BOOKLETS

// Excerpt from “Survival of the Swiftest”, by Bengt Anderson

Time-based competition.

According to most methods of measuring productivity, two companies perform equally well if each manufactures the same quantity of a comparable product with the same size of workforce, the same consumption of material and the same type of equipment. But is their performance equal if one company ships an order four days after receiving it, while the other takes four weeks? Obviously not.

Time is money has been part of the business vernacular ever since Benjamin Franklin coined the phrase in 1748. Even earlier, 1620, the English philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon wrote: “Time is the measure of business”. And three hundred years before Christ, the Greek philosopher Theophrastos knew that "time is a costly expense".

Although time has been a measure of efficiency, companies seldom watch it very closely – hardly ever as closely as they watch their costs. Since companies don't buy time, and do not enter it as an asset in their accounts, they often treat it as a free utility. But time is not free just because it doesn't appear on the balance sheet.

Long lead times increase costs and cause companies to lose revenues. Conversely, short lead times reduce costs, increase revenues, improve customer satisfaction and strengthen competitiveness. Time has become the new key to survival and success in the competition for market share. ( Order the booklet "Survival of the Swiftest")