Excellent Managers Excel At The Basics

Excellent leaders have a great awareness of the basics and make sure they are done exceptionally well.  Keep things as simple as possible.

“I emphasize the importance of details.  You must perfect every fundamental of your business if you expect it to perform well.”  Ray Kroc, Founder of McDonald’s

I’ve always been amazed at how many managers look for the magic switch that suddenly fixes every problem.  Success is a process of doing a lot of little things right.  The greatest inventions and achievements came after countless trials, errors, and failures.  From each step, a small nugget of knowledge was gained and forward progress was achieved.  Eventually these small nuggets begin to make a big pile of knowledge and the problems diminished.  The last piece of knowledge that we need to finish the job is usually discovered as a result of the accumulated knowledge we gained throughout the process. 

Check your Recording Practices

If your recording practices are flawed your true efficiency and productivity won’t be known.  If you are setting productivity goals, be sure the numbers you are basing them on are accurate.

The more variables involved, the more likely you’ll find problems.  Likewise, if the goals were set a while ago, it might be time to look at them again.  If technology or procedures have changed, the goals might be dramatically understated.  The ideal goal is one that requires some stretching, yet is achievable.  If you make it too easy, it won’t be effective in raising your efficiency.  Similarly, if the goal is set too high, it will do nothing but frustrate your employees.

There’s a lot more to the basic equation, Productivity = Hours / Pieces Worked, than first meets the eye.  These include: 

1. What hours are currently counted?
2. Whose hours are included?
3. Are there any other operations that should have their hours included?
4. Are there any operations that shouldn’t be included?
5. How do you measure productivity in areas where piece counts are unavailable?
6. Of the pieces worked, are reject and discarded pieces subtracted out?
7. What level of quality is required and how do you verify it?

The general process of evaluating procedures is to map every input into the operation, identify errors; and calculate the real throughput that is possible on machines.  When I say real throughput, I don’t mean the throughput that is possible if there are no mechanical or operator problems.  I’m talking about the throughput that is possible on most days, allowing for a certain amount of time for mechanical and operator problems.

For example, my company had machines that had listed throughputs of 40,000 pieces per hour.  However, in actual use they did about 32,000 pieces per hour.  If you were to base your budgeted hours and productivity goals on the higher figure, you would be gravely disappointed in the results.  The latter number is the more appropriate number to base any projections.

Re-evaluate any goals that may be outdated once new technology, modifications, or improved processes are put into place.  The worst thing you can do is have goals that aren’t in line with the capabilities of machines and people.