Prepared by the researcher : Dr. Farhan Mohammed Abuthebahak , Mahammed Gwad Mussa Kadhum Department of Economics, Faculty of Administration and Economics, University of Kufa, Iraq.
Democratic Arab Center
Journal of Afro-Asian Studies : Sixteenth Issue – February 2023
A Periodical International Journal published by the “Democratic Arab Center” Germany – Berlin.
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Abstract
The process of evaluating the efficiency of performance is an important role in the success and knowledge of the effectiveness of companies related to the development and development of the industrial sector, the industrial sector in Iraq is of exceptional importance, because it is the most weighty in the national economy, and within the industrial sector stands out the bottled drinking water industry, as this industry is one of the most dynamic sectors of the food and beverage industry, because of its close link to the human being and his health, it needs technology and special care from the rest of the other food industry because it affects the human being mainly, and has The research reached several conclusions, the most important of which is that the field study of the laboratory has achieved the hypothesis of research in the importance of proper and accurate selection of economic evaluation indicators in order to give a clear and real picture of the Threshold Spring Laboratory, through which deviations were identified and how to address them in order to push the work forward and develop it effectively and distinctly, and in light of the conclusions, the research reached a number of recommendations, including the application of economic performance standards periodically in the Ataba Spring Laboratory to find out the deviations when and increase the performance of economic variables in it.
Introduction
The process of evaluating performance efficiency is the last stage of the task in any company or project, which begins with setting goals, as it in turn represents a response to the company’s mission and activation of activities that depend on the available resources in the context of the company’s interaction with its external surroundings, through its pursuit of obtaining the maximum possible energy for the purpose of achieving its balance and developing this balance towards growth, which makes success an important result that provides the company with more opportunities and a wider field, so it is considered the field of study to evaluate performance efficiency One of the important areas, as it includes evaluating the efficiency of the economic performance of projects, factories and companies, whether productive or industrial, and this importance lies in knowing the extent to which productive companies succeed in achieving their goals or failures, hence the economic importance of food industry laboratories as one of the important industries that have a close link to man and his health, including the Ataba spring factory in Najaf, one of the company’s formations, Fayd Al-Qassim, which is affiliated with the Holy Upper Shrine, which is characterized by the quality and importance of its products, On this basis, the subject of the study was chosen under the title (Performance Efficiency Evaluation of the Ataba Spring Water Project in Najaf), and the research aims to identify the level of performance efficiency of the laboratory for the period (2016-2021) through the use of performance efficiency evaluation process criteria.
Methodology
1-Problem
The economic evaluation seeks to know the extent to which the company can keep pace with market requirements and its ability to minimize costs and give a wider ability to compete with similar products, as the research problem stems from the fact that drinking water filling plants in general and the Ataba spring plant in particular, although it is a key axis in the food industry, but it was not of a high contribution to economic development as it is not commensurate with the available capabilities, as this plant suffers from several problems and challenges Which requires an assessment of the efficiency of economic performance to improve the level of exploitation of financial and human resources to achieve the economic goals set by the laboratory, as doing this study shows us the strengths and weaknesses and the extent of the contradiction between the planned goals and the capabilities available to the laboratory based on what the decision-makers do, so the research problem is the following question:
“What is the level of achievement of the objectives set for the Ataba spring plant in light of the influence of market volume factors, sales volume, costs, the intensity of competition by other factories that produce the same product, production efficiency and efficiency of production elements”
2-Importance
The importance of the research comes from the nature of the commodity produced by the Ataba Spring Factory, as food products are strategic and necessary commodities that are not subject to continuous change in their quality and specifications because of their association with human life, whether from the economic or humanitarian side, as well as the process of evaluating the economic performance of an economic project represented in the Ataba Laboratory, which in turn contributes to activating the economic reality of the city of Najaf in particular and the country in general, and through the performance evaluation process, the efficiency of resource allocation is ensured. available to the laboratory and its optimal use, as well as knowing the percentage of deviations and ways to address them from the economic level, so the importance of research comes from highlighting the evaluation of the economic performance of the company’s Ataba spring laboratory, Fayd Al-Qassim, for the study period 2016-2021, depending on the most important economic criteria and indicators, and the extent to which the required goals are achieved.
