Performance improvement : Towards a method for finding and prioritising potential performance improvement areas in manufacturing operations

Many methodologies and techniques for improving operational performance have been developed over the years – these provide structured ways of improving company performance, but they do not explicitly tell us where to start. To be able to improve performance effectively, it is important to identify the particular factors of performance to work with. Furthermore, it is important to find those factors that have a high impact on performance. The paper presents a definition of performance, productivity and profitability and two main views of the relationships between the terms – a hierarchical view and a subset view. Each has its merits. Offers brief descriptions of some improvement techniques to show where the ideas for the suggested improvement method are taken from, i.e. a part of the analysis and synthesis process. Most of the techniques described are analysis tools, as the focus here is on identifying areas to improve – when it comes to the actual improvement, the actual solution is often quite easy. Finally, proposes a methodology for improvement work – this is to be evaluated in later research.