Sarkar and Zangwill (S-Z, [Sarkar, D., W. I. Zangwill. 1991. Variance effects in cyclic production systems. Management Sci. 37(4, April) 444--453.]) have shown that in the presence of variance, setup and processing time reductions can have "detrimental" effects on the work-in-process (WIP)...

In the early 1990s, research began to show that the Japanese production theory, which espouses reduction of machine setup time as a sure way to improve production performance, may be limited. Specifically, it was found that reduction in mean setup times without any change in variance can,...

Earlier research has found that the variability in setup time can play a central role in which it produces paradoxes and can harm effective waiting time, WIP, and capacity as one reduces setup time. Specifically, if setup time is reduced without a reduction in its variance, the waiting time in...