Development The concept of Quick Response Manufacturing (QRM) was first developed in the late 1980s by Rajan Suri, at the time professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Combining growing academic research in Time-based Competition (TBC) with his own observations from various lead time reduction projects, Suri conceived QRM as a concept espousing a relentless emphasis on lead time reduction that has a long-term impact on every aspect of the company. In 1993, Suri, along with a few U.S. Midwest companies and academic colleagues at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, launched the Center for Quick Response Manufacturing, a consortium dedicated to the development and implementation of QRM principles in an industry setting. Proposed by Suri, the newly coined term "Quick Response Manufacturing" (QRM) signifies the new strategy. QRM extends basic principles of time-based competition while including these new aspects: Singular focus on lead time reduction Focus on manufacturing enterprises Clarification of the misunderstanding and misconceptions managers have about how to apply time-based strategies Companywide approach reaching beyond shop floor to other areas such as office operations and the supply chain Use of cellular organization structure throughout the business with more holistic and flexible cells Inclusion of basic principles of systems dynamics to provide insight on how to best reorganize an enterprise to achieve quick response New material planning and control approach (POLCA) Specific QRM principles on how to rethink manufacturing process and equipment decisions Novel performance measure Focus on implementation and sustainability Manufacturing Critical-path Time (MCT) metric to measure lead times Suri's continued research into QRM through industry projects along with enthusiastic responses to various articles on lead time reduction issues led him to develop a comprehensive theory on implementing speed in a manufacturing company, covering all areas in the enterprise. He formulated his theory in the book Quick Response Manufacturing: A Companywide Approach to Reducing Lead Times (1998), providing a framework for the implementation of QRM in manufacturing companies. QRM Strategies and Tools Lead time as a management strategy Traditionally, U.S. manufacturing firms have focused on scale and cost management strategies based on the division of labor practices formalized by Frederick Winslow Taylor and pioneered by Henry Ford. From the time-based perspective of QRM, the high degree of labor specialization and hierarchical department structures at purely cost-based organizations have these negative effects on lead times: Products and product orders require long routes through numerous departments Hierarchical