Basic Laws of Business Productivity

As always, it is very difficult to find a place where we can save $ 100,000 per month, because the total movement of the company is less than that amount and because all the simple variables of the company are adjusted, because they are obvious.

Managements are no longer duplicated, nor are there two vehicles for similar functions in the same place, nor is it spent disproportionately on coffee…

Now it was the turn of the processes

We have defined each process, we have reference indices that must be studied periodically to generate an exercise to eliminate expenses in the process itself, both in errors with non-compliance, non-existence or lack of control of the entry and exit requirements as well as looking at the working method of every day, which does not bleed through an artery but through a capillary, but which is more invisible and pernicious than the other to which anyone can put a tourniquet.

2. Productivity

Productivity is a broad art as is quality. Caliproductivity is the word that sums up profitability and repetition of business, it cannot be learned in a while, and it requires more than wisdom… constancy of purpose in improving continuously and forever.

Anyone can apply productivity in the company, you just need to have the ability to ask yourself like a child and evaluate the answers like an adult.

Of what we do not have a good reason to do, we simply do not do it, it is not necessary to have a company like all companies are to be successful. Success is greater if we have an efficient company for us.

This note is only a brief and mediocre introduction to the subject that aims to be a trigger for ideas for my friends, it does not pretend more than this.

Here the specialist is the owner of the process, who must put self-love aside and pride aside, because these methods are designed by himself; to begin developing a productivist mind.

Typical responses of the anti - productivist:

o We already did…

o When we reach 100% productivity, where will we go?…

o I always did it like this…

o We never did it like this, and change now…

o Until when will we have to prove that we are innocent?…

o Change in a problem…

• That was already thought and it is like this… And how much can we save with this?… is it worth it…? For two handles so much trouble? The customer wants it that way. It's hard…

And I could go on….

The important thing is that we must know that the perfect method has not yet been invented, that everything can be improved, KAIZEN is the perpetual improvement and the foundation of the ISO 9004 of 2000 standard, where it is no longer enough to have papers and records to demonstrate that I assure the quality, what I have to show is that I am improving.

Every day a change, without stopping a single day.

Let's see how we calculate our improvements:

This is an example of a formula, we can use another, the important thing is to have a single criterion to have common concepts, let's not forget that we are learning to use the method and a bad method that acts as a walker for a few months is easier than no method.

Suppose that a photocopier is at the end of a room where many people work, which is precisely closer to the people who use it the least, we can make a change there, but how much is the value of this improvement?

Total employees involved in the improvement: X

Total time reduced in upgrade: Y

Frequency that the activity is repeated per day: D

Days of the month that are considered: 20 without Saturdays months of 4 weeks

Months of the year that are considered: 10 considering 2 months that does not occur

To avoid optimistic criteria in the calculations, 80 are not included per annuity.

Cost of the average man hour: $ 4 (2 + several)

Total direct savings: X * Y * D * 20 * 10 * 4 * = X * Y * D * 800 = AD

3. Opportunity cost

4 x man hour cost:

We all know that the opportunity cost is highly variable and that this is a low value, but it is to avoid optimistic views at all times, just as the optimistic view of frequency is not recommended, but rather to place an average.

Total savings: x * y * d * 800 + 4 * 4 * x * y * 10 * 20:

AT = X * Y * D * 800 + 3,200 * + X * Y * D

From what it follows that the opportunity cost is always much higher than the cost of direct savings, there is more that is left to gain than what is lost, so since it is never accounted for, this is a cost that remains hidden. for the company.

TOTAL SAVINGS: X * Y * D * (800 + 3,200):

X * Y * D * 4,000: TOTAL SAVINGS IN ANNUAL PESOS

This formula can be modified and in fact the values ​​will be adjusted over time, which have been arbitrarily considered.

Remaining constant element, remaining other variables, all this implies that it is very important to be able to install a measurement system, so as not to make mistakes in the savings values, frequency and number of employees involved.

But at all times we must not be distracted from the importance of:

The fact that a person saves an hour per day. Let's see:

Total DE employees involved in the improvement: X = 1

Reduced time for improvement: Y = 1 hour (if it is in minutes it can be set to minutes / 60)

Frequency that the activity is repeated per day: I estimate that the maximum frequency on a febrile day is 3 times, on a calm day it is 0, on a normal day it is 2 so I take the value of 1.5, it is an estimate, which affects greatly, but it is not always convenient to waste a lot of time in calculations. (Another way can be the weighting of values ​​and work with the mathematical expectations when the exercise warrants it).

