The Consortium for Advanced Manufacturing International (CAM-I) and the American Productivity and Quality Center (APQC) collaborated in the survey of 166 manufacturing and service firms to assess the implementation of ABC/M in these firms. Sixty-eight percent of the respondents were in manufacturing and 25 percent in service companies. The results showed that the majority of senior managers reported "very successful" implementations of the ABC/M system, while department managers were somewhat evenly split between "very successful" and "moderately successful." Line personnel tended to vote "moderately successful." So, the higher the level in the organization, the more perceived benefit of the ABC/M system. Interviews with selected respondents and further data analysis showed that the three most common characteristics of successful systems were (1) a high level of top management support and commitment, (2) technical competence of the implementation team, and (3) effective change management, that is, companies driven by competitive pressures to strive to better understand their internal capabilities and external competition. Some of the responding companies made strategic changes, including changes in the supply chain and changes in target customers. These results are similar to those reported in prior studies of ABC/M implementation.

Required

In addition to the three characteristics of successful ABC/M implementation noted above, list three or four other tools for ABC/M implementation.