Abstract
Describes research to identify and pilot an improved planning and fulfilment process at Noramco, a manufacturing division of General Pump. The focus was to develop a synchronized system from source to consumption with continuous flow of information and materials for one of Noramcos main product lines. Systemwide changes were accomplished using a crossfunctional team with the goal of reducing waste and investment in inventory. Traditional measures of manufacturing efficiency and utilization were compared with proposed measurements of throughput T, investment in inventory I, and operating expense OE. Although traditional measures showed actual decline, proposed measures showed improvement and increased profitability of 200 per cent for this product line. These new performance measures reflected a change from local to global thinking. Improved capacity management in the system was achieved by sharing information between suppliers and customers.