Why my company doesn't want to speed up the process?

[AdieR]

It's tricky to answer without knowing your operation / markets / customers and the capabilities of your machines / tooling.

Although there is a "general" drive within the industry to reduce cycle times, machines and tooling need to be up to it otherwise quality issues can occur. I used to do work for a firm where cycle times were a secondary consideration; they (and the customers) were more concerned that the work was accurate (and where customers were willing to foot the bill if the job took a bit longer) - but that's with workpieces with price tags of £100,000 plus (oil / gas / nuclear work), and not something you risk getting wrong.

Your boss is talking about redundancies; bear in mind this is a bill which your firm would have to foot (except during insolvency) and could run to tens of thousands of pounds - a hell of a lot during tough economic times.