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THROUGHPUT TIME REDUCTION: TAKING ONE'S MEDICINE
Author(s) -
Blocher James D.,
Garrett Richard W.,
Schmenner Roger W.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
production and operations management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.279
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1937-5956
pISSN - 1059-1478
DOI - 10.1111/j.1937-5956.1999.tb00313.x
Subject(s) - expediting , throughput , reliability (semiconductor) , lead time , computer science , production (economics) , reduction (mathematics) , service (business) , process (computing) , operations management , operations research , risk analysis (engineering) , process management , business , marketing , telecommunications , engineering , power (physics) , physics , geometry , mathematics , systems engineering , quantum mechanics , economics , wireless , operating system , macroeconomics
Managing throughput time and its relation to work‐in‐process (wip) inventory and customer service is the focus of this paper. This research combines theory, simulation results, and the analysis of corporate data in an effort to address the issues associated with how one company (Eli Lilly) managed a reduction in their throughput times and an improvement in their delivery reliability. The results for this company suggest that production control decisions—expediting and de‐expediting—can lead to a vicious circle of decisions, which in turn can lead to increased levels of WIP inventory and higher and more unpredictable throughput times.