Produktioncykel

Produktioncykel (production cycle) refers to the sequence of operations through which raw materials are transformed into finished goods within a manufacturing system. The cycle includes planning, setup and changeover, actual production, quality control, packaging, and handoff to logistics or distribution. The term emphasizes the temporal aspect of manufacturing—the time it takes to complete a unit or batch from start to finish.

The key time metric is cycle time, the elapsed time to complete one unit or batch within the cycle. Lead time, by contrast, is the total time from when an order is placed to when it is delivered. Both are influenced by process design, equipment reliability, setup/changeover time, batch size, variability, and quality requirements.

Production cycles vary by system: discrete manufacturing often features short, individual unit cycles; batch production repeats a set of units; continuous processes run with uninterrupted flow for commodities. Efficiency is affected by bottlenecks, work-in-process (WIP) levels, and line balancing. Takt time connects production pace to demand.

Improvement approaches include reducing setup times (SMED, Single-Minute Exchange of Die), standardizing work, reducing batch sizes, adopting pull systems (Kanban), and applying lean or theory of constraints to identify and relieve bottlenecks.

See also: manufacturing, operations management, lean manufacturing, supply chain management.