Manufacturing companies need to constantly determine which areas need improvement in order to remain competitive on the market. Hence, organizations often benchmark their performance against other organizations’ performance and determine performance gaps. Moreover, there are top performance companies that have not only improved their competitiveness due to benchmarking studies, but have also gained a top place and became a benchmark for the entire industry they belong to.
Alcoa is the world’s leading producer of primary and fabricated aluminum and also the largest miner of bauxite and refiner of alumina. In 125 years of activity, Alcoa has contributed to setting milestones in aerospace, automotive, construction, commercial transportation, consumer electronics, packaging and industrial markets. With more than 60.000 employees around the world, the company is in debt with setting quality standards for their activity, but also with caring for the safety and satisfaction of each and every employee.
Businesses, from the production sector have more data than ever before, stored in more than one system and places, are used in different ways. Progress in information technology has fueled this explosive increase opportunity both in creating fresh ways for producers in order to reach new markets and clients and complexity in an effort to collect, manage and interpret data and information which can help guide them through success.
According to the Australian Industry Group (Ai Group) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the manufacturing industry in Australia is on a contraction trend, with the Australian Performance Manufacturing Index (PMI) below 50 points in April 2011 (which is the level separating expansion from contraction).
The traditional level at which performance management concepts are used in organisations is the individual level. Individual performance management is the organisational level with the longest history, as it mirrors the evolution of organizational complexity . A recent Aberdeen Group Report, released in September 2010, provides more insight into the characteristics of the employee performance management practices in manufacturing organizations.