3-Objectives
Based on the nature of the research problem and its importance, the research sought in general to highlight the importance of conducting the performance evaluation process for the Ataba Spring Laboratory by using the criteria for evaluating economic and financial performance, as this general objective arises several objectives that the research seeks to achieve, which are as follows:
A – Identify the importance of the Ataba spring factory and its role in Najaf Governorate.
B – Identify the performance of the laboratory and the factors that control through the use of criteria for evaluating the efficiency of economic performance and indicators, to identify the nature of the company’s work and evaluate its performance through the results obtained.
Analysis of economic evaluation indicators and criteria, diagnosis of deviations in some indicators, analysis of them and submission of proposals.
4-Hypotheses
To achieve the objectives of the research and answer the question contained in the problem, it proceeds from the premise that:
“The possibility of expanding and developing the economic performance of the Ataba Spring plant through the economic resources available to it, which can be exploited to cover part of the local demand in the province of Najaf, especially in light of the current economic conditions in the country, and the performance of the plant varies in the exploitation of the mentioned economic resources and then inferred from the application of economic evaluation criteria from them.”
The concept and conditions of criteria for evaluating economic performance
The standard is a means that can be used in order to make a decision or objective judgment in a specific case, and usually the rule on which the standard is built varies, including economic, legal, political or social, and the standard takes multiple forms, it may be a phrase or a standard sentence or a mathematical rule or ratios and equations that are fed with information taken from the real reality of the company or project and often rely on mathematical ratios as they are more accurate in showing the reality The company, in many cases, uses accounting records, economic documents and engineering manuals, as the information they contain helps evaluators in calculating the standards used in preparing performance evaluation accounts reports.
The Iraqi National Audit Office also referred to the concept of the standard as a basis or model developed for the purpose of measuring and comparing a specific performance, while the General Assembly of Supreme Audit Institutions defined the standard as a means, method or procedure through which the development of the company is examined according to information and data.
There are a number of characteristics and conditions that must be met in the performance evaluation standards, including: (Ayoub et al., 2011)
Be easy and simple in the measurement process.
To be able to provide information that helps to reach the desired purpose and quickly.
It should be undistorted and shaded. (National Audit Office, 1988)
It can be expressed in specific concepts, preferably in digital form.
Therefore, performance evaluation standards and indicators are primarily a means of effective and effective control, which in turn is a good means of planning, as it leads to the provision of the necessary information and data on The feasibility and effectiveness of any of the developed plans to be adopted in order to make the necessary and appropriate amendments to it and improve the level of performance.
About the Ataba Spring Factory of Fayd Al Qassim Company
The Ataba Spring Factory is one of the branches of Fayd Al-Qassim Company, which we will mention briefly before starting to explain an overview of the Ataba Spring Factory, as the company was established Fayd Al-Qassim in Iraq in accordance with the Public Companies Law No. (22) of 1997 and Article (8) of the Ministry of Industry and Minerals Law No. (38) of 2011 The company is a self-financed economic production unit owned by the Holy Upper Shrine and is based in Najaf Al-Hanana – opposite the Najaf Chamber of Commerce, the company aims to contribute In supporting the national economy through general trade, real estate investments, tourism investments, animal and plant production, in addition to developing plans for production and export according to the need of the competitive market, as well as working according to the principle of economic calculation and the efficiency of investing money to raise the level of the national economy, as well as working to diversify production even with entry with investment companies
Therefore, the Ataba spring factory is one of the branches of Fayd Al-Qassim Company, where work began to establish the factory in 2011 and commercial operation began work and actual production began in January 2014, and the factory is located on Karbala Road called Ya Hussein Road (pbuh) opposite the column No. (96), and that the plant produces water filled with plastic cups (mug) of size (200) mm and packed with carton boxes (cartons), and all the equipment and machinery of this plant are of Italian origin where The factory was designed according to the standards, conditions and specifications of the Italian manufacturer of it, the production capacity of the production lines is (1,750,000) cartons annually for carton boxes and (105,000,000) mugs per year for plastic cups, where one carton for bottled water includes (60) mugs, and the area of the factory is (10) dunums, equivalent to (5000) square meters, where it was distributed to (4000) square meters for gable (1000) square meters for service accessory parts. (Financial statements upon a field visit to Fayd Al-Qassim Company in Najaf) Therefore, the Ataba spring factory for the production of mineral water is one of the important economic projects of the company, Fayd Al-Qassim and the Holy Upper Shrine, as it works to provide pure, healthy drinking water that meets the needs of the consumer, as the project was distinguished by the quality of production according to the latest devices and methods used globally, and the project comes within the plan of the Holy Upper Shrine aimed at supporting local production and reducing the process of importing from abroad, so we will in the next chapter evaluate the efficiency of the economic performance of the plant.
