productivity

  • The Person Closest to the Problem Often Knows How to Solve the Problem

    • July 14, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing, Measurement
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    A subway tunnel. I had to walk down a subway tunnel to help a customer solve their problem. Because the person closest to the problem often knows the solution.

    A recent article in IndustryWeek, Once Led Through Fear, a Small Manufacturer Reimagines Itself, got me to thinking about who I often relied on to solve problems in our manufacturing plant. Last week, I talked about how as a manager, I had learned early on to ask people to “show me” whenever they were dealing

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  • Apply the “Touch It Once” Productivity Principle to Manufacturing

    • June 9, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Digital Transformation, Manufacturing, Productivity
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    A factory worker modeling the touch it once philosophy in manufacturing

    I often hear about the “Touch It Once” principle from productivity experts. The idea is that as soon as you pick up an item — say, an email or a piece of mail — you deal with it immediately. You don’t set it down to do later, you deal with it at that moment. That

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  • Can you Require Employees to Get the COVID Vaccine?

    • May 26, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Safety
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    Photo of a vaccine and syringe. In some cases, employers CAN require their workers to get a COVID vaccine.

    The COVID vaccine is in full swing and is fully available in every state in the U.S., but there are still plenty of people who are “vaccine hesitant” or are unsure whether they should get it or not. For manufacturers and businesses where remote work isn’t possible, the question is whether a company can require

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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
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    Photo of a woman holding a broom in a factory. She looks like she is appreciated for her hard work.

    If 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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  • How Can You Increase Revenue Without Increasing Orders?

    • January 20, 2021
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Measurement, Productivity
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    Photo of a man measuring a piece of equipment

    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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  • 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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  • How I Created The Four Non-Negotiables That Defined My Leadership Style

    • March 4, 2020
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Management, Manufacturing
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    My four non-negotiables philosophy has greatly aided me in my career as a manufacturing executive.

    Over the years, I’ve developed a management and leadership philosophy that has served me well as I progressed further in my career. As I moved further up my career ladder, I saw problems that I was able to fix by calling on these solutions. They became so important to my style that I started calling

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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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  • 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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  • Is Manufacturing Output Really Going Up?

    • October 9, 2019
    • Posted by: David Marshall
    • Category: Business, Manufacturing, Productivity
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    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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