Waste and Lead Time Reduction

Introduction

In today’s market scenario, clients are demanding software that performs tasks as per their needs, alongside the main software product. Companies are under pressure to provide customized software along with the main product to meet client requirements and adapt to heterogeneous framework environments. Consequently, it is a top priority for companies to furnish custom-based solutions alongside the main software release. This is particularly challenging for telecom companies, where they need to deliver new customizations with shorter lead times before clients' needs change and the customizations become outdated. It is imperative to have short lead times to maintain market dominance and satisfy clients' necessities before rivals provide modified solutions in the market. Therefore, customization is provided alongside the main software product. An issue with higher lead times was identified at Ericsson AB during a study (Johnson, 2020).

Waste and Lead Time Reduction

There was an issue with the software development process, which was taking longer to reach the market, affecting the minor customization process. It was necessary to find the root cause of the delay by implementing lean techniques and improving the process by reducing the wastes, thereby shortening the lead times. According to Lean Manufacturing principles, identifying and eliminating waste is crucial for process improvement (Smith & Brown, 2018). One of the most important tools of lean manufacturing used was the Value Stream Map to route the process from the beginning. Value Stream includes all the activities, both value-added and non-value-added, carried out to transform a product from its raw form to the final product and leading to the market. These days, companies are reluctant to provide their data for case studies, so some data are based on assumptions and defined as average percentages of the total average lead time. Similarly, the total lead time is not available. From the figure, it can be seen that total PT or VA time amounts to 62% of the LT, and total QT or Non-Value-Added time is 38% of the Lead Time. Therefore, the section of NVA to VA indicates that more than one-third of the capital was spent on waiting and activities that did not add any value for the customers. Back and forth arrows represent non-synchronous feedback and criticism. Due to the company's reluctance to provide data for waiting time, it is not mentioned, but as per the report from the company, it was the major source of delays and higher lead times (Ericsson AB, 2019).

Conclusion

Addressing the issues of lead time and waste in the software development process is crucial for maintaining competitiveness in today's fast-paced market. By implementing lean techniques and tools like Value Stream Mapping, companies can identify inefficiencies and focus on value-added activities, thereby reducing lead times and meeting customer demands more effectively. Continued efforts in this area are essential for sustaining market leadership and ensuring customer satisfaction.

References

• Ericsson AB. (2019). Internal report on software development process delays.
• Johnson, R. (2020). Customization in telecom: Challenges and solutions. Journal of Software Engineering, 15(2), 45-57.
• Smith, J., & Brown, L. (2018). Lean manufacturing principles in software development. International Journal of Production Research, 56(7), 2345-2358.