Setup Reduction

The process of reducing the amount of time needed to changeover a process from the last part for the previous product to the first good part for the next product.

The six basic steps in setup reduction are:

1. Measure the total setup time in the current state.
2. Identify the internal and external elements, calculating the individual times.
3. Convert as many of the internal elements to external as possible.
4. Reduce the time for the remaining internal elements.
5. Reduce the time for the external elements.
6. Standardize the new procedure.

See: Changeover; Single Minute Exchange of Die