In-School Productivity Campaign | Productivity measurement: A critical success factor for business

Productivity measurement systems continue to be a challenge locally, as many organisations or firms of various sizes do not have a clear understanding and chart of their critical success factors.

The view that production is the same as productivity is common among many business owners and managers. Accordingly, profit-making is often mistaken for productivity. However, a business can be profitable without being productive.

In its broadest sense, productivity is about obtaining the maximum quality outputs from minimum inputs. It is about reducing or eliminating waste, downtime and process defects in all system and human operations.

According to Jamaica Produc-tivity Centre's senior director and head of the Technical Assistance Services Unit (TASU), Tamar Nelson, "From a measurement perspective, productivity is the ratio of outputs to inputs. That is, you must effectively and efficiently add value to each unit of input in order to achieve maximum results."

While many factors, ranging from human error to inadequate or misappropriated resources, contribute to an absence or inefficiency of productivity measurement systems in businesses, one major cause is the poor use of information communications technology (ICT) to record and track correct information. Some organisations, however, spend a lot of capital to install measurement systems but are failing to utilise the data to inform strategic decisions.

OUTDATED EQUIPMENT

TASU's technical resource officer and information technology expert, Andre Molyneaux, says: "Obsolete and inappropriate computer hardware and software are critical factors contributing to measurement defects in businesses. Outdated and slow computers reduce productivity. ICT and computer hardware problems are often associated with other operational problems because there is a ripple effect".

A defect is a product or process that does not meet operational specifications. Therefore, unintended results such as quantity, size, shape, weight and colour may also be categorised as defects. In many cases, defects contribute to high volumes of waste. While some companies are able to rework defects, it can prove to be counterproductive as more energy and labour are channelled into the reworking or waste-management processes - adding an additional layer of cost.

MAINTAINING COMPUTERS

Considering that computers are used, to a large extent, to aid operational processes (including measurement, storage and data retrieval), they must be properly maintained and upgraded as necessary. "Scheduled maintenance and consistent recording of downtime is important. Error reporting will aid root cause analysis (RCA) - which helps to solve problems at their source, and seek to prevent recurrence of future inefficiencies," advises Molyneaux.

Proper use of ICT will help to reduce bottlenecks, loss of data and facilitate timely recording of outputs and inputs, which are key to a well-functioning measurement system.

Your business can be more productive - delivering consistently greater value to your customers and thus helping to sustainably increase profit margins. "You need to plan for the future; be more proactive and less reactive. Use ICT to your advantage," insists Molyneaux.

He further recommends that companies follow what he refers to as the DADA approach. The approach, he says, can widely be used for both proactive and remedial measures.

The DADA approach is outlined below:

- Data - get the information on defects or inefficiencies.

- Analyse - conduct a root cause analysis.

- Decision - determine how to do things differently by adjusting or rectifying the system.

- Action - implement solutions or proactive measures.

- Sandrea Dennis Plummer is a communication specialist at Jamaica Productivity Centre.