Time as a Competitive Element
Time is a crucial element in all phases of the value chain. World-class firms reduce time to market by compressing design, implementation, and production cycles. These firms deliver products or services quickly by eliminating non-value-added time, that is, time of no value to the customer (for example, the time a product spends on the loading dock). Interestingly, decreasing non-value-added time appears to go hand in hand with increasing quality. The overall objective, of course, is to increase customer responsiveness.