We have all heard the phrase “cycle time”, but what does it really mean to your business? The simple definition of a “cycle time” is the amount of time it takes to complete an operation or activity. It has now been adopted by, or applied to just about everything in a business. Again, simply put, you need to know and understand the various cycle times – how long it takes to do things – in your business.

Each aspect of your business has an associated cycle time. Your sales cycle time is the time it takes from when you initially introduce the sales opportunity to the customer, to when you get their signature on the order. Your production cycle time is from when you get the order to when you actually have a completed product meeting the order specifications ready to ship. Your development cycle time is the time from product concept to generally available deliverable product.

Another lesser know but equally important cycle time is the Marketing cycle time – The time from when you introduce a marketing program to when you actually see a change in the sales volume from it. It will take time for the market to understand the program. The program will then (hopefully) modify buying behaviors and change the sales cycle time. It will then appear as a change in sales volumes.

Although we might all want our business actions to take immediate effect, we must understand the cycle times we are affecting when we do things. We must understand how long it takes for effects to be seen. We do not want to tie up scarce resource resources waiting for the effects, but we also do not want to be caught without resources when the effects are manifested. Understanding the cycle times of a business enable you to plan and schedule business instead of react to changes as they occur.