If you ask 10 different manufacturers to identify their toughest problem, odds are at least five of them will say, “We can’t get parts through the shop floor fast enough.”

When you think about it, that answer shouldn’t come as a surprise. Today’s manufacturing customers demand increasingly shorter turnaround times. They consider changes to jobs in progress to be your problem, not theirs. And by the way, they expect you to deliver on time, every time. In such an environment, if you don’t run a lean, mean shop floor, you’re going to struggle to meet those demands.

If you’re not getting parts through the shop in time to satisfy your customers, these five problems could be part of what’s getting in the way.

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