Manufacturing Performance Criteria: An AHP Application in a Textile Company

Global competition and technological changes are forcing firms to redefine their strategies, operations, processes, and procedures to survive. Globalization has expanded the market and opportunities, but at the same time it has increased competition, its threats and risks. Manufacturing organizations must understand and measure the different dimensions of their performance to stay competitive in this global environment. In order to achieve their goals manufacturing firms need to identify and implement performance criteria that are appropriate, valid, reliable, and measurable. In this study, we firstly aim to determine manufacturing performance criteria for a Turkish textile company, and then we present the situation of Turkish textile industry in regard to these criteria and make suggestions for the sectors' improvement. In this context, a typical small and medium size enterprise is chosen and the identified criteria are evaluated in this organization by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The performance criteria are cost, quality, flexibility and speed, which are critical factors for success. The findings seem to be consistent in general and provide insight for improvement in the Turkish textile companies.