Only by accurately measuring the work can you begin to improve the activity or process
A business needs to have measures that together point towards what is an improving, static or worsening situation. These measures should also help to point to the reason for what has been identified.
To assess performance in a business you need various measures – no single measure will suffice. There isn’t one single performance measure on which you can base decisions to run your business. After all, prescription no business has just one KPI (Key Performance Indicator).
Performance can be measured at several different levels (cars per year, cars per week, manhours per car). Most importantly it should be measured and monitored over periods of time that are appropriate to the business.
Overview of our 2024 training courses
Overview of our 2025 training courses
What do you measure against?
Items per minute
Transactions per day
Units per person
Cost per hour
You can assess performance by measuring the work content of different jobs in hours – that’s a common standard. Robust and appropriate measures should point towards the causes of poor performance.
Regular review of these causes should identify where action can be taken to remove some of the hurdles. The more hurdles you can remove, the shorter the time to complete the task and the better the productivity.
In this section you’ll find information about various productivity techniques, methods and tools
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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
Are your professional skills up to date?
Time to do a course on Maintaining Professional Standards. Get your annual check on a Performance Rating Clinic or your MOST® re-certification