A lot of productivity is lost due to how work is assigned, or in this case, when it’s not assigned. What we often see is that the manager plays the role of a work collator, someone who creates a backlog of tasks that an employee can draw from. Work is “loaded” as opposed to “assigned.”
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We spend a lot of time during our diagnostic phase doing “day-in-the-life” studies. The purpose of these studies is not to watch an individual, it’s to watch the process flow and transfer points at what we call “the point of execution.”
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Cyril Parkinson wrote a humorous essay for The Economist magazine, in part drawing from his experience working in the British Civil Service. He observed that work tends to fill the time available for its completion.
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There are a number of functions in an organization where it’s tough to move the productivity meter. You might actually produce more but the base costs don’t change so the true productivity measured from a financial perspective doesn’t change.
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To fulfill customer demand in the most efficient, cost-effective way, companies can use push- or pull-scheduling or something in between. Which one works best? That depends on the characteristics of your product and market.
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Production efficiency is not easy and studies show most companies are squandering 50% of their key resources—labor and equipment. Based on 250,000 hours of observation of businesses in a variety of industries,
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In your search for process innovation that will drive sustainable performance improvement, scheduling your business may not be the first thing to come to mind — but it should be. Done right,
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