"The
Many Roads to Increased Manufacturing Productivity" is discussed
in an article recently submitted for publication to the South Florida
Manufacturers Association by Dave Dickler. Dickler is a member of the
SFMA Board of Directors and CFO of Lighting Components and Design, Inc.,
a Deerfield Beach manufacturer of Custom Designed Lighting Assemblies,
Components and Harnesses.
The roads
to increased Manufacturing Productivity are:
- Use
Magic - The magic of getting rid of "dead wood" –
employees who actually hold the business back from further progress.
- Reexamine
basic processes, especially those that can be described with the
words "We’ve always done it that way.’ and "Blitzing"
problem areas with cross functional teams – including "non-experts"
who ask the "dumb questions" that force us to examine
our basic assumptions.
- "Putting
your brains where your bucks are." Focus your senior management
team not just on "problem areas" but on those areas which
have the greatest potential for high value costs savings and productivity
improvements.
"People
think increasing productivity means firing people… headcount cutbacks
and the like. In fact, probably the worst thing in the world a company
could do is the classical "straight across the board" reduction
in staffing.
"First
of all, not all areas are overstaffed. In fact, when one
company examined its organization’s staffing, they identified several
areas for specific targeted cutbacks, but even more importantly, they
found areas to be strengthened. Strengthening did not necessarily mean
"increasing headcount." It was accomplished through adding
"the right people," getting rid of and/or replacing those
who were holding the company back. In one area that resulted in a net
"flat" headcount but most areas were flat or down.
"What’s
most important is to keep the contributors, the "change makers"
and the highest producers, while getting rid of those who are sub-par,
or even worse, who actually exert a negative influence on the business
thorough their attitudes and poor examples.
"My
favorite "real" example is in the area of manufacturing assembly
labor (it is my favorite because the numbers are statistically significant,
not because I like to pick on manufacturing). Here are the numbers (rounded
and "simplified" for illustrative purposes – but they
are founded in hard reality):
In the
following example, adapted from "real life," a company cut
headcount 25%, but carefully pruned only the low performers in a readily
measurable assembly environment. They expected a 12% improvement, due
to the simple mathematics (remove all the low performers, and averages
rise). In fact they got a 20% improvement in productivity – twice
the expected improvement.
Why did
this happen? Its simple: By removing the "negative influencers"
(low producers who set a bad example for others, the productivity of
those who remained rose to its natural level. Operators said: "I
didn’t want to go too fast, because "Sally" only produced
at half my rate, and I didn’t want to make her look bad" and
""Sally" spent all her time gossiping, and it held me
back from producing as much as I do now."
You got
the message? Get rid of the "negative influencers" in your
business and both productivity and creativity will grow by leaps and
bounds.
The table
following this article provides the real data in a manufacturing environment.
The results proved a pleasant (and profitable surprise) – one that
can be duplicated anywhere – and not just in Manufacturing, but
in Customer Service, Sales, Quality Assurance, Engineering, Materials
Management, etc.
About
The South Florida Manufacturers Association (SFMA)
The
SFMA was founded in 1961 as a non-profit trade association serving the
manufacturing community and related industries.
For 40
years, the SFMA's mission has been to promote the growth and economic
well-being of South Florida's manufacturing industry by acting as a
unified force representing common interests and providing products and
services to meet members emerging needs.
The organization
provides manufacturers access to the latest in manufacturing technology,
theories, ideas and practices. It has been instrumental in the creation
and delivery of services for the estimated 5,500 manufacturing companies
in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.
For further
information contact the South Florida Manufacturers Association at http://www.sfma.org/,
or call (954) 941-3558.
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