1 Productivity issues in the future enterprise - Conclusions and recommendations from the TOPP program A. Rolstadäs Department 0/ Production and Quality Engineering, Norwegian University 0/ Science and Technology N-7034 Trondheim, NORWAY Tel: +47-73593785 Fax: +47-73597117 Arolst@protek.unit.no Abstract TOPP is a productivity research programme for the Norwegian manufacturing industry which was completed in 1996. It studies productivity at two levels: self- audit and external audit. Both use an enterprise model comprising functions, system variables, cycles, and management philosophies. The external audit in addition uses a model with indicators for economy, external relations, internal relations, and ability to change. TOPP has recognized the change from a prevailing productivity paradigm based on efficiency in resource consumption to a new performance paradigm putting the customer in focus and taking several other aspects than efficiency into account. The future enterprises will be characterized by a focus on total quality, globalisation, and a business process-oriented approach. The globalisation will lead to the "virtual enterprise". The virtual enterprise can obtain a competitive position by defining and re-engineering its business processes. TOPP has made studies in 60 enterprises and has drawn its conclusions from these and given 10 recommendations. Keywords Productivity, ModeIling, Manufacturing, Information technology, Production management. Advances in Production Management Systems N. Okino, H. Tamura & S. Fujii (Eds.) © 1998lFlP. Published by Chapman & Hall