Key issues affecting productivity in the process sector
Can you identify with some of the following issues in your own business? They’re typical of the problems brought to us by our customers in the process sector.
- Too often we’ve justified new equipment and been disappointed, so we need to ensure we get performance to the right levels from the outset.
- Having just lost a major contract we are committed to improving performance and costs to retain our other contracts and better compete for new ones.
- Acute margin pressure means we must ensure our equipment produces much more in less time and also allows us to respond to shorter delivery times and smaller orders.
If you share similar concerns, perhaps together we can find the solution for you. We did for every one of these.
Scott-Grant’s experience in the process sector
Here are some recent examples of how we’ve helped businesses in the process sector.
Example 1
Responding to increasing market demand meant that a company operating a very high speed converting and packing process was active 24/7 but still falling short on demand. It was acknowledged that the process wasn’t particularly effective, with OEE around 50%. An intensive, continuous monitoring study by experienced Industrial Engineers set about recording all downtime and reasons for stoppage, which produced some extremely useful information. The process didn’t run for more than 10 minutes without stopping. Over 100 reasons for stoppage were observed and then categorised into equipment, people and materials groups. Shortly after the study a change of material was introduced and the OEE increased by 60% to 80. Still considerable downtime, but a huge increase in productivity and a great example of addressing the cause of problems rather than the effect.
Example 2
A company who manufacture a tremendous range of products knew they would have problems internally with little specific capacity and cost information and were also considering a new incentive payment system for their staff. A Productivity Consultant and an Industrial Engineer were assigned to the task from Scott-Grant and produced a full database of synthetic work standards. The customer was so delighted, he asked for the two specialists to stay on and extend the database to contain material costs as well.
How to learn more about Productivity Improvement
Productivity can be improved in every department of every organisation. We offer opportunities to learn at an appreciation or awareness level, through to individual qualifications, or with guided learning on a live project in your workplace.
Some suggestions for studying productivity improvement
New to productivity?
Try the Productivity Foundation course
Want to use resources better?
Try the Assessing and Improving Performance course
Need some practical help with Lean principles?
Try our Briefing Days on the 5S Approach or SMED, or our course on Developing a Lean environment
What to do next
If you need to improve capacity or reduce costs, or you need accurate data to determine how best to cope with change, we can provide the right way forward – cost-effectively. Remember that improving productivity is about making the better use of all your resources and vitally, making much better use of the critical ones.
Whichever business sector you operate in, the chances are we’ve helped people to address their productivity issues and improve the way they operate.
Scott-Grant can really help you improve your productivity and become more streamlined.
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