Focus on product quality key to cutting cycle times

Leading-edge industries such as solar (i.e., photovoltaic or PV) and semiconductor manufacturing have made a concerted effort to shorten cycle times to improve process and production efficiencies as a means to gain competitive advantage. Many tools have been proposed for reducing cycle times: automation, six sigma, lean manufacturing, and better synchronization between demand and supply. Product quality permeates all these tools. Product quality or the lack of it has a direct and significant impact on total cycle times and lead times. It's time that manufacturers make that connection. In this article, we discuss a closed-loop approach to quality that enables cycle-time reduction.