Quick Response Manufacturing
Production and Operations Management
Critical Success Factors of QRM
Andrew Leslie 201147587
15th February 2013
Why the need for QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing)?
Chuck Gates. President of Renew Aire, a US based company and market leader, reduced lead times using QRM by 80% in 2010; which increased their market share overall by 42%. QRM workshop release. Going Beyond Lean: IMEC Partners with Founder of QRM Strategy to Assist Manufacturers of Low-Volume and Customized Products. Pp. 1.
Many companies around the world use lean manufacturing strategies such as Takt Time and Six Sigma, in order to reduce waste and provide good customer satisfaction. However these methods are designed for high volume production and stable demand, with little variety in order to compete with overseas production.
In the case of companies looking to meet variable demand and provide a large product variety, QRM is a solution to meet these needs efficiently.
What is QRM?
QRM has an overall main focus of reducing the lead-time over reducing costs, not just on the shop floor but also throughout the entire company; from the office to the full supply chain.
Critical success factors
Successful use of the QRM strategy is built upon 4 core principles:
1. Focus on the reduction of overall lead times.
Traditional approaches based solely on cost thinking almost always look to reduce labour costs. However “touch time only accounts for 5% of the overall lead time” Suri, Rajan (2010a), It 's About Time. The Competitive Advantage of Quick Response Manufacturing, Productivity Press. Pp. 9.
Where as costs from other work in progress, forecasting, planning, rescheduling and warehousing etc. account for up to 50% of the overall time to produce a product.
Long lead times lead to high organizational costs, which usually account for up to 5 times labour costs. Substantially decreasing these costs thus provides a company with much greater opportunity than
Critical Success Factors of QRM
Andrew Leslie 201147587
15th February 2013
Why the need for QRM (Quick Response Manufacturing)?
Chuck Gates. President of Renew Aire, a US based company and market leader, reduced lead times using QRM by 80% in 2010; which increased their market share overall by 42%. QRM workshop release. Going Beyond Lean: IMEC Partners with Founder of QRM Strategy to Assist Manufacturers of Low-Volume and Customized Products. Pp. 1.
Many companies around the world use lean manufacturing strategies such as Takt Time and Six Sigma, in order to reduce waste and provide good customer satisfaction. However these methods are designed for high volume production and stable demand, with little variety in order to compete with overseas production.
In the case of companies looking to meet variable demand and provide a large product variety, QRM is a solution to meet these needs efficiently.
What is QRM?
QRM has an overall main focus of reducing the lead-time over reducing costs, not just on the shop floor but also throughout the entire company; from the office to the full supply chain.
Critical success factors
Successful use of the QRM strategy is built upon 4 core principles:
1. Focus on the reduction of overall lead times.
Traditional approaches based solely on cost thinking almost always look to reduce labour costs. However “touch time only accounts for 5% of the overall lead time” Suri, Rajan (2010a), It 's About Time. The Competitive Advantage of Quick Response Manufacturing, Productivity Press. Pp. 9.
Where as costs from other work in progress, forecasting, planning, rescheduling and warehousing etc. account for up to 50% of the overall time to produce a product.
Long lead times lead to high organizational costs, which usually account for up to 5 times labour costs. Substantially decreasing these costs thus provides a company with much greater opportunity than
References: Suri, Rajan. 2010, It 's About Time. The Competitive Advantage of Quick Response Manufacturing, Productivity Press. Suri, Rajan. 1998, Quick Response Manufacturing. A Companywide Approach to Reducing Lead Times, Productivity Press. QRM and POLCA: A Winning Combination for Manufacturing Enterprises in the 21st Century. Rajan Suri , University of Wisconsin-Madison 2003. Gilson, S. 2002. “Results of Implementing POLCA at Rockwell Automation, Richland Center.” Becker, T. 2001. “It’s the People that Make the QRM Cell Successful.” Tubino, F. and R. Suri. 2000. “What Kind Of Numbers Can A Company Expect After Implementing QRM?”