Measuring the time that repetitive operations take from start to finish (cycle time) gives you the opportunity to make better use of time. One business, for example, examined the time it took for customer service to process orders and found that by making several process improvements they could reduce their headcount and save $110,000 per year.
Another business looked at cycle times and found that they could run a number of operations concurrently rather than sequentially and were able to increase productivity and revenues significantly.
It doesn’t matter if you are making pizza or processing an order. Cycle time information is fundamental to understanding the capacity and throughput of any manufacturing or business operation.
Time is money. Time is opportunity gained or lost. Reference “Instant Profits: Making Your Business Pay” which contains examples of how to apply cycle time and time lines for business improvement.