HOW TO MEASURE AND VALUE IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVES RESULTS 211
Our initial response was the productivity movement of
the mid-1970s. This movement led to the first rebuilding of
our manufacturing structure and the first cutbacks in staff.
Two of the more prominent productivity service organiza-
tions that started in that period were the American Produc-
tivity Center (APC), later APQC, and Productivity Inc. APC
obtained seed money and sponsorship from a number of
major corporations. The center’s mission was to carry out
research and share information on productivity methods.
Productivity Inc. ran productivity improvement seminars
and conducted study trips (read benchmarking) to Japan to
learn better manufacturing methods. A number of other or-
ganizations