Within its Perfect Plant initiative SAP has created a definition of a perfectly running factory. I think that’s a great vision for all people involved in operational excellence projects:

A perfect plant is 100 percent on stream at full capacity producing consistently high quality product with no health, safety, or environmental incidents with optimal use of resources.

A perfect plant is a plant where everyone can handle change, where everyone is aware of the processes of the plant, aware of their role in them, and aware how their actions affect other people.

In a perfect plant, the lights are turned on, the right information is in the right place at the right  time to increase the velocity and impact of decisions. Information flows so people can make the best decisions based on information not instinct.

Taken from the book “In Pursuit of the Perfect Plant“.