Tackling Long Production Lead Times

The Issue:

Long production lead times are a recurring challenge, impacting your ability to meet customer demands and deadlines. The temptation to apply blanket solutions—such as adding extra weeks across the board—might seem like a quick fix, but it often exacerbates inefficiencies, increases work-in-progress (WIP), and creates traffic jams in your workflow.

Instead of making sweeping changes, let’s explore two targeted approaches that can help you optimize your production process and meet your deadlines.

Option 1: Value Stream Mapping (VSM) Event

For a high-level, strategic approach that provides a clear picture of improvement opportunities, consider a Value Stream Mapping event.

Here’s how it works:

Understand Your Lead Time:
Break down the difference between touch time (the actual time spent working on a part) and lead time (the total time a part spends in production). While shop foremen and supervisors bring invaluable tribal knowledge, a VSM event offers a comprehensive view of your entire value stream, going beyond individual expertise.
Identify the Hold-Ups:
Map out front-end process interactions and production flow to pinpoint delays and bottlenecks. With this analysis, you can target Lean Continuous Improvement efforts to eliminate inefficiencies.
Clear the Path:
Work to eliminate waste, remove bottlenecks, and optimize flow through proven Continuous Improvement methods. This approach not only reduces lead times but also builds a self-sustaining culture of improvement for years to come.

Option 2: Scheduling Assessment Event

If your focus is on planning, scheduling, and executing work more efficiently, a Scheduling Assessment may be the right fit.

Here’s what it entails:

Analyze the Current State:
Start with database analysis and process interviews to fully understand your product, resources, and current approach to scheduling.
Foundational Training & Recommendations:
Leverage data-driven insights to recommend strategies tailored to your needs, such as optimizing WIP, improving execution efficiency, and conducting capacity analysis.
Optimize Scheduling:
Replace guesswork with a refined scheduling system that ensures consistent planning and execution. This process moves you beyond reliance on tribal knowledge and provides scalable, repeatable methods to meet customer expectations.

The Solution:

Both approaches—Value Stream Mapping and Scheduling Assessment—are designed to reduce lead times and improve production processes. Whether you aim to improve overall workflow efficiency or fine-tune scheduling and capacity planning, the Center of Excellence offers solutions to get your operations back on track.

Ready to streamline your production process?

For a quick overview, watch our ‘Dear COE’ video to see how we tackle long production lead times in just a few minutes!

Contact customercare@wm-synergy.com to schedule your next event and start meeting deadlines with confidence. Let’s work together to keep your production process efficient, your customers happy, and your business thriving!