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Five Management Tips for Manufacturing Companies

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StrategyDriven Tactical Execution Article |Management Tips|Five Management Tips for Manufacturing CompaniesWhen we speak of manufacturing, we’re often reminded of the factory floor itself, with its workers and automated machines working in harmony to mass-produce equipment and consumer goods for a global marketplace. We rarely think of the managers who make these things happen – and that will be the focus of this article. Managers are able to adapt their factories and production lines to build effectiveness and efficiency – and this is where the five tips below come in, showing you where and how to manage your production facility for the biggest gains in 2020.

Staff

As a manager, your first responsibility is towards your staff. Without staff who are motivated and happy, it’s difficult to run a business. It’s difficult to get them to work the extra hours you may need them to work, and it’s even harder to have them put their all into their work each day. As such, man-managing your staff, with regular meetings, appraisals, and pay rises will help get the most out of your human resources each week of the year.

Processes

You should also, as a manager, be taking a close look at the processes through which your business is working. For instance, your overall production process – from raw inputs to your outputs – is one overarching process, with several smaller processes within it. To really understand these various processes, you should audit your entire production cycle in order to get to grips with where you might, as a manager, be able to intervene and improve upon some of the processes that are central to your work.

Equipment

Astute managers should always be on the lookout for the newest and most reliable equipment to bring into their manufacturing facility. Without the best equipment, you’re unlikely to run at the highest-possible capacity in your facility, with gaps in production when certain elements fail or break. Be sure to use the most advanced in the load cell developer field, and the most impressive sensors and switches, in order for your production crew to continue producing through the weeks and months ahead.

Health and Safety

All facilities – whether offices or factories – require you to be responsible for health and safety. Laws in your locality will stipulate this, by showing you a number of responsibilities that you have towards your staff. While you may not be liable, should your staff suffer injury at work, your company surely will be – and this is something you want to avoid at all costs, as damaging litigation from a former employee will be an unwelcome distraction from your day-to-day operations.

Operational Planning

Finally, managers will hold regular meetings with senior figures across the company in order to divine where, in the future, the company ought to move. For instance, monitoring the market for signs of fluctuation and change can be important for your business – it means you can anticipate demand ahead of time, and put plans in place to ride out dips in demand, or to make the most of the peaks.

Managing in the manufacturing industry is a tricky task – and that’s why this article gathers together five top tips to help you make the most of your managerial role, boosting your company’s performance at the same time.

Arresting The Usual Suspects Of Downtime

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StrategyDriven Managing Your People Article |Downtime|Arresting The Usual Suspects Of DowntimeTime wasted in business is money wasted. You’re still paying the bills, paying your employees and missing out on revenue for every single minute spent fruitlessly. In the pursuit of more efficient and productive workplaces, it’s important to look at the risk of downtime and where it might be rearing its ugly head in your business. Here are a few of the usual suspects.

Distraction and human error

This might be the first suspicion of a manager who is worried about the productivity of their workers but rarely is it the case that a lot of downtime is caused by employees who aren’t doing their work. If someone is distracted in the workplace, such as by certain social media networks or websites, then you can use access controls to prevent them from using certain websites at certain times.

Noisy neighbors

If distraction is the culprit, then often it’s due to outside interferences, not personal problems. For instance, a workplace that doesn’t offer enough private space for individuals to concentrate on their work is likely to see a lot more interruptions. Similarly, interrupting the workflow with unnecessary phone calls and meetings can be a drain on productivity, too. Not only does it take up the time of the meeting itself, but people have a hard time “shifting back into gear” after a length interruption.

IT issues

We rely a lot more on technology nowadays, which also means that when it’s no longer accessible, it can cut us off from our ability to do work. Whether due to software or hardware, it’s important to be ready to respond to IT issues, with the help of outsourced IT support if necessary. The greater your IT scope, the more your team relies on it and the more time could be lost if you’re not invested in proactive maintenance.

Blackouts and other natural disasters

There’s not a lot you can do to foresee natural disasters. There is a lot you can do to prepare for them, however. For instance, many businesses will invest in a backup internet connection or allow employees to work remotely if the network of the office building goes down. Similarly, you may use a backup generator to supply the power needed to keep the work going in event of a breakout. Flexibility is crucial.

How to measure it

If you want to know the specific culprit behind the majority of your own downtime, then a little fact-finding is necessary. Time-tracking software* and apps can help you see how your team is using their time, from what websites and apps they’re using to any time they might be prevented from doing work. Then you can address the issue directly rather than having to guess what’s at the route of your time-wasting problems.

An assessment of the workplace is needed, and a strategy to cut down on the downtime plaguing your team is essential. Not only does it waste time and money, but it impacts the motivation and engagement of your team. Let downtime rule the roost and everyone suffers.

Get More Efficient In Your Business

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StrategyDriven Managing Your Business Article |Efficient business|Get More Efficient In Your BusinessAn efficient business is always going to be more profitable, and you must be looking at taking steps to improve your company’s efficiency so you can really make a big difference. When you look at your business no matter what it is, you need to ensure that you’re improving its performance. From managing financial shares to Best dividend stocks asx, you need to keep your business in great working order.

1. Stop the distractions as much as humanly possible

Even though it may be impossible to eliminate all distractions there must be some methods that you implement in order to keep staff and the entire team on target. Scheduling meetings and other important business functions can be good and also giving your staff targets and access to scheduling tools so they can prioritise can also greatly help. You need to think of the best ideas to keep them from straying during the working day such as checking personal emails or going on their phones. It can be difficult but after all you’re paying them for their time.

2. Implement different solutions for maximum impact

Computers, desks, chairs and equipment that isn’t up to good standard can hinder productivity. Staff may complain, have health troubles or generally not feel that they are working in a great environment and this is bad. You must ensure that you are getting the best things in place for your staff so that they feel at ease and this will lead to better productivity throughout the months.

