The ability to produce more output with the same labour effort, or the same output with less resources. Organisations are dependent on demand variability, assigning labour resources to work at maximum speed. They are usually not so agile, however, when adjusting to lower demand levels. Besides, whether they are adjusted or not, there is always a degree of process inefficiencies or redundancies that produce “waste” and therefore extra costs.
So the question is, how to eliminate labour extra costs? In the end it is all about two things: planning and execution. We can help your business not only to find out the right levels of labour needed at each moment and to balance out fixed vs. temporary tasks, but we can also show you to control the drivers of labour inefficiency, thus minimizing unnecessary process waste. We have helped our customers to reduce entire labour shifts by understanding and controlling those drivers using the Six Sigma (DMAIC) methodology. Sometimes, the situation calls for a less focused, cause-and-effect approach but a more waste-reduction-driven methodology such as Lean. Regardless of the approach chosen, we always introduce an operating system for achieving productivity rhythm and rigor or for reinforcing the existing one at the critical points.
