THE LEADING MACHINE SHOPS IN NORTH America - as indicated in the 2006 American Machinist Benchmarking Survey - have about half the cost of scrap and rework while they produce, on average, more than four times the number of units produced by other shops. Also, benchmark shops have been able to increase their total output far more than other shops over the past three years. What do benchmark shops do to achieve those numbers? Here are some clues: They provide their employees with more training and have leadership and supervisor development programs in place. They practice lean manufacturing, 51 percent have some form of formal continuous-improvement program and 47.1 percent practice total quality management.
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