Some of the goals of SMED (from “single-minute exchange of dies”) are obvious. By decreasing the amount of time you spend changing tools and machine parts, you’ll gain in productivity. If the machine is stopped less often, you have more time to produce, meaning a direct improvement of output. At a bottlenecked station, this can be decisive and modify the investment needs.
Other goals are less obvious, but equally promising. By reducing the time required to change tools, you’ll make small-batch manufacturing more profitable. This in turn allows you to be more reactive to customer requests. Finally, thanks to SMED, you’ll reduce your stocks by adapting production on the fly.