A New Techno-Economic Real-Time Total Process Performance Indicator

Process performance measurement is a significant and crucial activity carried out by organizations aiming at controlling their processes. Most of the traditional performance indicators do not include important factors such as the effects of the external constraints on the process and do not emphasize the economic aspects influencing an organization. An organization’s performance evaluation should measure both its efficiency and effectiveness, and not one or the other. The newly developed Total Process Performance (TPP) indicator is an integrated indicator that takes into account the process efficiency and effectiveness. This study modifies and integrates the efficiency and effectiveness of original formulae to create -for the first time- a customized new formula that includes important techno-economic factors representing a holistic overview of the process/organization performance. The study developed two indicators, a High (H) frequency indicator (early alarm), TPP|H which is calculated on hourly bases and intended for use by the floor managers, and a Low (L) frequency indicator, TPP|L that can be calculated for a longer period and intended to be used by top management. TPP|H reflects the shop floor’s real-time performance based on internal factors, while TPP|L reflects the company performance based on internal and external factors. The differences between the newly developed indicators and the traditional indicators are illustrated. A real-time performance monitoring system is also developed. A case study for applying the new indicators in an iron-making plant is introduced.

Keywords:

Process performance measurement , effectiveness , Efficiency , real-time indicators