Monitoring of lead time - Good KPI identification?

[qualprod]

Hello everybody
I want to start the monitoring of lead time in my products.
I need to monitor in a monthly basis the days spent in the manufacturing of the products.
Say , that monthly , I may have 12 days in average.
However for this, I see several issues which I think affect having data that be precise, (an objetive and useful number)
For example I have one product , which takes 3 days to be produced while others take 12 days, or 40 days, other aspects involved
are the quantity of product and some failures in the production.
What I want is the start the monitoring of lead time to analize causes of delays and implement actions to improve the delivery to customers
What do you suggest to have an objetive kpi for this purpose?

Please share your ideas.

Thanks

 

[Ed Panek]

Start with the end in mind. Why is it important to your customers in your market to get deliveries on time? Are certain products higher risk?

 

[Ninja]

Agreed...what metric do you want in the end?
If your products differ in expected lead time, perhaps apply the expectation and measure early/late (in days) against that expectation, per product.
In that way, you can treat your product mix as a whole into a single average...

 

[qualprod]

Agreed...what metric do you want in the end?
If your products differ in expected lead time, perhaps apply the expectation and measure early/late (in days) against that expectation, per product.
In that way, you can treat your product mix as a whole into a single average...

Thanks Ed
The main purpose is for me, to compare the lead time, while applying improvements if really my kpi is better.
(To reduce Lead time in average).
Thanks ninja,
Could you explain that early/late method, I have not heard about it.
Thanks

 

[Ninja]

Product A has expected lead time of 12 days.
Lot 1 took 13 days.
Metric = +1 or
Metric = +8.3%

Product A has expected lead time of 12 days.
Lot 2 took 10 days.
Metric = -2
Metric = -16.7%

Product B has expected lead time of 5 days.
Lot 1 took 4 days.
Metric = -1
Metric = -20%

Product C has expected lead time of 44 days.
Lot 75 took 54 days.
Metric = +10
Metric = +22.7%

Average is +2 days.

You could do the same thing in percentage if it makes more sense in your circumstance.
Average = -1.4% of expected lead time

Goes right back into what Ed said...what do you want to end up with?

 

[Bev D]

Point of clarity: are you measuring lead time or cycle time? If you are measuring the amount of time it takes you to manufacture something it is cycle time. If you are measuring the amount of time it takes for your supplier to deliver product from the time you order it to the time it arrives at your facility it’s lead time.

%on time is a lagging indicator, it’s like a score in a game. It’s the end goal of course but it’s not that actionable. You should also measure cycle time and understand where the product is delayed (looking for waste and bottle necks). You can group products together by their ‘touch time’ or complexity. If you have mixed production times you should mix them in cycle time measurements.

 

[qualprod]

Thanks Ed
The main purpose is for me, to compare the lead time, while applying improvements if really my kpi is better.
(To reduce Lead time in average).
Thanks ninja,
Could you explain that early/late method, I have not heard about it.
Thanks

 

[qualprod]

Thanks Ninja and Bev

Ninja,What I want is to have an indicator as a reference,
Where am I now, and how Im improving my processes, how Im reducing the lead time in my products.

Bev
That us the idea , Lead time is time elapsed since a customer places an order and finally when product is received.

Thanks to all

 

[Ninja]

What I want is to have an indicator as a reference,

Hi Qualprod,
That is a very vague statement...that's why we're giving fairly vague answers...

When you identify (very specifically) what you want that indicator to be, and how you will use it...you'll likely come up with a number of ideas yourself in addition to those possibles posed above.

 

[Bev D]

Can you tell us what starts the clock and what ends the clock?
for example start = PO acceptance from Customer and end = receipt of product by Customer.
The how do you intend to evaluate the metric? control chart, looking at a table of results? how do you intend to share it with your company?
Who is responsible for making improvements to the metric? do they agree?