Results of the application of performance efficiency evaluation standards for the company’s Ataba Spring Factory Fayd Al-Qassim / Najaf for the period (2021-2016)
1-Standard production capacity
The concept of exploiting production capacity in companies and production projects is one of the topics that have received distinguished attention in all developed or developing countries and various economic systems, because it represents an effective tool in the creation of wealth through the optimal use of economic resources for these energies, and a comparison will be made between the types of production capacities of the factory’s products by studying the quantities of production and the extent to which the plant exploits the production capacities mentioned previously through several indicators that we will explain in the table below:
Table (1) Design, Plan and Available Power of Ataba Spring Plant for the Period (2016-2021)
Source: Prepared by the researcher based on the financial statements of the Ataba Spring Factory in Najaf.
Through the results of the above table, the design capacity of the factory appeared by (777,600) cartons for the period from 2016 to 2017 with a utilization rate ranging between (40%-50%), and a design capacity was added to the project of a new production machine in the factory in the amount of (1,512,000) cartons in 2018 so that the total design capacity is (2,289,600) cartons for the period from 2018 to 2021, and this is reflected in the percentage of use, as it appeared in 2018 by (18%), while it ranged between (50%-75%) during the period from 2019-2021, (Al-Jawari, 2018) When the results of the production capacity available to the factory appeared at the Ataba Spring, they appeared by (518,400) cartons in 2016 with a utilization rate of (64%) and (1984320) cartons in 2021 with a utilization rate of (84%), and reached its lowest level (518,400) cartons during the period from (2016-2017) with a utilization rate ranging between (60%-75%), and increased during the period (2018-2021) by (1465920) cartons until it reached its highest level (1984320) cartons in 2020. With a utilization rate of (20% – 85%), and the amount of production capacity planned for the plant ranged between (648,000) cartons in 2016 and (1653,600) cartons in 2021, with a benefit rate of (51%-101%), as it was characterized by a disparity between high and low during the study period, while the remaining years were distributed to (648,000) cartons in 2017, (992,160) cartons in 2018, and (1322880) cartons for the period from (2019-2020), when the utilization rates appeared by (60%, 42%, 94%, 97%) for the period from (2017-2020) and respectively.
We note from the results of the above table that there is a good utilization rate of the design energy available for each of the years (2018, 2017, 2019, 2020 and 2021), while there was excess capacity that was not used to increase Production for the period (2018), which in turn was directly reflected in the increase in additional costs that were not offset by the sale of products
2- Total productivity
It means the productivity of all production factors combined, in the sense that it is the relationship between the outputs of the plant represented by the value of production and the production inputs represented by the total costs, and this indicator aims to determine the level of efficiency of converting different inputs into outputs, and this criterion measures the total productivity of the plant and shows the quantity or value of production resulting from the use of one unit of production elements or one monetary unit of the value of production elements, and to measure the total productivity of the Ataba spring plant, we will use the following equation:
Total productivity = inputs / outputs or total productivity = production value / factor value
The increase in this percentage indicates that there is a growth in the value of production outputs and a higher rate of output growth, and the total productivity index can be shown according to the table below:
Table (2) Total Productivity of Ataba Spring Plant for the Period (2016-2021)
Source: Prepared by the researcher based on the financial statements of the Ataba Spring Factory in Najaf.
