Productivity

  • How Can You Adapt to Change During a Weird Time Like This?

    • October 14, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Productivity
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    Oil derrick against a bright blue sky.

    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
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    Productivity can only be improved if you measure everything first.

    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
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    Call up your retired workers to help you with a labor shortage.

    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
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    When working with a manufacturing consultant, tie their pay into the improvements they bring.

    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
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    An automated factory is part of the reason manufacturing productivity is increasing.

    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

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  • Philosophy of Constant Cleaning in a Factory

    • November 20, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Productivity, Safety
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    Constant cleaning in a factory means increased productivity and safety, as well as fewer maintenance issues.

    A friend was recently telling me about when he worked in a restaurant. When there were only a few customers, his manager used to say, “If there’s time to lean, there’s time to clean,” which is something I’ve heard myself over the years. It’s an important sentiment in some situations, like waiting tables at a

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  • Who Should Lead and Fund Retraining, Government or Business?

    • November 13, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Productivity
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    Worker retraining can help unskilled workers learn to use more complex machines like this CNC router.

    During the Obama administration, the federal government put a lot of money into retraining and education for workers who had lost their jobs due to the 2008 recession. And while I think it was a good idea for the government to help fix the economy in this way, I wondered if government was really the

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  • How Do You Recession-Proof Your Business?

    • October 23, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Innovation, Productivity
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    Empty shelves at a grocery store in Florida. Preparing for a recession is like hurricane preparedness.

    Trying to recession-proof your business is like hurricane-proofing your house. Now, we don’t get many (actually, any) hurricanes in Central Texas, but I’ve got friends in Florida who tell me all about it. They tell me the hurricane-prep is almost comical to watch: Five days before a major hurricane will make landfall, all the people

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  • Is Manufacturing Output Really Going Up?

    • October 9, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Manufacturing, Productivity
    No Comments
    A factory warehouse filled with inventory. A prime example of ??

    There’s all kinds of talk that the manufacturing economy is heading for a recession, even as manufacturing output is on the rise. But you may be wondering how we even know this, especially as the rest of the economy seems to be doing so well, including having low unemployment in the U.S. When it comes

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  • Improving Productivity Reduces a Factory’s HR, Onboarding Costs

    • August 14, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Productivity
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    Improving productivity on your factory floor can also reduce HR and onboarding costs.

    Improving productivity throughout your operation, especially on the manufacturing floor, can have an amazing ripple effect throughout your entire organization. A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we were able to improve productivity by measuring our results on the floor and in our accounts receivable department. We were able to save a lot of

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