Fast Cycle Time: How to Align Purpose, Strategy, and Structure for Speed - Softcover

Ken K. Kohrs Vice President, Car Product Development, Ford North American Automotive Operations Ford Motor Company recently implemented a 25% reduction in our time to market...the fundamentals cited in this book were critical to our success. His short lists of "musts" tell it all. Robert Stoy Vice President of Product Development, Becton Dickinson and Company Explores valuable new territory for efficient, rapid product development...places the emphasis where it belongs, on the people and processes of an effective company. David A. Brown Founder and board member, Quantum Corporation Chris Meyer's ideas have transformed Quantum Corporation from a company that was late to market to one that is now first to market with excellent products. This book provides a crisp implementation strategy, grounded in substance and experience. Tom Moore President, Health Care Products, Procter & Gamble, USA A complete, concise, and very readable answer to the question "How can I make Total Quality into a bigger competitive edge?" Steven C. Wheelwright Harvard Business School, coauthor, "Revolutionizing Product Development" A wealth of pragmatic, timely, action-oriented advice in this outstanding work...Meyer blends concepts with specific tools to help managers align their business for competitive advantage. Steven C. WheelwrightHarvard Business School, coauthor, "Revolutionizing Product Development" A wealth of pragmatic, timely, action-oriented advice in this outstanding work...Meyer blends concepts with specific tools to help managers align their business for competitive advantage. Robert StoyVice President of Product Development, Becton Dickinson and Company Explores valuable new territory for efficient, rapid product development...places the emphasis where it belongs, on the people and processes of an effective company. David A. BrownFounder and board member, Quantum Corporation Chris Meyer's ideas have transformed Quantum Corporation from a company that was late to market to one that is now first to market with excellent products. This book provides a crisp implementation strategy, grounded in substance and experience. Ken K. KohrsVice President, Car Product Development, Ford North American Automotive Operations Ford Motor Company recently implemented a 25% reduction in our time to market...the fundamentals cited in this book were critical to our success. His short lists of "musts" tell it all. Tom MoorePresident, Health Care Products, Procter & Gamble, USA A complete, concise, and very readable answer to the question "How can I make Total Quality into a bigger competitive edge?"

Today, tens of thousands of companies are struggling to become "time-based" competitors, inspired by such corporations as Motorola, General Electric, Citicorp, and a myriad of others who have cut production time in half—or more. But until now, the literature has focused on the theory and philosophy of fast cycle time, rather than the tools and techniques for implementing it. Here, for the first time, Christopher Meyer, an internationally recognized expert in cycle time reduction, presents a step-by-step blueprint for transforming traditional companies into fast cycle competitors.

Meyer argues that fast cycle time is achieved not by working faster, but by aligning the organization's purpose, strategy and structure. He demonstrates how the product development cycle must become a learning laboratory in which the four continuous elements "Design, Fabricate, Assemble, and Test" are analyzed with the intent to improve strategy in the next business cycle. Analyzing strategy and core processes enables management to detect and correct problems earlier, and leverage knowledge for improved innovation and increased value for customers.

Employing an ongoing case study, Core Products, Inc., throughout the text, Meyer shows how to redesign the organization for manufacturability and assembly, how to implement multifunctional teams that work, how to analyze and map critical cycle time interdependencies such as "co-location," and how to measure the impact of cycle time on business performance. Meyer's practical approach provides a simple methodology for organizations to deliver products to customers rapidly, accurately, and reliably.

"Chris Meyer interrelates many pieces that we have all read about in different places into a coherent guide to making it happen. Ironically, as Meyer shows, implementing fast cycle time means almost the opposite of what most American managers are inclined to do...Many years of practical experience have shown Meyer and his colleagues the wisdom of a paradox—that to speed up you often have to slow down."

—From the Foreword by Peter M. Senge