Why is manufacturing benchmarking important? It is difficult to lead an organization in the direction it needs to go if you cannot articulate a vision of what the future will look like or even what the current state is. APQC, a nonprofit research organization internationally recognized as a resource for benchmarking and performance improvement, is offering you the opportunity to identify performance levels and best practices in areas including production and quality control by benchmarking your manufacturing processes at no cost.

Benchmarking in manufacturing can be easier to initiate than in other areas because processes are relatively easy to see and there's often an excess of performance metrics. But a beer bottling operation bears little resemblance to the assembly line for jetliner. The challenge--aided by APQC's Process Classification Framework--is to normalize such activities and measurements across different industries and processes.

Manufacturing realities: Widespread outsourcing of production activities has put tremendous pressure on manufacturing managers to be cost competitive and offer unique customer value. This has only intensified their focus on producing quality products, delivered on time, at a competitive price, with excellent customer service. To accomplish this, manufacturing leaders must establish safe work processes, quality procedures, production schedules, optimum work flows, appropriate capital investments, effective maintenance procedures, on-going training programs, mutually productive supplier relationships, and continuous improvement programs that will keep the organization moving forward.

Thanks to lean manufacturing and other process improvement initiatives, many factories have undergone a radical transformation in recent years. Long production lines and stacks of work-in-process inventory have disappeared, replaced by flexible work cells that pull materials from suppliers and customize product based on individual orders. Evidence of approaches and techniques including 5-S, total productive maintenance, level scheduling, standardized work, kanban replenishment, and value stream mapping can be found in many facilities. Such efforts have lead to dramatically reduced lot sizes and manufacturing cycle times, reduced customer order lead times, six sigma quality levels, lower injury rates, less work-in-process and finished goods inventory, and a better return on invested capital.

Objectives of APQC Manufacturing Benchmarks.
The metrics for which world-class manufacturing would offer a competitive edge include the following:

Reduce costs of goods sold as a percentage of revenue
Speed up manufacturing cycle times
Speed up customer order-to-shipment lead times
Reduce machine downtime
Reduce work-in-process inventory
Reduce scrap and warranty costs

Again, there is no cost to participate in this research, and in return for submitting your data, you will receive a customized report that includes an overview of the metrics and practices at top-performing organizations.

Visit the URL below and start benchmarking your performance today!
http://www.apqc.org/sc/mfg/scb