In manufacturing, changeover is the process of converting a line or machine from running one product to another.
Changeover times can last from a few minutes to as much as several weeks in the case of automobile manufacturers retooling for new models.
Reducing changeover times became a popular way to reduce waste in Lean manufacturing after Taiichi Ohno and Shingo Shigeo popularized the SMED (single-minute exchange of die) method in the, now famous, Toyota Production System (TPS).
Changeover can be divided into the 3 ups: Clean-up product, materials and components from the line.
It may range from minor, if only the label of a package is being changed (for example from an English to a Spanish label) to major, requiring complete disassembly of the equipment, cleaning and sterilizing of the line components in the case of an injectable pharmaceutical product.