D: 1.5

Formula x * y * d * 4000: 1 * 1 * 1.5 * 4000 = $ 6,000 / year lost.

Although it is true that if this rework had not been done, the cost of it will be zero and the profit that it would have given would only be the opportunity cost.

We take this loss value so that we have a more impressive view of productivity.

How much money can we improve?

I remember that some productivity exercises with Papelera del Palta staff 10 years ago, gave savings of 4,500,000 in activities and improvements proposed by managers and 500,000 dollars in those proposed by middle managers.

Which teaches us that the higher an individual's lame, the more access they have to large numbers and the easier it is for them to improve, which places us here in a privileged circumstance.

How do we start:

Find the opportunity for improvement:

We have functions and these are made up of processes, and processes are made up of operations and movement operations:

The improvement in the movements corresponds to the productivity specialists, since they look at the micro movement and the movement to reduce those seconds that add up to millions of dollars.

The study of the functions was carried out when the cost reduction was studied.

Now it is the turn to processes and operations, for example, write a letter, get to a place by truck, make a quote.

We all make a mistake every day, because we do not carry out some of the activities that productivity indicates:

Looking for the pen on the desk for not having the habit of leaving it in the same place, looking for a file on the computer for not remembering how it was saved, waiting on the phone doing nothing while we wait.

Make a budget several times for not asking what a factor means, specify the billing for not trusting the work data, carry out a double control of work for not trusting the system, speak with the staff separately to transmit the same order, looking for glasses because they left them on another desk, not taking advantage of the waiting times of the bus or the doctor because they did not have a to-do list, not taking advantage of taxi rides when not driving to perform or think about some important activity.

Search not to preposition things where they have to be tomorrow.

Send one more operator for a whole day in the crew.

It would be endless to name how many and how many we consider to be lost, the best result is that each one thinks about how he sees the other wasting time and God will provide someone who thinks of me.

Because it is true that the eye can see everything except itself, and the truth is that I have the magic gift of the word and I transform an unproductive loss into a productive one for things I say, explanations or excuses, the truth will not make the $ 6,000 annually return to the coffers.

First attitude:

Faith in the system that I am carrying out brought me here, so, let's declare ourselves free and break all relationship with the divinization of the old systems, everything is under doubt, all the time we doubt that this is the best way to sell, buy, produce, because if it was good also five years ago, surely it is no longer useful today, and we are clinging to the pole of a ship that will also sink with the ship anyway.

You have to get away with creativity, flexibility, innovation, testing, doing a pilot experience to see what happens, now the improvement is no longer in the books, the norm gave me a way of thinking, the more or less juice What I can get out of this way of thinking will depend on the ISO exercise, it depends on each and every one of us.

Having a scalpel does not transform me into a surgeon, it is necessary to exercise power, because power not exercised is like having something in potentiality, and having something in potentiality and having nothing is the same.

The first attitude is to disbelieve that the systems that we consider good today continue to be them.

The first attitude is flexibility is the confidence that if I could do this and it served, with the experience gained I can do it better and serve as well.

Breaking with the rules and laws and rethinking the company from the added value upwards.

If we are ready not to be sticks in the wheel, ridiculous resistance to change, emotional obstacles to tomorrow, surely we are on the same page.

Second attitude:

Rome was not built in a day.

It is not possible that we hope that a system that has been in operation for more than 10 years can be totally remodeled with creativity and innovation by the same old men who made it, who gave us the food to grow and become efficient. In a day.

It will not be in a day, but security and freedom are opposite, there is no security without stagnation, nor freedom without risk, without errors.

If the company moves, it is more equivocal than if it is dead, the dead do not stumble over things.

The safest place is to dance to the rhythm of the client's music. Here the failures will be financed. But "Don't fail" is not expected if we want to grow, it hurts, but if we don't move forward, it hurts much more. Today it cannot be said more… we have it in costs, there is not so much room for blackmailing, the competition sharpens their weapons at night, with the stone of my weaknesses.

The second attitude has to do with being creative, having an attitude open to change, questioning reality or looking for a new reality, or wondering five times why or wondering what other what, what other who, what other like, what other where, and so on… they can give rise to the opening of my mind.

