System. Mura is one of the three types of waste . Waste reduction is an...
  
  , Muri
  Muri (Japanese term)
  Muri is a Japanese term for overburden, unreasonableness or absurdity, which has become popularized in the West by its use as a key concept in the Toyota Production System.-Avoidance of muri in Toyota manufacturing:...
  
  
• Workcell
  Workcell
  A workcell is an arrangement of resources in a manufacturing environment to improve the quality, speed and cost of the process. Workcells are designed to improve these by improving process flow and eliminating waste...