Do you feel that you have a clear picture of production and efficiency that shows the trends quickly and clearly?

• Do you have a clear picture of manufacturing efficiency?
• Would you like to improve production performance?
• Do you think you are getting the best possible quality?
• Do you aim for "total quality management"?
• Is your production being planned properly?
• Are you using the appropriate technology?
• Are new products introduced efficiently?
• Are you getting the best out of your people?
• Are you looking for ways to improve the management of manufacturing in your business?

If the answer is NO then you must know where you are headed and for that nothing can assist you more than this self assessment and rating tool.

To control expenditure and improve efficiency in Production, it is essential for a company to
Measure its activities regularly. This measurement allows progress [or the opposite] to be monitored and compared with the company's budget targets and with general benchmarks. The measures are also the basis for sound Planning and Product Costing systems, and should be the spotlight for Directors and Managers those areas of the business that most urgently require their attention.

Within each section, you will see the fundamental questions that a business should be asking itself about its manufacturing performance and the most important measures of performance. If your company does not have the measures, it should look to introduce them. The measures that are missing, together with the responses to the questions, will indicate where action is required. Management should list these topics in what they consider to be the correct order of priority and chronology for action [N.B. some issues have to be corrected before others can be dealt with].

On consideration of the necessary action and its planned timing, this list then becomes the Action Plan and Time-table, taking care not to commit to more change than the company can bear, or its Managers can handle. They should return to the questionnaire often [say every year] so that it remains relevant to changing circumstances. They should recognise the improvements that they have made, and then up-date the Action Plan.