IMM's Benchmarking Report: First quarter 1998, Data Group 1 of 3

Welcome to what we hope will become a long-running, fruitful, informative, and helpful series presenting benchmarking data for the injection molding industry. Each quarter IMM will collect, collate, and organize benchmarking data submitted by molders who've signed up to join the Benchmarking Project.

Every month, starting with this issue, you can look for IMM's Benchmarking Report in this section, which will provide a snapshot of the data collected, chart some of the historical changes, and high-light trends as they emerge.

The idea here is to give molders a way to compare themselves to other molders throughout the U.S. and Canada. How does your hourly average wage stack up? Are you at the head of the pack when it comes to producing good parts? How do your mold change times compare with others in the industry? This report not only can help you see where you fit in the whole scheme of things, but it also shows you what's needed to bring your operations up to speed. So, let's dive into the numbers we are collecting and what they represent.

Profile Data
There are two types of data presented in this report. The first is called profile data. These are numbers that, throughout the year, remain relatively static in a typical molding shop. They include things like the number of presses, the number of employees, resin consumed annually, parts produced annually, and revenue.

The table lists the baseline data collected for all the molders participating in this first report. The purpose of the profile data is to characterize for you who our molders are, what markets they serve, and how they run their businesses.

As molders join the Benchmarking Project these numbers may change, but this column each month will always provide these basic numbers to put the participants and the data in perspective and to illustrate how the profile changes over time.

Benchmarking Data
The heart of this report is the benchmarking data. The Benchmarking Project is currently tracking nine benchmarks among the participants. They are machine utilization, mold change time, scrap as produced, customer returns, schedule ship on time, customer ship on time, training per employee, accident incidence rate, and employee turnover. Each year, we'll evaluate the benchmarks being measured and make changes as our participating molders see fit.

Each month in this column, three benchmarks will be presented and discussed, noting trends, changes over time, and patterns and relationships in the data. The three benchmarks presented this month are machine utilization, mold change time, and training per employee. Accompanying each is a description of how the participants were asked to calculate their results. The pie charts provide information on this month's three benchmarks.

Join the Effort, Get More Data
If you're a molder and you like what you see here but want more detailed data, we want you to join the IMM Benchmarking Project. All you have to do is call, fax, or e-mail us, indicating your interest, and you'll be sent the forms needed to get started.

Then, every quarter, you will be asked to submit benchmarking data. In return, you'll get exclusive, detailed reports of the information we collect, including all of the individual data from other participating molders. The detailed data show the region of the country in which each molder operates, which markets each molder serves, most commonly used resins, all of the baseline data, and all nine benchmarks.

We promise we will keep the identity of each molder totally anonymous, so you don't have to worry about divulging proprietary information. Call if you have any questions or need more information. We look forward to hearing from you.