Optimal resource productivity is an important goal in the implementation of lean production, because it has a significant impact on operating costs. The goal is therefore to maximize the overall output of the factory with minimal resource input. Lean Management focuses on increasing labour productivity to improve the following:
World-class Lean companies are characterized by the fact that they constantly question and continuously improve defined standards in all areas of the company. If working methods and processes are not standardized, results will vary from employee to employee, depending on the individual. One of the first Lean measures is to standardize all work methods and processes; these set standards are the basis for further improvements (Kaizen). In other words: without standards there can be no process improvement.
Often missing are:
Plan times are, among other things, the basis for determining the optimal production planning and calculation of work productivity. Measuring the planned times correctly and updating them continuously is an important task of management.
If working standards are not or cannot be kept, this is not necessarily attributable to the employee(s), but in many cases the cause can be found at managerial level.
Another cause of low resource productivity can be attributed to unreliable processes, for example:
For all work/activities there are preparatory and main (= value-added) activities. In manufacturing companies, the value added for the customer is created in production. It is therefore important that management organize work in such a way that productive employees primarily perform value-added activities. This means that the preparatory and main activities must be separated and standardized processes must be respectively established.
If the factory layout and/or work processes at individual workplaces are not optimal, a variety of wastes (mudas) arise, such as long transport routes, stagnation of semi-finished products or unnecessary movement of employees.
Quality problems are reflected 1:1 in operating costs, e.g. costs for rejects, rework, lost capacity. This also reduces resource productivity.
In our Kaizen consulting for just-in-time production to reduce operating costs, we follow the motto "only results count"!