ABSTRACT
Single-minute setup is popularly known as the ingle-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED) system. Even dissimilar industries with dissimilar machines should then be able to apply the principles of SMED to their own production processes, with substantial improvements in productivity and lead time resulting. With the adoption of the SMED system, the economic-lot approach simply collapses. The SMED system has undergone much development in various sectors of Japanese industry, and has started to spread around the world. America's Federal-Mogul Corporation, Citroen in France, and the H. Weidmann Company in Switzerland have all used SMED to achieve substantial productivity improvements. In any country, positive results will be obtained when the theory and techniques of SMED are understood and suitably applied. The SMED system is much more than a matter of technique; it is an entirely new way of thinking about production itself.
