Comparative operational performance of UK and German manufacturing plants. (29th October 2004)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: New, Colin; Goffin, Keith; Szwejczewski, Marek; Pfeiffer, Rolf
• Is Part Of: International journal of business performance management. Volume 1:Number 1(1999)
• Page Start: 65
• Page End: 78
• Publication Date: 2004-10-29
• Subjects: engineering and electronics industries -- operational performance measures -- German manufacturing performance -- UK manufacturing performance -- delivery performance -- inventory performance -- Germany; Industrial management -- Periodicals; 658.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1368-4892

Abstract

A comparison of UK and German manufacturing plant performance for the Engineering and Electronics industries is presented, based on data collected as part of the Best Factory Award process in each country. In the Engineering sector, significant differences in performance were found in four areas: component procurement and customer lead times in the German plants were double those found in the UK plants, while employee turnover and scrap rates in the UK plants were double those of the German plants. In Electronics, the German plants outperformed the UK plants on six factors: procurement and customer lead times, employee service and staff turnover, on-the-job training for new employees and first time pass rate. The UK electronics plants outperformed the German plants on stockturn, employee absenteeism and on-the-job training for existing employees.