Productivity
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A Person Who Feels Appreciated Will Do More Than What Is Expected
- May 12, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Productivity
No CommentsIf you ever want to get extra work and effort out of someone, plus earn their loyalty and dedication, you should never do it through fear, intimidation, or even monetary reward. (Although that last one can be effective for a short while. And that’s as a bonus for their work, not their regular salary.) The
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What It’s Like Working With Just-In-Time Manufacturing
- March 3, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Productivity
One of the things manufacturers often come up against is the issue of just-in-time manufacturing. You find it with large manufacturers that mass producing a lot of products for larger projects. Just-in-time manufacturing means that your products or parts show up at another manufacturer’s plant or a project site just in time to be used,
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How Can You Increase Revenue Without Increasing Orders?
- January 20, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Measurement, Productivity
Your orders have leveled off and hit a plateau, but your operating costs are on the rise, which is cutting into your profitability. How can you increase revenue even while your average number of orders processed and units moved are remaining flat? One of the ways you can do that is just by increasing your
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Working Remotely Can Stifle Professional Development
- January 13, 2021
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Management, Productivity
I’ve said over the past few years that I’ve never been a big fan of working remotely. And even though current circumstances have forced most office workers to work from home or work from socially-distant coworking spaces, I still think it’s essential that we return to the office as soon as it’s safe to do
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Invest In Your Associates to Help Your Company Thrive
- October 21, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Innovation, Leadership, Productivity
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about how you can win your associates’ loyalty by involving them in the decision-making process when it comes to new technology and equipment. Another way you can invest in your associates is to give them an opportunity to participate in the business. For example, at Robroy, I instituted
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How Can You Adapt to Change During a Weird Time Like This?
- October 14, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Productivity
I’ve been asked, during the pandemic-induced recession, how companies can and should adapt to change and keep up with everything that’s going on in the world. How can they pivot? How can they evolve? How can they morph into something that can take advantage of this “new normal.” Believe it or not, there is a
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My Four Non-Negotiables: #3 – Productivity
- March 25, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Measurement, Productivity
Over the years, I have developed a management philosophy I call the Four Non-Negotiables. For the next couple weeks, I’ll share what each of them are and what they mean. This week is about Non-Negotiable #3, Productivity As you manage your organization’s Safety, and the Housekeeping is well in hand, you want to look at
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Look to Retirees to Shore Up Your Labor Shortage
- February 19, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Management, Manufacturing, Productivity
As the labor market continues to tighten, and it’s getting harder to hire skilled and experienced labor, it will behoove managers to take a different view on hiring people over 65 on a consultancy basis. There’s a lot of experience sitting on the sidelines that’s not being utilized, and it’s contributing to the American labor
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How to Work With a Manufacturing Consultant
- January 26, 2020
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Business, Manufacturing, Productivity
Manufacturers that want to work with a manufacturing consultant can easily find someone who will walk into your business, pick your pockets, and leave, never feeling a sense of ownership of the outcome. But very few consultants can actually deliver on the improvements they promise, so the best way is to pay a manufacturing consultant
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Why Hiring is Going Down While Output or Skilled Labor Hiring is Going Up
- December 11, 2019
- Posted by: David Marshall
- Category: Manufacturing, Productivity
Depending on which news source you read, manufacturing jobs are on the rise or they’re dropping faster than gravity. Some states are seeing major layoffs, while other states have hundreds, or even thousands, of new job openings for manufacturing labor, especially skilled labor. The overall trend seems to be on an upward slope for a