• Why do administration and finances not depend on the Works Management? Why the Works do not depend on Sales? Why sales is not the Quality Assurance Manager? Why the general management does not respond to customer complaints? The secretary of the management is not working in administration? Why does the warehouse work in another building? Why is there no planning control above the construction managers? Why is not a government of the company established in which the directors do not intervene Why is there no affiliate in the countries where our work is booming? Why not merge with another company in the field (not certified) to create synergy? Why not join a large international company?

What else can be done, what other than… the limit is not in the silly questions but in the lack of measured answers, you do not have to make decisions without data, but you have to ask all possible questions, we can always find the improvement, or we will find it when the water reaches the head or we will find it now while we can, this is to heal in health and there we are going.

The second attitude has to do with the fact that no one, never and less now with the speed of changes in the world, can be the owner of the salvation of anything, we must all know that we cannot alone, that there is no way of to be leaders, stars of change like San Martín was, that does not exist, today everything is a group, nobody in the group will ever give a great idea, several will give ideas, these will be discarded, or fragmented, integrated into other fragments and so on, by This is because we must come together to rave, without fear of ridicule, without fear of failure, without attachments to structures of the past that are already dead, this attitude has to do with the fact that every idea is potentially useful, without studying it, no one will ever know if it was Useful or not, the quartz watch that Swiss watchmakers cast was a Swiss idea.

The best ideas are always around us, since need is always provided, and need, Pythagoras said, is the father and mother of all things.

This second attitude has to do with respect for others, the ideas of the other, the most intimate thoughts of the other, although they seem ridiculous or inapplicable to me, this is no guarantee that they really are.

The second attitude has to do with the critical attitude towards the world, and standing up as co-creator, to the place that God himself gave to Man in genesis, and modifying the dominance of the world. Many times we believe that the structures that many of us have created are unchangeable realities, the truth is that they are mere illusion, otherwise the twin towers would still be standing, they were just a blanket of durlock, iron and fantasy. Perhaps our main lesson is that those principles and dogmas that made us so comfortable living with them, because everyone believed in them, were actually lies.

• How can you explain the straight line supporting the ruler on a curved planet? How can it be that the plane has three dimensions, the straight line and the point none if zero plus zero is zero? How can zero represent nothing if it symbolizes infinity How could God be created in seven days if it takes millions of years to make a sun?

But attacking the totem is taboo (attacking the constituted power is terrorism), and there is a lot of fear when it comes to getting out of the geometry of the cradle, the geometry of the room, of mental cubism, when nothing in nature is straight but is wise. In the river bed seen from an airplane, nature teaches us that the shortest path between two points is not the straight line but the path of least resistance.

Men of courage are needed to doubt, but doubt is the basis of all science, and the imperturbable truth will not be moved by a simple doubt, but the fantasies, the chimeras, the prejudices, they will be easily removed this is the second attitude.

Self doubt, and respect for the doubt of others.

Own idea and respect for the idea of ​​others.

Own productivity and respect for the productivity of others.

Third Attitude:

Always look for the most repetitive or most valuable event.

One in which by applying a slight improvement we can save more for its value (diamond cutting) or for its repetitiveness (reducing the cost of the unit VAT collection by $ 0.01).

Fourth attitude:

Everything can be improved:

Method specialists argue that there is a relationship between action with added value performed and a set of actions for the same task, that relationship is overwhelming. 20% is really productive work with added value, the rest of each work cell, and of the entire company is non-productive work that generates added value !!!

Work… if we all work from the moment we step into the office, but who adds value and how much?

Of the eight-hour work, only two hours is added value, the rest is run after the urgencies invented by others or re-done over and over again, useless Excel spreadsheets or files are arranged over and over again.

What an expert eye finds we will not find, but we can still take a look back and see how far we have walked on the path of productivity, there are many taboos that the company was destroying and surely in tomorrow there will be even more, because we are good, but we can be much better.

We can improve coordination, process control, the possibilities of delegation of tasks and their simplification, reduction of material in progress, optimization of man-hours working, optimization of machine working time, vehicle optimization, better customer service, contractual compliance and deadlines, elimination of downtime due to poor planning, orders and counter-orders, due to unforeseen emergencies, due to lack of the concept of the value of time, talking a lot while working, eating at the workplace and do everything by halves, for disobeying orders, or for misinterpreting them and so on…

On many occasions we know that things are wrong, but the popular saying affirms the position of error when it says - wrong, but accustomed - it is incredible the things we can do to continue doing wrong a task that we have become fond of, and the heart and intelligence work separately…

There are things to improve, but an old consultant used to say - «There is nothing worse than doing well what you should not do» -

Many things can be stopped for a while, a pilot experience, and then analyze the result.

