Don’t bank on investment alone
1 min read
Should a dedicated bank for manufacturing ever see the light of day, a swan would make a fitting emblem. Many manufacturers that appear to be gliding smoothly are, in reality, chaotic beneath the surface. The picture was revealed at WM's People & Productivity roundtable debate, where managers discussed the shocking double standards between shopfloor and back office efficiency.
It's amazing that this can happen in businesses chasing productivity improvements to the eighth decimal place. No self-respecting manufacturer would see production grind to a halt because one cell couldn't be bothered to move product to the next location. Yet, delegates spoke of back offices rife with such ineptitude, where key documents lay buried in trays with the potential to cause long lead times or shopfloor downtime.
The anecdotes throw up an interesting counterpunch to Siemens chief Juergen Maier's claim that UK firms are about to fall down in the productivity stakes unless they invest in new plant (p20). An industry bank, hungry to lend affordable finance, is vital to stopping the slump, according to Maier. Yet the tales of backward back offices imply that it's people and processes, not ageing plant, which are the real Achilles heel of UK industry.
Following this theory, a top management team put in charge of a dilapidated factory could outperform a sub-standard team running a state-of-the-art factory. Until someone stumps up the research grant to test it, however, the winner remains subjective. But put the best managers in charge of the best equipped factories and there is no debate: you have created the dream team for productivity.
That's exactly what manufacturers must aim for. Start by getting front and back offices pulling in the same direction. After all, an admin assistant is as likely to deliver kaizen gold as an engineer. Then support the workforce with the best equipment. It's a simple yet powerful productivity mantra – but ignoring it could result in industry's swan song.