From the results of the above table, it is clear that there is an increase in the value of outputs for the years 2016 and 2017, and this is a good indicator, as the total productivity rate for the year 2016 was (11%) and the year (2017) by (12%), as the value of inputs ranged between (5,438,180,850 – 5,476,298,247) dinars, while the value of outputs appeared at a value of (636,615,500 – 695,387,700) dinars. In 2018 of the study period, there was a clear decrease in the percentage of outputs, as the year 2018 achieved the lowest percentage of outputs compared to inputs, and it was equal to 2016, and this is due to the entry of new machines to the plant and the purchase of raw materials.
the high production costs and the loading of each piece with sunken costs, so the economic unit should reduce Costs to be able to avoid risks and losses and achieve continuity in production, as for the total productivity of the plant during the period (2019-2020), it was characterized by stability, as it reached (26%) and the value of outputs for the two years ranged successively at a value of (6,256,541,422-6,226,460,047), and then increased to reach (34%) in 2021 with a value of (6,794,867,053), so the value of this criterion began to rise during the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, as the reasons for the increase in the productivity standard of the plant during the study period are due to two reasons:
the first is the increase in the value of production factors As a result of the high cost of production, especially the value of wages And salaries and the value of productive inputs of goods and services, and the second increase in the value of production due to the high value of sales and high selling prices.
3-Capital productivity
The relationship between the quantity or value of production is expressed by the capital used in the production process, as this measure is used to indicate the efficiency of the capital invested in the production process, and the productivity of capital is calculated according to the following equation:
Productivity of invested capital = value of production / value of assets
Capital productivity can be measured according to the following table:
Table (3) Capital Productivity of Ataba Spring Plant for the Period (2016-2021)
Source: Prepared by the researcher based on the financial statements of the Ataba Spring Factory in Najaf.
It is noted in the above table that capital productivity was characterized by low and fluctuation, as the average capital productivity for the research period from (2016-2021) appeared by (0.120, 0.131, 0.126, 0.316, 0.315, 0.439) dinars respectively, and it is noted that the highest capital productivity in the month (11) of the year 2016 has formed a value of (0.045) dinars, while the lowest productivity in the month (1) was (0.002) dinars, and in 2017 the highest result of capital productivity appeared by (0.040) in the month (10), While the lowest result of that productivity was in the month of (12) by (0.002) of the previous year, as for the year 2018, the results found that the highest amount of capital productivity reached (0.036) in the month (10), while the lowest productivity was by (0.003) in the month (12). of capital in the month of (8) of the year 2020 by (0.068) dinars, and the lowest productivity of capital was in the month of (12) dinars by (0.011), and in the last year of the research period amounted to
The highest capital productivity in month (9) by (0.097) JD, and the lowest capital productivity was in month (2) JD by ) 0,0019)
From the analysis of the results of capital productivity above, it is clear that the reason for the decline in capital productivity is attributed to several reasons, including:
The high volume of capital used in bottling water industries and the decrease in the amount of production, due to the conditions that the country is going through.
Low level of sales and revenues compared to the costs made by the plant
The local and foreign competition of food commodities that are characterized by high quality, low costs and appropriate prices that contribute to creating their own market and maintaining their consumers and gaining their confidence, and therefore the factory suffers from weak local demand for its products.
4-Financial profit criterion
The profit criterion is extracted by excluding the total costs from the total revenues, by applying the following equation:
Financial Profit = Total Revenue – Total Costs
The results of measuring the financial profit criterion can be shown through the following table:
Table (4) Financial Profit Standard for Ataba Spring Plant for the Period (2016-2021)
Source: Prepared by the researcher based on the financial statements of the Ataba Spring Factory in Najaf.
From the results of the above table, we see that the profit and loss may be distributed between the months and years of study, but the total result for each year was as follows:
- During the study period of (2016-2017), it is noted that the results obtained indicate that the laboratory achieved high profits, as the financial profit appeared in 2016 by (26,982,882) dinars, while in 2017 by (32,570,201) dinars.
- When the year 2018 achieved a loss of (-46,059,913) dinars, due to the purchase of production machines, and an increase in total costs.
