Productivity metrics for precision manufacturing?

December 12, 2025

by a searcher from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, USA

Hi all! I recently acquired a precision manufacturing company with ~30 machining centers and ~65 staff. Tons of exciting opportunity in this space (we make tooling for aerospace & defense customers.) Any recommendations for sources on productivity metrics (revenue per employee, spindle cutting vs. idle time, etc.)? Anyone seen great documents on shop floor productivity initiatives, e.g., shop still uses paper prints (which obviously needs to stop), etc.?

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Reply by a searcher
from Purdue University in Elkhart, IN, USA

Re: productivity metrics. I had an internal CNC shop with 30+ various CNC machines, we went from 20' extrusions to assembled mechanisms (electric powered systems and hydraulic assemblies), processes included machining, anodizing, assembly. There will be pages and pages of metrics you can apply to your machining centers, and a lot of it will give you the same basic ideas/analysis. On any value stream you probably need to think about 3 variables to gauge the performance. Example: on my anodizing line I watched surface area processed (this was a check on capacity utilization), loads/shift (the throughput on a given shift), and scrap (money we lost to trash). All 3 of these metrics had to work together to paint the picture of how that specific process was doing. We could tweak expectations for each, and each had a different 'multiplier' effect on what we were trying to get. If you have a lot of consistent part production: the absolutely simplest thing to watch for is how long is the machining center door open. Anything that stops the operator from placing a new piece, to get a new part. That's going to impact the largest portion of your labor, most immediately. Ask operators to list anything that makes them take longer than expected, remove that hold-up, and you've got more parts made. It would make a lot of sense to have a few outsiders look at the process and ask questions. As you build trust with the team, you'll be able to leverage their knowledge, and an outsider with experience in this space can bring a new perspective that can be informed by the tribal knowledge. I like simple metrics that anyone can understand. Flashy language generally puts people off.

Reply by a searcher
from Rice University in Marietta, GA, USA

All are good points especially for machining. I’m currently running a $6m ebitda manufacturing company for a private equity firm and implemented metrics to track the business. I started high level metrics within the first couple months of the acquisition by tracking and reviewing these every day with my employees: # of safety incidents, # of quality defects, Past Due $ amount, On time delivery %. I then got more detailed with things like takt time and inventory turnover as I built more trust and got my employees bought into the benefits to them for tracking the metrics. Also on the paper prints, I would give it some time before getting rid of them. It’s more a difficult implementation than you’d think and you’ll need your team 100% bought into you and how you run the business before you change over to electronic prints and work orders. Good luck! Message me if you have any more questions or want to run something by me. I love manufacturing and happy to talk anytime.

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