Suppose accurate performance measures could be developed that truly matched the plant's manufacturing action plan. Suppose a system were put in place such that these measurements were generated and reported to manufacturing personnel on the same basis as traditional variance reports, let's say at the end of every other week. By the time the manufacturing people knew what their performance was, the product they were making at the time the measure was taken would probably already be at their customer's site. There is not much that they will be able to do with the performance information to improve the product or the operation. Also, even if the performance measures indicate that the manufacturing operation had done a good job, they probably will not even remember what they were doing back when the measures were taken that caused them to do well, and they will have great difficulty replicating their success. Performance measures have to be much more timely than traditional variance reports to be truly effective and ultimately useful.

"To be most useful the frequency of reported information should follow the cycle of the production process being measured." ^[24] The manufacturing performance measures must be presented to plant personnel in a time frame that will allow them to respond to the information effectively. They must be real time: "Performance data should be cost-effective, available and timely. They should be reported in a timely basis and in a format that aides decision making." ^[25]