“How do we measure performance using the Lean speed concept?   Keeping in mind that our success is determined by how well we keep our customers happy, we calculate the time that passes from when we begin working on the customer’s order to the time we actually deliver. We call that Cycle time.  The shorter that period is, the more successful we deem our performance to be.   If you take eternity, the customer will begin to sense danger, and the chance of not being satisfied with your work is pretty high. And that usually has good grounds. Is that it? Well, from practical experience it really is. Often when you delay delivering what the customer ordered, there is a list of things that may be wrong; and they include:   Low morale on the part of your workforce   The work being too complex for your firm   Product defects discovered and are being corrected   Team handling too many jobs at a time   Lack of flexibility on the team to adjust to the demands of the customer   Inefficient systems”