This paper presents the relationship between two well-known techniques with in lndustrial Management: SMED and the Theory of Constraints (TOC). As a first step, it is discussed the macroeconomics environment and its relationship with microeconomics aspects of the SMED. After that, the main advantages ofcost and set-up time reductions are discussed and the TOC is proposed as away to define priorities to SMED activities. Both, SMED concepts and TOC concepts are presented in this paper. Finally, an example is built up to show the synergy between the two techniques and a conclusion is presented.
Operations Management; TOC; System SMED