feature
Top ShopS'
Secrets to Success
What does it take to run an effective, proftable machining business?
2013 Top Shops benchmarking data sheds light.
By Derek korn
he goal of our Top Shops benchmarking program is to identify optimal shopfloor practices as well as operational and
business metrics that define world-class
competitiveness in discrete parts manufacturing. It enables companies ranging
from mom-and-pop shops to large, captive operations to compare their performance against North America's leading
machining businesses and consider what
changes they might make to emulate those
top performers. Not only does the benchmarking data serve as a baseline "report
card" of sorts, but it eliminates the need
to rely on gut feelings as a fundamental
method of identif ying and prioritizing
improvement efforts.
This year, more than 450 shop principals
participated in our third annual Top Shops
benchmarking survey. Their companies
s e r ve a d i ve r s e r a n g e of i n d u s t r i e s
with the highest percentages supplying
aerospace, machiner y manufacturing,
automotive, medical and military custome r s. O n e -f i f th of th e bu s in e s se s a re
captive operations; the rest are job shops
T
and contract shops.
As with our previous two surveys, the
2013 edition was divided into four main
categories: machining equipment, shopfloor practices, business strategies and
human resources. This article analyzes
key findings in these areas by comparing
responses from the Top Shops benchmarking group to other shops that participated in the survey. (The benchmarking
group is a pool of shops identified as the
best per formers by totaling the points
assigned to certain business- and technology-related sur vey questions.) This
article also profiles a few companies that
were particularly effective in each survey
categor y—this year's Honors Program
winners.
We provide data for all survey questions
in our 2013 Top Shops Executive Summary,
which also can be accessed at our Top
Shops Zone. That Zone includes survey
analysis articles, videos and profiles of
this year's four Honors Program winners.
Now, let's review some of the highlights
from this year's survey.
mmsonline.com/topshops August 2013 MMS 9