Meanwhile many questions must be answered in the mind of the Productivist Manager:

1. Is the vehicle in good working order?

2. Is the material the right size?

3. Do you all know how to transport it?

4. Are the transfer charges contemplated?

5. Does he have to be rummaging for tools?

6. Was the homework ready to work on?

7. Was learning taken from each mistake?

8. Were the non-conformities written down and addressed?

9. Was the producer duly informed?

10. Did you have the correct specifications?

11. Was it inspected?

12. Was it verified?

13. Did you know the tolerances?

14. Was the team identified?

15. Was it calibrated and verified?

16. Was the method altered without notice?

17. Were the times known in advance?

18. Do we know if we are fast or slow?

19. Were unnecessary operations eliminated?

20. Is the right person perfectly informed?

21. Is the skilled operator working at his normal pace?

22. Is the work required the same as specified in the contract?

23. Are additional without informing?

24. Are they known to be abnormal work conditions and what to do when they occur?

25. Is any delay taken as normal?

26. the news communication medium is respected (fax, email, trancking)

27. When a job is done poorly, is the nonconformity done?

28. Are the tools ordered in the vehicles by frequency of use?

29. The bulkiest and heaviest is near the entrance?

30. Are the works planned with a scientific method?

31. Are tool and vehicle audits done frequently?

32. Have all unnecessary transfers been eliminated?

33. Have all unnecessary inspections been eliminated?

34. Have transfer and inspection times been loaded to operations times?

35. Have all unnecessary delays been eliminated?

36. Has all unnecessary storage been removed?

37. Has the lay out been planned in such a way as to minimize transfers of the largest number of people?

38. Have common services been placed within the reach of those who use them most frequently?

39. The most frequent uses of elements enter the library in the space between the dropped hand and the raised hand of the body?

40. Are all the files identified?

41. Have all quietist concepts been eliminated in the company?

42. Is the critical process of the company known?

43. Is the critical operation known for each critical process?

44. Safeguards are taken about them to minimize failures on them.

Undoubtedly these questions could become triggers for some suggestions, do not miss the opportunity, re-read the questions and write down the suggestions, consider suggestions that would eliminate the problem completely. Also, don't miss the opportunity to draft a nonconformity.

X: EMPLOYEES Y: TIME IN HOURS D FREQUENCY PER DAY

GI: GRAVITY INDEX

Obviously the formula is applicable mainly to repetitive and valuable tasks, but if it is a problem of lack of communication of managers, since the loss is not measured with an opportunity cost of 4 with respect to the wage, it will have to be affected by a severity index even greater than the evaluator considers:

IG slight issue: isolation is double minor issues of work. Value 1

IG medium issue: nonconformity involves recurring use of poorly managed resources. Value 2

IG serious issue: isolation directly affects the quality of service perceived by the customer. Value 3

Then the final formula could have the following scheme:

X * Y * D * IG * 4000 = COST OF ANNUAL FAILURE

Use this sample worksheet to practice with some examples that come to mind please.

Don't forget to get the total.

Fifth attitude: in front of the processes

What is the mission of the company?: installation and assembly of telecommunications centers ?, So what do we do controlling billing, charging, setting up systems, budgeting for elevators?

Either this is not the function of the company or we do things that are not the function of the company, we will have to think about this in due course.

Let's now see the processes:

1. Can processes be killed?

2. It can be combined with another operation.

3. Can the function be removed?

4. Can it be distributed among other functions?

5. Does the position do tasks A, B, C?

6. Can it be executed during the inactivity period of another operation?

7. Does the sequence of operations prevent backflow?

8. Should this operation be performed in another department?

9. Could it be done in a place where the cost of labor is lower?

10. Are there waiting dead times between operations where you can add some activity?

11. Are there bottlenecks in the circuit, where are they, what are they, how long do things take, are important things of severity index 3?

12. Can the purpose of the operation be better achieved in another way?

13. Are the inputs used the cheapest on site?

14. Are the satisfaction requirements of the processes known?

15. The requirements can these sub. dimensioned in some cases and oversized in others?

16. Are there records that duplicate information that can be unified?

17. Are there procedures that can be integrated?

This introductory work aims to bring management closer to the five basic attitudes to generate productivity, I hope that the next meeting each one will have their Excel spreadsheet with savings of at least $ 1,000 per year, which we can implement with ideas at no cost.

Soon you will receive a new note to deepen the topics that have been treated in a generic way in this.