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TIME CHARTING
AND ANALYSIS
Time
charting is a recent procedure that has arisen with the realisation
of the importance of time as a competitive weapon. Time based competition
recognizes that many customers value time, consider it an important
dimension of quality, and are often prepared to pay a premium for a
product or service delivered in less time.
It
turns out that often there is a direct relationship between time taken
and quality levels, but in the opposite way to what many people think.
Reducing the time to make a product leads to less work in process and
quicker detection of any problems that may have arisen. So defective
processes can be stopped sooner and the amount of rework is reduced.
The same effect is found in services; reducing the time often improves
the feedback and leads to improvement before what has taken place is
forgotten.
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Time
charting and analysis can be used in reducing manufacturing lead times,
reducing product development times, and improving the turnaround in virtually
any service industry The procedure has much in common with the use of
the "7 tools", but is worth specific mention because the aims go well
beyond the removal of quality problems. The critical path technique (CPA)
has been used for over 40 years for project management, essentially to
arrange the time co-ordination of a variety of activities. Versions of
CPA do allow for "crashing"; that is the deliberate reduction of project
time by using additional resources. This is a trade-off; less time for
more cost. But in time charting and analysis the aim is to reduce time
without an additional cost penalty or in fact to reduce both tune and
cost.
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