3. Update your technology

Having efficient and up-to-date technology will help everyone and it will be vital to the production of the company. Improving IT systems and phone systemes will be one of the best ways and a great technological upgrade to perform. Advanced management software can help everyone stay better organised and to also be sure that they can access files quickly without having to wait for things to load. It’s important that they can get on with things quickly.

4. Get the best customer experiences in place and keep them engaged!

By improving the experience for each customer, you will not have the complaints you may have had previously and you will keep them more interested in what you’re doing and want to keep more up to date with you. Your staff will be more focused on other important business matters and this way you can be more efficient and solve problems much quicker than usual. Every staff member should be trained and know how to treat each customer in a kind and polite manner. Efficient assistance to resolve any problems is key to keep your customers happy as afterall, they will always come first. Get your website up to scratch and allow them to have a good user experience online also and give good clear contact information in case of any issues they may have. There are many advantages that come along with improving business efficiency and it starts with you. Today. Get working on an even better business for 2020.

Techniques to Improve Employee Efficiency

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StrategyDriven Talent Management Article |Employee Efficiency|Techniques to Improve Employee EfficiencyThe success of every business depends on the efficiency of employees. If you are facing some challenges due to inefficiency, it is possible to change the situation. Achieving maximum efficiency in employees is the greatest challenge for most business owners and managers. These are people with different temperaments and views; therefore, you expect clashes before finally convincing them on how to be better. However, the benefits of efficiency in business are greater than any challenges you may encounter.

How to Improve Employee Efficiency

Be bold enough to delegate

Delegating work in your business is not as easy as it sounds. You want to know how everything is running. Although handling everything by yourself is an excellent way to ensure quality, in the long run, it becomes a waste of time.
Give some of the responsibilities to someone who is qualified and consider training or guiding them on how to handle the job. You will not only create time for yourself but also allow employees to gain leadership skills.

Invest in team building activities

While most businesses focus on making their customers happy, it would also be a good idea to give employees a good treat. Keep in mind that your employees are the lifeblood of your business. Therefore, you can talk to professionals from camp staff training Dallas offer team building activities. These activities will bring your workers together, help them communicate better, build trust, resolve conflicts, and enhance cooperation in teamwork.

Ensure communication is effective

Communication is the key to the success of any business. Nowadays, it’s even easier, thanks to advanced technology. You can install several apps and reach everyone working for you with just a single tap on your smart gadget’s touch screen. Apart from easing communication, most of these apps are free and allow low-cost voice calls. What’s more, you can have meetings and conferences online.

Set goals and stay focused

Goals keep employees focused. If your business has no goals, there is nothing defined to achieve. This will make them less productive. To increase efficiency, have a list of things that must be accomplished in day or week and check to see if they accomplished what you expected them to.

Incentivize employees

According to a recent study by Harvard Business Review, employees are driven to increase efficiency when offered incentives and rewards. You should take time to recognize and appreciate employees who perform exceptionally.
Most business owners think of increased budgets when incentives are mentioned. However, appreciating employees is not just about money; you can do it in many other ways. This may include:

  • Additional holiday days and paid sick leaves
  • Allowing them to go home earlier or buying them lunch
  • Always mention someone who performs very well when addressing annual meetings
  • Honor efficient employees publicly
  • Get them good parking spots
  • Upgrade work equipment for them

Empower Your Employees

While you may have the authority to decide what needs to be done to increase efficiency in your business, it is always a good idea to consider what your employees want. Have meetings or discussions to iron out areas that may be raising concerns. It’s also important to boost employee morale to get the most out of them.

Be More Productive With These Office Tips

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StrategyDriven Entrepreneurship Article |Productive office tips|Be More Productive With These Office TipsWorking in an office environment is sometimes a stressful job. It is a working environment that is often fast paced and sometimes it is hard to balance every little job and reach your goals.

If you have been sure going creating a productive office space recently it is important for you to try and make some key changes for efficient working. Today we are going to take a look at some of the ways you can make a change to your office space this year and be more productive.

Make it light

An office space cannot be dark and drab if you are to work in it effectively. You need to make sure that the office has plenty of natural light as well as bright light sources such as a 2×2 led panel above desk areas. Light helps people to stay awake and focused and it will ensure that they are able to work efficiently throughout the week.

Hire an Accountant

Running a business is stressful enough but if you are also trying to budget your business it can become a difficult and overwhelming task rather quickly. Instead of trying to budget for your own business and risking making mistakes, hire an accountant to handle it all for you. It will save you time and will ensure that you can be more productive at work.

Schedule social media

If you are looking to better market your business with an online presence, one of the things that can be very time consuming is making social media posts to go out throughout the week. To save you some time throughout the week, schedule them all in one sitting with an app like buffer and this will allow you to maintain an online presence without taking too much time out of each day to create new posts.

Virtual Receptionist

Who enjoys answering the phone? No one! If you don’t want to spend every 10 minutes having to stop working to answer the phone, a great idea would be to get a virtual receptionist. All calls will go through to them and they will simply update you with messages when needed.

A happy environment

The most important thing you can do to create a productive work environment is to make the office a happy and homely place to be. The office is a place where you will spend a lot of your time during the week so ensure you bring some comforting touches to the space. This includes things such as plants, cushions, sofas and artwork. The last thing you want is to have an imposing space that leaves no room for inspiration.

Avoid clutter

A cluttered desk is a cluttered mind. If you constantly have clutter all over the office and your desk, you won’t be able to concentrate very well on your work and nothing will get done. Always make sure that you clear away paperwork and clear the space to make it feel open and light. This will make a huge amount of difference.