All the focus now is on productivity. According to Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, national productivity has slipped to its second-lowest level in 15 years. This is not the responsibility of workers – it’s up to management. The challenge for printers is to achieve a better quality of work, complete less re-work, improve customer satisfaction, get a more motivated workforce, and improve management and staff relationships. But how is this done?
They can start with some obvious things. Call it the low-hanging fruit. Running better meetings, creating more targeted reporting lines, making sure there is proper follow-through and delegating better are a good start. Experts say meetings become more productive when you go in with an outcome in mind understood by everyone involved, you plan it in advance, summarise at the end and suggest follow-ups and next actions and always confirm the meeting the day before. Also, companies should consider whether a meeting is even necessary. If a phone call would suffice, they should do that instead.
Productivity specialists say companies also need to think strategically. What exactly do they need to tackle to become more productive? They need to work out their objectives, and communicate these down the line. Just saying you want to lift productivity is too vague. Printers need to decide what they need to improve, by how much and by when. It means identifying exactly how much output the company needs on a particular job, and how much it intends to reduce labour costs by. Everyone needs to understand what they are trying to achieve, why they are doing it, how it will benefit the company and how it will improve their working conditions.
The second step, specialists say, is to look at the service or product in terms of the value stream, that is to say, all the steps that are taken to deliver it to the customer. That means every step the company takes from raw materials to finished goods to get that product to the customer. It means making sure everything, from reporting lines to meetings, focuses on getting the product out. It also means that people from different parts of the organisation will be working together.
That in itself is a radical departure. Most companies have vertical silos, or departments. That is very different from the approach that companies like Toyota and Motorola have taken. They focus on value streams, what it takes to give the customers the goods that they want. Toyota and Motorola are often held up as models of productivity.
Specialists also say companies need to look at management tools that can be easily accessed, such as Six Sigma, mistake proofing, and lean visioning. Used properly, management and the workforce can sit down and identify trouble spots and areas that need attention.
They say companies need to set up systems that will monitor production and tackle issues straight away. It means creating streamlined reporting lines, more effective delegating, bringing in company wide key performance indicators and using the right metrics.
This requires work and attention. But when companies do it well, it seems to be hard-wired into their leadership and culture.
Leon Gettler is a senior business journalist who writes for a range of leading newspapers and journals
Comment below to have your say on this story.
If you have a news story or tip-off, get in touch at editorial@sprinter.com.au.
Sign up to the Sprinter newsletter