- The results showed that the highest financial profit was in the year 2021 by (155,029,495) dinars, when the profit results for the remaining research period were (87,831,567) dinars and (108,545,664) dinars for the years (2019 and 2020) respectively. We note that the coverage of revenues for expenses in the laboratory during the study period is due to the increase in sales, which represent the largest part of the factory’s revenues as a result of the trademark carried by the laboratory and associated with the sacred religious edifice to which the laboratory belongs.
Conclusions
After studying the results obtained from the analysis of the data of the Ataba Spring laboratory in the previous chapters and for the period from (2016-2021), the researcher reached a number of conclusions, including
- The percentage of utilization of the design and available capacity during the research period (2016-2021) was good, while there was excess capacity that was not used to increase production for the period (2018), and this in turn was directly reflected in the increase in additional costs that were not matched by the sale of products.
- Each of the economic indicators of the factory from the value of production witnessed a clear development during the study period, which requires the need to follow-up, support and continue with this matter, as the value of production increased from (621,285,500) dinars in 2016 to (2,283,405,850) dinars in 2021, as the reasons for the increase in the productivity standard of the plant during the study period are due to two reasons, the first is the increase in the value of production factors as a result of the increase in the cost of production, especially the value of wages and salaries and the value of commodity and service production requirements, and the second is the increase in the value of production due to the high value of Sales and high selling prices.
- The gradual increase in the value of production in the plant during the study period and the decrease in the total costs in kind led to achieving good financial profits for the plant, as the highest financial profit in the year 2021 reached (155,029,495) dinars, and the plant was able to achieve an added value of a good level, as it reached the highest value in the year 2021 by (404,171,637) dinars.
- As for the criteria for evaluating the performance efficiency of the laboratory during the period (2016-2021) for each of (financial profit, rate of return on invested capital), it was found that there is a qualitative economic efficiency.
Recommendations
- The need to emphasize that the laboratory develops plans to keep pace with the development in the field of industry through cooperation and coordination with expertise in Iraqi universities.
- The need to conduct a process of evaluating the efficiency of performance to work periodically and continuously to ensure the achievement of the goals planned and drawn by the laboratory management.
- The need to emphasize attention to the technical and technological aspect by introducing more modern technologies in the industrial processes of the various productive sections of the laboratory, as access to the process of evaluating the efficiency of performance accurately requires the availability of detailed and accurate figures and data.
- Raising the level of marketing performance by providing shopping centers for the factory’s products in Najaf and other governorates, providing facilities for customers and working at competitive prices.
References
- Al-Nuaimi, Rawaa Tariq Rashad, 2010, “Evaluation of the efficiency of the economic performance of the State Company for the Manufacture of Vegetable Oil in Iraq for the period (2003-2007)”, Master’s Thesis, College of Administration and Economics, University of Baghdad, Baghdad, p 41
- Al-Tamimi, Farouk Hani Jassim, 2021, Evaluating the efficiency of the economic performance of the State Company for Rubber Industries and Tires – Babylon Tire Factory, published master’s thesis submitted to the College of Administration and Economics, University of Kufa, Iraq, pp. 26-42.
- Al-Jawari, Munadil Abbas, Doaa Imad Kazim, 2018, Performance Evaluation of Al-Kafeel Mineral Water Production Factory, Journal of Management and Economics, Volume 7, Issue 27, p. 165.
- Al-Baaj, Taher Jaseb Haki, 2021, Evaluation of the Efficiency of the Economic Performance of the Basra Cement Plant, Published Master’s Thesis, College of Administration and Economics, University of Basra, Iraq, pp. 11-13.
- Ayoub, Ban Hani, Jamal Al-Din, Shatha Assem, Eidan, Feryal Mashserv, 2011, “Evaluating Performance Efficiency Using Some Productivity Indicators”, research published in Al-Ustad Journal for Humanities and Social Sciences, Issue 140, pp. 169-192.
- National Audit Office, Unified Accounting System, (Baghdad, NAO headquarters, 1988).
- Financial statements during a field visit to Fayd Al-Qassim Company in Najaf
- Location (https://www.faydalqassim.com).
