Reduce the Units of Input Not Producing Output

Reduce units of Input (I) available but not producing Intermediate Cost Drivers (ICDs). This action makes Input levels more directly variable with the quantity of the ICD by reducing the amount of the available Input that is wasted or idle. For example, an employee (I) might produce one subassembly (ICD) per day. During that day, the employee spends a total of one hour waiting for parts for the subassembly. If the Company could eliminate that one lost hour of the employee's work day by providing parts in a more timely manner, the Company could reduce the number of employees (I) needed to produce the same subassembly (ICD) by 1/8th.

A. Assist Input in increasing ICDs.

Recognize efficiency. When people understand that the company is measuring efficiency, they pay more attention to what is measured.

Add evaluation of levels of efficiency:
Warnings and advice

No. Industry SIC Year Notes
1 0 2007 Untraditional management techniques may seem to be a recipe for anarchy. However, when members are held accountable for their actions and results but not micromanaged they will perform. Companies which hold their first-line employees responsible for results, allow team members to have access to real-time performance data and decision authority over the key variables that influence performance do not need significant top-down discipline.
2 0 2007 Companies such as FedEx, Comcast, and Disney Cruise Lines are now using software to analyze thousands of hours of customer calls in minutes. The older software could only detect how often customers repeated words such as "damn" or "managers," but newer versions can distinguish between speakers and dissect phrases and their content. The software can examine the data to determine whether service is down in a given area or if the agent is just inept.
3 0 2008 Managers need to learn how to bond with remote employees by close contact and clear objectives. When it comes time to deliver performance reviews or critical feedback, try to do it in person. Avoid criticizing during a conference call or when other team members are listening. Success, on the other hand, should be announced loudly. Celebrate with congratulatory calls, emails, or an intranet posting. For a really big success, the boss can make a personal visit.
4 0 2008 The best strategy to deal with underperformers is by laying groundwork so that you come across as a supportive coach. It is helpful if workers know what metrics managers are using to evaluate their work. Then, workers must be informed of the consequences of continual underperformance. Examples of consequences include placing the employee on probation or requiring the worker to attend training sessions. Remind workers that there will be a set time frame for mandatory improvement. Establish checkpoints every week where you'll meet with the individual to assess progress. Also get feedback on your role as manager and ask if the expectations, consequences, and time frame make sense.
5 0 2008 Supply-chain managers must develop a new set of skills to meet outsourcing and globalization problems. The need is to immerse themselves in new technology to help keep crucial company processes running. Inventory-control software is a common tool for supply-chain managers, but s/he must be able to integrate the inventory software with the rest of company's computer system so that other departments can use the information, as well as build crucial relationships inside and outside of their companies.
6 0 2008 Under-30 workers nowadays require a different style of management than before. Recognize superior performance by creating unique rewards that exploit their eagerness to assert their identity. For example, you can celebrate by distributing soda bottles adorned with special labels with the employee's photo. Jones Soda Co. is a vendor that specializes in such bottles.
7 3600 1990 Square D installed an outsize scoreboard at corporate headquarters that lists results and productivity for Square D and its competitors.
8 3661 2006 Motorola is thriving under the mindset of the Six Sigma, the exacting, metrics-driven process that has become corporate gospel, infiltrating functions from human resources to marketing, and industries from manufacturing to financial services. With the Six Sigma, Motorola has climbed from a 15.4% market share in mobile phones to 22.4% over the past two years. Motorola netted $4.6 billion on $36.8 billion in revenues last year. The mantra of Six Sigma "black belts" is DMAIC, for "define, measure, analyze, improve, control."
9 3728 1986 Woodward claims its high productivity and high morale come from blurring the distinction between bosses and workers, between owners and employees.
10 3800 2004 In today's cut-throat world, companies are fighting to say ahead by cutting costs. When Marlow Industries Inc. made major changes to stay afloat, it had a meeting to explain exactly what it was doing for every change. The strategy also entailed convincing the surviving workers that they had a future at the company. Marlow also updated workers regularly on when their full pay would be restored.
11 5065 1989 Rolm's manufacturing operations were losing their gloss too. Rolm had set up 3 production lines, with three separate management staffs challenging them to compete to increase productivity, but this just increased overhead.
12 6311 2003 In setting performance goals, the company thought it was important that the shop floor goals should be linked directly to the metrics that are applied to the CEO's performance.

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