3. TOPP system. The Terminal Operated Production Programme (TOPP) system is a new
performance measurement system which was developed by SINTEF (1992), in Norway in
partnership with the Norwegian Institute of Technology, the Norwegian Federation of
Engineering Industries and 56 participating enterprises. It is a type of questionnaire that
determines the performance of a firm in all the areas of manufacturing. This questionnaire
consists of three parts of which; one part obtains information regarding the firm as a
whole, second part determines how the enterprise operates and finally the third part
focusing on 20 specific areas within the enterprise that may need improvement, such as
marketing, design, technological planning, product development, financial management,
personnel management, etc. The TOPP system ascertains the performance
measurement along three dimensions: