1. Introduction (Kosu Kaizen)
Companies need to control and lower their costs, and for this it is essential to increase the quality and productivity of their processes through Kosu Kaizen. Improving quality means getting products that meet specifications on the first try, and not having to use successive and lengthy reprocessing and adjustment work, it also means less waste of materials, fewer man-hours, and lower energy consumption among other components. Higher quality also implies meeting the agreed delivery deadlines in a timely manner, reducing the stock of in-process and finished products. Higher quality also means lower costs in repair services.
For all these reasons, quality is crucial when it comes to reducing costs. But it is not the only way to reduce costs, it is also critical to improve productivity, that is, to produce more with the same amount of resources, or to achieve the same production with fewer resources, or to get to produce more with less.
In this search for greater productivity, we will aim to achieve higher levels of production per hour of labor used in production. Manufacturing operations can be divided into machine-hours and man-hours.
Kosu refers specifically to the man-hours required to process a unit of product in a given process, and the total hours of all personnel participating in the process divided by the total units produced are calculated.
The reduction of kosu is one of the key measures to improve productivity in the workplace.
Reducing the kosu or the number of hours of work used to produce a unit of product is essential when it comes to reducing costs and consequently improving the competitiveness of the company. As a general rule, manufacturing companies use twice the number of people they actually require.
Why Kosu Kaizen? Because to achieve the improvement of the kosu it is necessary to implement a continuous improvement in the processes of the companies. Kaizen, like kosu, are Japanese words widely used in Japanese management jargon, and now also in Western companies that have turned to kaizen as a philosophy and methodology of continuous improvement.
Kaizen is continuous improvement that involves everyone, a philosophy and work method that constantly and systematically seeks to improve quality, reduce costs, reduce execution times, increase customer and consumer satisfaction, and make more competitive and profitable productive operations.
2. Systems and methods
Achieving greater labor productivity under the kaizen philosophy involves making use of several of a number of systems and work methods. Now the systems and methods to be used to increase the productivity of the workforce will be detailed, and then we will proceed to describe each one of them, explaining the implications of their lack of use and therefore the benefits obtained when applying the themselves.
Said tools, methodologies or systems are:
- TQMTPMJust in TimeImproved lay-outErgonomicsPolifunctionality of workersCell WorkFive SSMEDPoka YokeJidokaStandardizationEmpowermentSelection of suppliers by total cost and greater integration of their operationsImprovement in working methods
3. TQM (Total Quality Management)
Total Quality Management is essential to achieve high levels of productivity in each and every one of the factors of production, be it labor, energy, materials and supplies, surface used, financial, machinery / tools and facilities.
The lack of quality in each and every one of the sectors leads to wasted resources, reprocessing activities, and the need for inspections.
If what is involved is a fault in the reports provided by the accounting sector to the General Management, this will lead to bad decisions, and therefore the amount of work used in its preparation was a waste. If the General Management realizes the error, this will imply a reprocessing work and therefore more hours of work used in its new elaboration. The important thing is not only that the report is good when it comes out, but that it comes out right the first time. If this is not the case, this will imply various adjustments, controls and reprocessing with the consequent loss of man-hours.
In a factory it is crucial that production meets specifications the first time, that is, without the need for rework and adjustments. A failed production leads to the loss of work on products that must be discarded and many times in the addition of more work hours for reprocessing tasks. This in most cases implies having workers to store the products with defects to be corrected.
If the products have already left the company and are returned, it will be necessary to have staff or working hours for the receipt of claims from customers, hours of work dedicated to administrative and accounting tasks. If problems occur that lead to the need to provide repair services, this implies, apart from the material costs, the labor costs for those services.
Similarly, any poorly executed work involves the loss of hours of work for processing and then reprocessing. For example, the Warehouse sector incorrectly dispatches a product other than the one billed to the customer, if 30 minutes were allocated in its preparation, the customer's return leads to allocate again 30 minutes to correctly prepare the order again but also dedicate 20 minutes or more to unpack the merchandise received in return and its relocation in the Warehouse. The point is that these problems tend to go unnoticed by the owners or managers of the company, who only focus on the issue of quality in terms of production. But if these problems are numerous, it leads to the need to hire more personnel in order to meet deadlines.
The previous problem in the incorrect shipment of goods, can also be the product of incorrectly taking the customer's order. But there may also be problems in terms of billing and imputation of payments from the client, which leads to hours of work in reviewing documentation and files, reprocessing of invoices and consequently delays in collections.
It is very clear with what was briefly developed before, the serious problems in terms of costs that the lack or low levels of quality in each of its processes brings to the company, be they productive, commercial, accounting or logistical.
Many companies look for quality specialists for a certain production process, completely and absolutely neglecting the application of quality for the other processes of the company.
Deming had already exposed, to North American businessmen, during the eighties the strong implications of the lack of quality of the various processes in the costs of the companies and consequently in their competitive capacity and profitability.
4. TPM (Total Productive Maintenance)
Maintaining the excellence of machinery is essential, why? Because machines that do not work, machines that produce at a lower speed than established, machines with numerous and successive stops, and machines that produce with failures, imply a low production per hour of work and therefore low productivity and high costs. If the machines do not work, the staff continues to receive their salaries even if no product is being produced. If the processing speed is lower than that established, a greater number of man-hours will be required to generate production.And if it occurs with failures and defects due to machine breakdowns, this will mean loss of working hours already used in production, plus the addition of more working hours for reprocessing tasks when this is feasible. Autonomous Maintenance allows reducing not only the inconveniences in the operation of machinery, but also reduces the cost of specialized personnel dedicated to maintenance and repairs.
Breakdowns and poor maintenance not only affect production processes, they also affect administrative processes such as accounting, billing, collection, where computer breakdowns or software problems can generate serious problems. These problems become critical when talking about financial entities such as banks or insurance companies.
5. Quick Tool Change (SMED)
Not changing or preparing the tools for the production processes quickly enough, implies having hours of work without production and even in many cases specialized technical personnel allocating hours of work to changes and adjustments of tools.
Utilizing the SMED method for changeover and fast setup times reduces downtime and therefore increases uptime. It is not the same to take six hours to change a matrix than to do it in 10 minutes. In the first case we have six hours in which nothing is produced but the salaries continue to run. While doing it in 10 minutes you have greater production and the same amount of paid hours as when the time was six hours.
The implementation of SMED thanks to the remarkable Shigeo Shingo allows companies to produce a wide variety of products without the need for multiple production lines, and therefore with less need for personnel to attend or manage them.
The fast preparation times are not only valid for machines in manufacturing processes, they are also valid for the time required to prepare operating rooms between one operation and another.
6. Jidoka
A problem with many machines is having personnel at their side to control that defective products are not generated, that the process is not stopped due to some damage, placing material for processing, or controlling the number of units produced. This type of problem often implies having to have people merely standing in front of a machine watching how it works, which constitutes a waste of personnel, and therefore less productivity and higher costs. The way to solve this is with jidoka. The jidoka or automation with a human touch, is a mechanism that allows stopping the machine when a fault occurs in it, or when products with failures are generated, notifying the person in charge of the processes. It also warns when the quantity set as production is completed,stopping processing work. In this way, one person can be in charge of numerous machines, notably improving the productivity of the workforce and greatly reducing costs. This is critical in machines that process goods at high and even very high speeds. In those cases, even with a person monitoring the machine, it may take time to stop it from visual control and detection of the failure.it may take time to stop it from visual control and detection of the fault.it may take time to stop it from visual control and detection of the fault.
The jidoka makes it possible to control 100% of the production, also guaranteeing the self-control of the machines during the manufacturing process.
Mr. Shingo teaches us that "the machines can be stopped, but the workers must not. " You can visit Japanese factories and it is very difficult to observe a single person standing supervising how a machine processes. On the contrary, it is difficult not to observe in Western factories personnel observing or supervising how a machine operates. Shingo states that workers generally cost more than machines, and that this is why the Japanese don't have unemployed people.
7. Standards
Standards represent the best, easiest and safest way to get a job done. The standards reflect many years of wisdom and know-how on the part of workers in performing their tasks. When management maintains and improves a certain way of doing something, ensuring that all workers on different shifts follow the same procedures, those standards become the most efficient, safe, and cost-effective way to do the job.
The existence and fulfillment of the standards allows to assure levels of quality and productivity, an optimal maintenance work, compliance with time and forms, and make possible the rotation of workers.
The lack or absence of standards is something very common in medium-sized companies. The issue is also that the standards are available for consultation, that they are followed and that their compliance is also audited.
How do standards help improve worker productivity? In the first place, it ensures and allows to improve the quality of the processes, and with it productivity and costs. Second, it makes it possible for different people to do a job, following the established standards.
8. Five S
This Japanese methodology allows first to remove excess elements from the workplaces, increasing the visibility of the processes and the space for mobilization. Secondly, the order avoids wasting time searching for tools, supplies, materials and spare parts, either because they are not in the most appropriate place for their use or utilization, or because they are lost. Visual management allows workers to quickly verify the status of the processes and the correct operation of the machines and the status of the facilities, thus contributing to safeguarding the best maintenance of the machines, and therefore avoiding wasted hours man in repair work and stopped processes.
In companies without five seconds, lacking organization and order in their workplaces, there is at least between 10% and 15% in the loss of time looking for items that are lost, cluttered or located in places not appropriate for their frequency of use. It is one of the causes of excess movement, considered one of the seven classic wastes.
9. Lay-out
The organization of workplaces according to the processing of the products and not the processes by function, allows the saving of internal transport, and with it the personnel or working hours destined to the transfer of products between different points of the organization. In addition, the work in continuous flow (production in flow of continuous units) contributes to detect abnormalities or failures in production.
When the factory or company is organized by areas or sectors specialized in certain types of processes, call them painting, chrome plating, cutting, machining, tooling, each of them has personnel specialized in the use of such machines and processes, with a series of exclusive machines for such types of work. First problem, personnel specialized in a task, when production is reduced, the same number of people must continue to be maintained, with its effect on costs and productivity. Second. Batch production, with use of man hours in internal transfers and waiting times.
10. Selection of suppliers for the total cost and greater integration of their operations
This type of policy allows you to significantly reduce costs and greatly increase productivity. Ensuring that the necessary materials and supplies are available in time, form, quantity and quality reduces at a personal level the need to carry out administrative tasks for the order, quantity and quality inspections of the inputs received, the personnel dedicated to storage and transportation. internal. Ideally, the processes are recipients of the necessary inputs, in the quantity, quality and time necessary, greatly reducing personnel costs.
Let's illustrate this with a simple example. A traditional factory needs antioxidant paint for a certain process. The Purchasing sector responds to this by processing the order note and sending it. After not arriving on time, we will have the waiting times of the staff due to lack of input, plus the working hours allocated by the Purchasing staff to communicate by phone with the supplier's Sales Sector. Once the paint has arrived, those in charge of the Warehouse Sector must verify that it has been requested, verify that the quantities received are those requested and invoiced, and analyze the quality of the antioxidant paint received, checking that it meets the specifications. Then before each order of the productive area that makes use of them, you must search for them in the Warehouses, register it,and send it to the respective area (internal transport). All of these tasks require personnel and consequently contribute to increasing costs. On the other hand, informing the supplier by electronic systems to send the input, and the delivery of it right at the point of its use saves us all the cost of request, claim, reception and control of quantity and quality, storage, management of Inventories and supply (internal transport) of the input to the corresponding sector.reception and control of quantity and quality, storage, inventory management and supply (internal transport) of the input to the corresponding sector.reception and control of quantity and quality, storage, inventory management and supply (internal transport) of the input to the corresponding sector.
11. Polifunctionality of workers
The meticulous division of labor in companies is of great use and benefit when the volumes produced are large. But what happens when volumes suffer significant reductions or are reduced? In this case, having a specialist for each task or activity is very expensive; it is best to have staff who can perform various tasks. This is something even valid for administrative tasks. In a large company with a multitude of movements, there are personnel in charge of accounting, others in charge of bank reconciliations, others in charge of issuing checks, others are responsible for salary settlements, and others in charge of billing tasks., collection and payments.But what happens to a small company? In it, two or three people will take charge of tasks that in larger companies and number of operations are carried out by at least 10 to 15 people.
At the level of administrative processes, the same thing happens. It is not the same to have contact personnel with the client, personnel for the integration and analysis of the client's credit portfolio, and personnel for the authorization of the credit, than having the contact personnel in charge of integrating and analyzing the client and personnel. authorization. Not only do we speed up credit processes with better customer service, but we also reduce costs and staff productivity.
Another important issue is to avoid with multi-functionality the stoppages of the tasks. If you have a person for a certain job and he / she is absent due to illness, the other activities that depend on it are momentarily paralyzed in whole or in part due to the absence of said personnel. Many times the stoppage is not total, but the absence of a worker in a stage, delays and increases the times or deadlines for the completion of the works. A good example of this is the construction industry where there are usually personnel specialized in laying floors and tiles, or in painting.
In such a way, a greater degree of polyfunctionality of the employees, that is, workers trained to do a greater variety of tasks and tasks, contributes to reducing the number of personnel, the amount of working hours, and increasing costs and productivity.
The multi-functionality and the lay-out of the machines in U-shaped processes allow important achievements in terms of quality, costs, productivity and time.
12. Poka Yoke
What is poka yoke about? The poka yoke are instruments or tools designed to avoid making mistakes. Poka yoke just means fail-safe system. These errors are of various nature, not only affecting quality, but also the correct and efficient performance of tasks, being the reason for this reason not only higher costs, but also lower productivity.
The poka yoke can be useful both for production tasks, as well as in administrative, logistical, sales and service processes. In reality there is no sector that is left out of the application of some kind of poka yoke instrument. How in any sector or process it is possible that mistakes are made, then in all of them it is necessary to apply poka yoke to prevent them from taking place.
13. Ergonomics
The analysis of the best dispositions, type of tools, quantity and type of lighting, sound, adequate temperature and more suitable clothing for each type of task allows less fatigue, greater ease of operation, avoiding accidents or absence of workers due to illness labor. All these are the advantages of achieving optimal ergonomics in the workplace. This contributes both to improving productivity and to the need to have fewer man hours or workers to reach certain levels of production.
Having adequate tools for the work, having convenient places for work due to their height, amount of light and easier arrangement of supplies and tools, allows increases of up to 30% or 45% in the productivity of the hand working. This is not a small thing, however in companies very little importance is given to ergonomic factors. If it is not usually given importance in the industry, much less are they taken into consideration in bureaucratic or administrative jobs.
In office work, problems with inadequate lighting and ventilation, inconvenient temperatures, problems with computer monitors and keyboards, problems with furniture and seats are common. The correct location of the papers, and different elements allows less movement and consequently energy savings, increased productivity and reduced costs.
The absence of workers due to occupational illnesses or accidents leads to a significant waste of resources, however neither companies nor countries take this into account. Japanese and South Korean companies are at the fore when it comes to ergonomic study and labor discipline in terms of the best and most convenient use of tools and activities of rest and muscle and joint flexibilization.
14. Empowerment
Giving power or authority to the staff to adopt measures or make decisions in the event of a certain event gives flexibility, continuity and consistency to the productive, administrative and commercial processes, also allowing better quality in services, greater customer satisfaction, and greater agility in problem solving.
This empowerment is seen with total clarity in the ability given to personnel to stop a manufacturing process when they observe failures or inconveniences. Stopping the process allows addressing the problems detected, avoiding the accumulation of products with deficiencies or quality problems. When personnel are not empowered to stop processes, they continue to generate a large volume of defective products until the staff reports the problem to the process or plant manager and he authorizes or carries out the stop of the process.
Empowerment allows flatter organizational pyramids and therefore with fewer levels and consequently less staff.
When staff stop their work or care for a client waiting for the decision of a superior staff, we have downtime, lower levels of compliance and satisfaction on the part of customers, users and consumers, and stoppages of manufacturing or service processes (Although the staff is authorized to stop processes, they are also properly trained to deal with problems, either individually or in groups).
15. Improvement in working methods
The points described above imply the application of mechanisms, knowledge and tools that make it possible by their own implementation to increase the productivity of the workforce. Therefore, the lack of productivity is simple to detect, it is enough to ask if there is work in the cell, if it occurs in a unit flow, if SMED systems are applied for the change or rapid adjustment of tools, if Quality Management is applied Total, if the Five S are applied, if the processes are standardized, if Autonomous Maintenance is applied, among others. Of course, it is not merely that they are present, but also to corroborate how well they are executed. It is useless to set limits for the accumulation of products in process, if no one respects these limits.Nor is it useless to apply contours for visual control in the ordering of tools and templates, but is disciplined in its implementation. Nor is it useless to have work standards, if they are not read, fulfilled and applied control. The lack of Five S's, the absence of standards, the lack of jidoka and other tools and systems give rise to justify the lack of productivity, but their existence, although necessary, is not enough. Its correct application and operation must also be verified.the lack of jidoka and other tools and systems gives rise to justify the lack of productivity, but their existence, although necessary, is not enough. Its correct application and operation must also be verified.the lack of jidoka and other tools and systems gives rise to justify the lack of productivity, but their existence, although necessary, is not enough. Its correct application and operation must also be verified.
In the case of the improvement of working methods, the question points to the essential and fundamental. If there is an activity, the question should not be merely if it is carried out with optimal use of human resources, but if said activity is really necessary and has its reason for being, to then analyze the best way to combine it, rearrange it and / or simplify it.
Real benefits are realized when executives and managers begin to understand the abysmal difference between "reducing costs" and "eliminating the causes of costs."
For each activity it is necessary to ask yourself:
- Why does it need to be done? What is the goal? Where should it be done? When should it be done? Who is the fittest? How can it be done better?
The answers to these questions will indicate the way to follow to find the improvement of the method. In this search for a better method, the first step is to know whether or not it is feasible to eliminate said activity. The second is to find a way to combine it to perform several activities at the same time. The third focuses on reordering them in such a way as to reduce waiting times during processes. And the last step brings us to the possibility of simplifying it.
The answer to the above questions leads us not only to look for the most suitable person for a certain task, but also to avoid wasting human resources. When we answer about how it should be done, we can find cheaper materials, or easier to process, more effective and efficient tools or machines, and it can even lead to a change in the design of the product or service, which allows greater efficiency.
16. Resolution of the root causes of problems and inconveniences
Finding the true cause of problems and therefore giving you the correct solution avoids always dealing with the symptoms, continually repeating the same failures and the same incorrect solutions. Failure to correct the root cause, preventing its reappearance, not only avoids the waste of materials and supplies, and spare parts costs, but also unnecessary hours of work in unproductive repairs, and reprocessing of work, in addition to waiting times.
One of the ways to get to the true cause of problems is to ask yourself why five times? In this way, it will be avoided to allocate resources merely to resolve or overcome symptoms.
The following example gives an idea of the method and its reason for being:
- Question 1. Why did the machine stop? Answer 1. Because the fuse was blown due to an overload. Question 2. Why was there an overload? Answer 2. Because the bearing lubrication was inadequate. Question 3. Why Was the lubrication inadequate? Answer 3. Because the lubrication pump did not work well. Question 4. Why was the lubrication pump not working well? Answer 4. Because the pump shaft was worn. Question 5. Why Was it worn? Answer 5. Because sediment got into it.
By repeating “why” five times, it was possible to identify the true cause and thus the true solution: adding a filter to the lubrication pump. If workers hadn't gone through those repetitive questions, they could settle for an intermediate countermeasure, such as replacing the fuse.
The example corresponds to the breakdown of a machine, the same occurs in relation to defects in the quality of the products, administrative, production problems or of any other nature.
Also having statistics of problems of different nature and the solutions that are given allows you to detect the true cause or motive that originates them.
Resolving symptoms, rather than the root cause, not only increases material and energy costs, but also greatly increases labor costs.
17. Just in Time
Just in Time, lean manufacturing, and zero inventory are all names that mean essentially the same thing: a material flow system through the plant, which requires minimal inventory. The just-in-time production system sees in the excess of materials not only a cost in itself, but also a way to cover the existing problems at various points of the production process, from the delays in replenishing inputs from external suppliers, to the excessive times for the replacement and adjustment of tools, the quality problems in the products that prevent the fulfillment of the customers' orders, and the excessive downtimes due to breakdown problems.For just in time, stocks represent the amount of water in a lake, as long as there is an excess of inventories, neither supply problems, nor quality problems, nor malfunctions in machinery and facilities, nor absence of personnel. As inventories go down, problems begin to come to light, hindering navigation (process operation).
Just in time makes use of all the methods previously described, allowing a systematic action against all waste, including personnel.
In this way, it is common to observe excess personnel or hours worked:
- To produce quantities of products greater than those demanded by the market To handle, attend to, safeguard and manage excess inventories of supplies, products in process and finished products To reprocess defective products, or make adjustments in the production of goods or services.For internal movements in search of lost or off-site items, materials, tools or papers. To transport materials, products in process and finished products between production sectors, and from warehouses to the production sector, and in the reverse direction. of damaged machines, excessive maintenance and tool changes or set-up times. To produce goods with failures and failures. For excessive processing and unnecessary or wasteful processing.In a waiting state due to lack of supplies, components or malfunctions in the operation of the machines For the attention of machines in processes To search for suppliers, request for quotes and control the quality and quantity of the received products To carry out of production plans For inspection tasks To attend to excess administrative bureaucratic work To merely correct the symptoms, which gives rise to new future and repetitive corrections To attend to production processes with bad lay-out designs To attend the various machines and processes due to a lack of polyfunctionality in the operators and staff For excessive supervision For maintenance work by specialized personnel, due to the lack of autonomous maintenance.For accounting adjustments due to accounting defects or inconveniences with customers and suppliers To counteract the drop in processing speed due to technical deficiencies or breakdowns To carry out activities that do not add value to products or services.
18. Diagnosing staff productivity or lack of productivity
Putting into practice the different tools and methodologies described above is necessary but not sufficient to ensure an improvement in the level of productivity of the workforce.
It is necessary, because if there is no order with the provision of tools, spare parts, supplies and raw materials, there will be hours of work lost in the search for such components.
It is necessary, because of not having an optimal level of maintenance and repairs of the machinery, there must be loss of time of the workers waiting for the restart of the correct operation of the machines and it will have to have more personnel to take charge of a greater number of repairs to counteract the greater intensity of breakdowns.
It is necessary, because of not having a quick change of tools or short preparation times, production declines, leading to a drop in the productivity of the workforce.
It is necessary, because if you do not have a system for quality assurance, there will be work time that has to be allocated to reprocessing, or if it cannot be reprocessed, the hours of labor incurred in the faulty production will be thrown into the basket of waste.
It is necessary, because if we do not have a jidoka system in the machines, we will have to assign personnel to care for each machine while they are operating. Having jidoka allows each worker to operate several machines at the same time with the consequent increase in the productivity of the workforce.
But the availability of each of these tools or work methodologies is useless if there is not systematic compliance and the established standards are respected.
Therefore, verifying, given the needs of each productive activity, the existence and proper implementation of the different methods, tools and systems, reveals how productive the use of human resources is in the company.
19. Conclusions
Just in time can be viewed from different perspectives or observation angles. Generally the analysis is focused on excessive inventories and overproduction, then analyzing the different wastes that are incurred.
Here the approach is another. What it is about in this work is to demonstrate how the different inefficiencies and the absence of appropriate tools and methods generate not only different waste, from materials, to energy and financial resources, but above all else, inefficiency and unproductive use. of human resources, which ultimately end up generating lower profits or higher losses in the company's Results Chart.
Even those companies in which jidoka, rapid tool change, quality assurance, the five "S", process standardization, Total Productive Maintenance and other tools and systems are applied, it is possible to improve productivity. of manpower through the application of kaizen, reducing tool change times, reducing the number of failures per million opportunities (sigma level), improving maintenance and thereby reducing breakdowns, improving the ordering of the tools, instruments and supplies in the workplace.
When a company aims to reduce costs, they can be effectively reduced through the systematic application of Lean Management and Kaizen. It is the only ideal way for companies to reduce costs, increase profits and be more competitive in increasingly globalized markets.
When managers only limit themselves to making a financial analysis of the Balance Sheets and Results Table, not making use of the company's Diagnosis, they tend to fall into the wrong diagnoses and solutions.
Traditional companies are overstaffed, but overstaffing is not corrected by laying off part of the workforce, but by detecting and eliminating the factors that led to the need for more staff and hours of work.
How many managers receive a report periodically revealing the problems related to:
- Quality levels, number of failures, and costs of poor quality. Level of efficiency in the use of machinery. Quantity of breakdowns per period of time Quantity of inventories, their average turnover levels and their average age Average times for tool changes and adjustments for each machine Report on the application and quality of the Five S. Quantity and Type of accidents per period Number of suggestions per employee Number of existing quality control circles Number of customers, average sales and their evolution in relation to previous periods.
Ask yourself with total sincerity if the company in which you work or of which you are a manager, regularly has this type of information, and what measures it takes.
Unfortunately, the most normal thing in the face of financial problems consists of eliminating items, reducing staff, acquiring cheaper inputs, but not less expensive for them, refinancing debts, increasing prices, changing service providers and adjusting salaries.
20 Bibliography
- Manufacturing competitiveness. Kiyoshi Suzaki. Editorial TGPHoshin. 2000 Industrial Engineering and Administration. Philip E. Hicks. CECSA Editorial. 1999 How to improve working methods. Pérez Gutierrez. Editorial Deusto. 1984. Analysis of production and operations. Steven Nahmias. McGraw Hill Publishing. 2007. Times and Tasks. Cardiel Mateos. Editorial Limusa. 1974.
