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The results of the survey made after the implementation of Programme for Small and Medium - sized Enterprises to improve quality, productivity, competitiveness in four industrial sectors of four regions in Colombia:

Barrancabermeja, Bogotá, Eje-Cafetero, Ibague.

Question 1: Do you consider the PHAROS software as effective and useful tool for the measurement of the performance of your company?

Answers:

Question 2: What are main improvements in your company and what changes you observe thanks to the use of the Pharos tool if compare your status before and after participation in the Programme?

Answers (translation from Spanish):

REGIÓN: BARRANCABERMEJA, INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: METAL PROCESSING

• The state of the company can be seen in immediately, which when necessary to analyze the information provides for the necessary actions, finding the real cases of high costs that paid by the company to have fixed personnel, changing the modality to benefit from  services and minimize fixed payroll.

• The comparative one can be seen in the day to day, if it stays updated by information, observing the business in a very simple and practical form, seeing the behavior and  rotation of clients, frequency of purchase within a period, new clients, etc.

• Rapidity obtaining the information to calculate the requests for quotations.

• The PHAROS software allowed us to control the expenses of the organization, by using the module of costs and we can compare real expenditures with what we had really budgeted, allowing us to take immediate actions

• Pharos has helped us in the decision making: formerly we made budgets and only compared in what percentage we had fulfilled. Now we should be more precise and the results of PHAROS help ourselves to improve the forming of budget.

• Software by itself is a great aid, but when preparing the enterprise databases it allows for better understanding of the existing data and its variations in time.

• The organization has learned to being more competitive, to improve the sales, is reconstructing its operational costs.

• Budgetary comparisons are made now monthly.

• The company was reconstructed to make it business more viable

• Handling of the budget

• Analysis of the behavior of the costs

• It allows to know the results in the processes

• It allows to make decisions

• Permanent control of company inputs and outputs, like income, debits, purchases, products, materials

• Analysis behavior of sales and costs allowing of knowing the results

• The software have been used as a tool helping by its indicators in the implementation of quality management system ISO 9000:2000

REGIÓN: BOGOTÁ, INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: LEATHER and SHOE PRODUCTION

• Quality in the production

• Service to the clients

• To extend vision of the company

• The company is better prepared to the business task competition

• Use as a tool and development of the benchmarking culture for evaluation of enterprise competitiveness

• Providing useful information for consulting of management to direct the company business

• More control of the weak points like Quality, Production and Sales

• More certainty that things planned are fulfilled

• Planning and elaboration of budgets

• There are no fundamental changes in the company because we are learning how to use the program, and have not implemented it like work tool

REGIÓN: EJE CAFETERO, INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: ELECTRONICS

• In the aspects of Sales and the capacity of Production. It shows us the urgent problem of keeping enterprise costs as well.

• It has allowed to improve the quality of the manager information. The processes have been diminished. The performance by worker has been increased

• Detailing in data supplies for the program.

• Redefining and improvement of the managerial techniques used previously  

• Obtaining improvements of the enterprise quality and its overall efficiency

• Global vision of enterprise operations

• Aid in the analysis and decision making

• The software controls, updates and presents main business indicators to management

• It allows determining both contribution of products and clients to enterprise budget

• It support rapid decision making and corrective actions

REGIÓN: IBAGUÉ, INDUSTRIAL SECTOR: TEXTILE

• Change of general mentality, more focused to the planning (estimation, evaluation)

• Analyses of company based on actual numbers

• Until Pharos installation the information was handled and registered in a very informal way, which caused impossibility to obtain historic data, compare and analyze

• The data base is being created to compare current and future numbers

• Handling of production costs

• Evaluation of the production process

• The diagnosis aims at the present time at the improvement of the Quality. In addition it is that the suspended salary the consultant's office causes that the joint is practically a beginning

Source: ORGANIZACIÓN DE LAS NACIONES UNIDAS PARA EL DESARROLLO INDUSTRIAL, COMPONENTE CALIDAD, COMPETITIVIDAD Y DESEMPEÑO DE LAS INDUSTRIAS COLOMBIANAS, ENCUESTA DE SATISFACCIÓN DEL CLIENTE – EVALUACIÓN DEL SOFTWARE PHAROS Periodo: Julio 2002 – Marzo 2003

Letter of entrepreneurs in Eje-Cafetero province to Colombian Ministry of Industry here >>> 

Letter of Chamber of Commerce of Barrancabermeja to  Colombian Ministry of Industry here >>> 

Excerpts from interview with Mrs. Claudia Roa Guzman, MANTENIMIENTO Y MONTAJES ELECTRICOS DE COLOMBIA, participating in the project for continuous improvement in Barrancabermeja  >>>

Mr. Cesar Augusto Herrera, General Manager of Integrando Limitada, Colombia answers to questionaire about UNIDO Upgrading Programme results and Pharos software application experience one year later>>>

Would similar upgrading programmes of interest in your region? Welcome to give us your feedback >>