KPIs for Operational Performance Assessment in Flexible Packaging Industry

Abstract

The flexible packaging industry has registered a significant growth over the last years, especially due to rising demand from healthcare, automotive, construction, food, beverage, and retail industries. It is essential for the production plants to regularly assess their ability to achieve performance target objectives and, at the same time, to compare their performance with that of factories from the same industry. By combining qualitative and quantitative research, this study proposes a set of thirty-two key performance indicators (KPIs), grouped into six activity areas, believed to be adequate to the flexible packaging industry, for assessing the operational performance. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was employed to obtain the weights of the KPIs and to select the best manufacturing facility from a leading flexible packaging company in line with the opinions of experts that activate in this field. The results indicated that the main aspects considered by experts for assessing manufacturing plants operational performance were financial issues followed by production, customers contentment, quality, employee satisfaction and environmental protection. The proposed practical framework for assessing the operational performance along with the detailed information obtained in the paper are expected to represent important benchmarks for stakeholders involved in the decision-making process for flexible packaging industry.