Manufacturing Lead time Reduction towards Zero Defect Manufacturing

Abstract

Copyright © 2014 Future Technology Press and the authors. Companies seek to reduce manufacturing lead-time in order to reduce the cost of the production; short lead-times are a major source of potential competitive advantage and can help achieve zero-defect manufacturing (ZDM). The quality of a product is dependent on both facilities (or equipment) and the manufacturing process. Any unexpected obstacle or glitch can create longer lead-time, which will prevent the product from promptly reaching the customer. A focus on reducing lead-time, therefore, will ensure an elimination of error, and work towards a zero-defect manufacturing system, which is necessary to increase the reliability and safety of manufacturing set ups and systems. This paper proposes a study on reducing manufacturing lead-time (MLT) in factories in the Kurdistan region of Iraq, where lead-time has become a major issue in the manufacturing industry. The aim is to provide guidance to industry practitioners/technicians on how to reduce MLT. The paper will present a conceptual framework of the causes of excessive lead-time and also describe the relationship between setup time, operation time, and non-operation time in order to find potential methodologies that can reduce lead-time in the manufacturing process. It will also further identify simple strategies for reducing lead-time that can help towards achieving ZDM.