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It's About Time
The Competitive Advantage of Quick Response Manufacturing
by Rajan Suri; Productivity Press, 2010
While everyone knows that time is money, this book demonstrates that for manufacturing companies time is a lot more money than most managers realize! The author shows how companies can take advantage of this realization to gain competitive advantage. This book is intended to be a quick read to convince executives to implement QRM strategy as well as a brief overview for all employees to help them support the QRM implementation.
In the decade since the publication of Rajan Suri’s landmark book, Quick Response Manufacturing, the innovative principles of QRM have been proven out via impressive results at many companies, big and small, in a variety of industries. While the key principles of QRM remain unchanged, after a decade of teaching QRM workshops to senior executives, Suri has developed a concise yet convincing way of presenting QRM strategy using four core concepts:
- (i) The Power of Time – the huge impact that time has on your whole enterprise
- (ii) Organization Structure – how to structure your organization to minimize time
- (iii) System Dynamics – understanding how interactions between jobs and resources impact time and thereby how to make better decisions on capacity, lot sizes. and similar issues
- (iv) Enterprise-wide application - QRM is not just a shop floor strategy, it extends across your whole enterprise including material planning and control, supply management, office operations and new product introduction.
The text contains new case studies on QRM implementation showing how QRM not only reduces lead time but also improves quality, reduces total operating cost, and enables companies to gain substantial market share. The book also shows how factories in advanced nations can use QRM strategy to compete with manufacturers in low-wage countries. An additional chapter provides pointers for QRM implementation including accounting strategies, novel cost-justification approaches, and a stepwise process for implementation.
Also included is a bonus CD with five appendices that provide a number of practical details to assist in the success of your QRM implementation. Suri chose the topics for the appendices based on numerous experiences with companies, picking topics that most frequently needed to be addressed during the implementation. When you are ready to start implementing QRM, you will find that these appendices contain many tips and pointers that help you work through implementation questions, and also provide simple calculation methods and tools to support the design of your QRM strategy.
To order up to four copies from the QRM Center for a U.S. or Canadian shipping address, call (608) 262-4709, or print an order form (PDF) and fax it to (608) 265-4017, or send it with a check/money order/P.O. (payable to the University of Wisconsin) to:
Center for Quick Response Manufacturing
3160 Engineering Centers Building
1550 Engineering Drive
Madison, WI 53706
To read reviews of the book and order copies, you can also check amazon.com, Productivity Press (www.productivitypress.com) or contact the bookseller of choice. For addresses outside of the continental U.S., check with booksellers above for availability and shipping options.
Price: $39.95
Order Form (PDF)
Practical tips on implementing QRM, available for download (also included as CD with the book)