Benchmarking in the Foundry Industry

Foundry processes form the foundation of manufacturing in today's modern economy. This book contributes to understanding what distinguishes one foundry operation from another by employing the methodology of Benchmarking. The focus is on process benchmarking to examine the operations of various foundries located globally, including their casting processes. The investigation covers the production processes of casting products and the productivity capabilities of the foundries. Comparative analyses are then derived using industry best practices. Each benchmarking type is noted to have its unique associated key performance indicator(s) (KPIs) based on the known products. The distribution of KPI elements within the benchmarking types is identified from known casting categories and criteria. Furthermore, the text defines capacity utilization.