Data driven manufacturing in a connected workplace

At its simplest, the UK economy, like any other, is a system which converts work into the output of goods and services. Productivity measures this rate of conversion.

Labour productivity is measured by calculating the economy's output and the total labour hours involved in its production. So if output rises by 2% in a given period whilst the hours of labour used to produce it rise by 1% then productivity would have grown by 1%. Or, if the hours of labour used rises by 2% then productivity would have been unchanged.

For a long time we as a company have shown a particular interest in the Productivity Conundrum or Productivity Puzzle, whatever you prefer to call it. Whenever it's in the news and being discussed by politicians we listen in amazement at the below par performance figures. There are always many guesses as to the cause of poor productivity yet there is never any mention of poor management or a right first time approach.

This is a pattern we see time and time again in too many businesses and it was the reason we started to work on finding a solution. Our conclusion was; Without a governing system to report and coordinate activities people often work on the wrong things. Furthermore, adhoc management will result in poorly coordinated activities due to a lack of understanding of the correct priorities.

One of the saddest indictments on Industry is that we have been seriously embracing continuous improvement in one form or another for over 30 years, firstly through TQM, JIT & Kaizen and then through the growth of Lean and Six Sigma. Surely these methods and techniques are intended to address all the factors that impact on poor efficiency and performance. So why aren't they delivering in a more widespread fashion?

It is our firm belief that, whilst the methods clearly work when applied and sustained properly, there is no escaping the fact that they are manual. Those tools that we have relied on for 30 years have one big flaw; They are driven by people and anything that relies on people power will lack a mechanical consistency and will rely on discipline alone to ensure sustainability. Through the evolution of cloud based computing, technology now has the capability to join the dots. The solution to this problem, infact the solution to the productivity conundrum, as well as the carbon footprint benefits that are tied into it, is a hybrid between operational excellence and a technology based visual management system.