Question

Subject:Operations Management

Book: Introduction to Operations & Supply Chain Management 3rd Edition

1. We noted that cycle time, while an important measure of process performance, is not the only measure to be considered. Give an example where focusing exclusively on

reducing cycle times might hurt other, equally important, measures of process performance.

Answer 1

Reducing cycle time my negatively affect the quality of a product. An example of this is in a job shop where design is the important part. If the shop were making customized furniture reducing the cycle time may result in the design not being what the customer fully wanted like not having the all the details of the design carefully done with quality or rushed painting may result in in poor quality. Focusing on reducing cycle time in this case where quality is most important would result in the design of the product not meeting the buys needs. You cannot focus on reducing cycle time in a job shop because each job will vary depending on the buyer’s needs. Cycle time of each product will vary.