This report presents the preliminary findings of a research study to determ
ine the factors which enable a manufacturing plant to simultaneously achiev
e high labour productivity, fast, reliable delivery and high quality consis
tency. the conclusion are based on analysis of a database containing detail
s of 953 manufacturing plants in the UK. Based on the performance measures
mentioned above, a composite performance measure was calculated for each pl
ant in the database. The plants were than divided into groups of high perfo
rmers, medium performers and low performers. Using statistical analysis, th
ose differences between the high and low-performing plants that were signif
icant were identified. The main factors differentiating high-performing pla
nts from the rest were those associated with low process variability, high
schedule stability and more reliable deliveries by suppliers.