Glossary Term: Single-minute exchange of dies (SMED)

Single-minute exchange of dies (SMED) is a method of lean manufacturing to reduce waste during the manufacturing cycle. SMED provides efficient and quick ways of converting from one product to the next. This process of change over is a key to reducing manufacturing cycle time, uneven production flow and increasing efficiency along the system.

Single-minute does not mean that production change only takes one minute, but rather that the change over time ideally takes less than 10 minutes, or a single-digit minute. SMED is critical for reducing machine downtime, increasing responsiveness to customer demand, and smoothing out the production process.

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