To become globally competitive, it helps to understand the gaps between your current practices and performance and world-class practices and benchmarks. The Best Manufacturing Practices Scorecard helps you to identify specific improvement opportunities by measuring your organization's effectiveness along 20 operational parameters. Our studies in manufacturing plants world-wide have shown that these factors have a substantial impact on overall plant productivity & profitability.

After completing the self-assessment, you can print out a copy for yourself and/or submit your completed Scorecard to us. We will be happy to review it, provide an analysis of your performance against others in your industry and outline some suggestions and recommendations, free of charge. (Please note that this service is currently being provided only to leaders in industry. We ask that you use a valid business email address.) To generate discussion on Best Practices within your organization, you may wish to have other plant leaders also complete and submit the Scorecard.

Scoring: For each statement, score your organization on a scale of 0 (needs major work) to 5 (working very well.) The maximum score is 100.

We value your privacy! All information supplied will be treated confidentially and specific company names are not reported.

Best Practices Scorecard

1. Lead Time Reduction Focus There is a plant-wide objective to measure and reduce internal lead times. Value stream analyses provide a road map; non-value-adding steps in the manufacturing and administrative processes are gradually eliminated; a "pull" strategy is used where warranted; product flow is increasing; and the facility is producing to order rather than to stock.	0 1 2 3 4 5
2. Manufacturing cells (Focused Factories) The facility is structured into product- or customer-focused work areas where possible, housing all operations to manufacture a family of products. The focus is on speed, quality and team-level accountability rather than internal efficiencies and machine standards. Office operations are similarly structured to streamline flow.	0 1 2 3 4 5
3. Associate Engagement Employees and their leaders routinely work in partnership and meet to discuss objectives, solve problems and suggest and implement improvements. Plant communication is excellent,morale and job satisfafaction are high and the shop floor goes "above and beyond" to achieve world-class performance.	0 1 2 3 4 5
4. Strategic Inventory Reduction Raw material, finished goods and work-in-process inventories are reduced as a result of strategic improvements in work flow, waste elimination and supply chain collaboration, rather than by arbitrary mandates, inventory shift ing or accounting gimmicks.	0 1 2 3 4 5
5. Cross-Functional Teamwork There is a high level of teamwork and coordination between organizational units and strong internal customer-supplier relationships. The result is quick action on pressing organizational issues. Traditional interdepartmental and intershift rivalries have been replaced by cooperation and collaboration. Support functions act as subject matter experts in "Centers of Excellence" to ensure successful adoption of best practices.	0 1 2 3 4 5
6. Equipment/Process Reliability An effective system is in place to maximize equipment availability and efficiency. Corrective, preventive, predictive and autonomous maintenance practices are in place. Maintenance and Operations work in partnership to achieve world-class levels of Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE), with operators performing a vital tasks in maintaining equipment reliability.	0 1 2 3 4 5
7. Quick Changeover Quick changeover/SMED methods are employed to increase equipment availability and respond quickly and economically to changing schedules and customer needs. The goal is not to eliminate changeovers, but to increase their efficiency.	0 1 2 3 4 5
8. High-Performance Leadership All levels of plant leadership provide effective coaching, training & mentoring to subordinates, ensuring peak performance, strong teamwork and a skilled, engaged work force. Senior management is committed to developing highly effective leaders. Internal communications are excellent, as rated by the shop floor.	0 1 2 3 4 5
9. Continuous Improvement Employees are engaged in CI projects and activities on a regular basis. All teams meet to set goals, solve operating problems and implement corrective action. Improvement efforts tie directly to the plant's operating objectives.	0 1 2 3 4 5
10. In-Process Quality Product quality is built-in at the operating level. Employees have the ability and the authority to make product quality decisions in process and quality management tools (SPC, error-proofing, etc.) are in place and effective.	0 1 2 3 4 5
11. Optimal Shift Schedule For companies that operate multiple shifts, an effective 24-hour management system provides the necessary support around the clock. Shift schedules are in place that meet both operational and employee needs. The shift schedule allows for adequate training, coverage, skills availability and overtime minimization.	0 1 2 3 4 5
12. Standard Operating Procedures The plant is ISO (or QS) certified. Operating procedures and quality standards are consistent across work areas and shifts and a formalized process is used to ensure sustainability.	0 1 2 3 4 5
13. Goal Deployment Key performance indicators and shop floor goals are in place for each area, developed at the operating level and tied directly to plant goals. The process is a dynamic one that energizes and engages the entire organization, and there is a clear "line of sight" between individual/team effort and plant performance.	0 1 2 3 4 5
14. Visual Management Systems Plant and team scoreboards and other visual means of controlling and improving operations are used throughout the plant. Operational status information is available quickly and accurately to anyone who needs it.	0 1 2 3 4 5
15. Plant Safety, Loss Prevention & Organization Effective training & awareness, thorough incident investigations and a 5S/6S organization program ensure an orderly, efficient and safe workplace. The process is a routine part of everyone's work function and no longer viewed as an "add-on".	0 1 2 3 4 5
16. Incentives, Rewards & Recognition There is an effective incentive and recognition system that promotes continuous improvement and rewards outstanding individual, team and plant performance. The process effectively engages the entire organization, promotes the kind of behaviors and activities that encourage continuous improvement and is not viewed as an entitlement.	0 1 2 3 4 5
17. Problem-Solving Capability Employees at all levels are effective problem-solvers and are able to utilize Root Causes Analysis and Corrective Action to solve many operational challenges. Such efforts support the continuous improvement process and have become a roujtine part of everyone's job function.	0 1 2 3 4 5
18. Cross-training & Multi-skilling Multi-skilling in each area provides the needed flexibility to operate efficiently and improve productivity, quality, cost and delivery.optimize operating performance. Training of all personnel, including the plant leadership team, is a key priority.	0 1 2 3 4 5
19. Supplier Partnerships The organization has collaborative, rather than adversarial, relationships key certified suppliers to continuously improve material cost, quality & delivery, benefitting all parties. The emphasis is no longer on unit pricing, but total procurement cost, which includes pricing, logiostics, quality and carrying costs.	0 1 2 3 4 5
20. World-Class Performance Measures A world-class operation must have the right performance measures in place - those that reflect customer needs rather than internal accounting standards. Performance metrics measure performance against world-class standards, are generated and controlled by shop floor personnel and are successful in rallying the entire organization toward higher performace levels.	0 1 2 3 4 5
TOTAL (out of 100)	____

 

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Thanks for your time! When finished, please click Submit, then Continue. Within a few days, we will provide a Scorecard Analysis comparing your results against others in your industry.