World-class manufacturers recognise that their performance depends not only on their ability to attract and retain the best and brightest people, but also on empowering their staff to reach their full potential and providing employees with the incentives to strive to attain the firm's objectives. Further, most firms, including Leaders, do not use productivity-based incentive schemes or formal training and performance review systems at most levels of the organisation. There are, however, signs of a growing commitment to develop effective employee practices. Most manufacturers assess employee satisfaction regularly and recognise the benefits of job rotation and multi-skilled employees. In order to compete in today's dynamic business environment, firms must develop processes that provide them with a comprehensive understanding of the current and future requirements of customers.
Customer feedback is also an important driver of innovation.
Results illustrate that manufacturers have accepted this concept and customer focus appears to be the most highly developed practice throughout the entire manufacturing industry - even for Lagging firms. The majority of firms measure customer satisfaction at least annually and have formal procedures for dealing with customer complaints. Operations and Quality Operations and quality practices are those used to design, operate and control the production system. Quality has become a clear pre-requisite for business in the 1990s and beyond. Best practice firms continue to define quality as a top priority but also compete on operational flexibility and timeliness.