The importance of not being idle

摘要

Michael Harris of business and technology consulting firm, West Monroe Partners, explains how to focus on internal processes to reduce idle time to increase efficiency and output. Manufacturing and distribution is under enormous pressure to do more with less. In the battle to increase employee efficiency and output, there lies a power struggle between productive and unproductive time. Although tasks that don't produce tangible results may be necessary to support warehouse or distribution centre operations, organisations are often not acting proactively to identify and mitigate the time spent on idle or indirect time. Idle time can account for up to 40-50% of a firm's distribution labour costs in extreme cases. A lack of visibility into the idle time issue is not just a matter of extra expense - it's a roadblock on the path to a more productive floor. There are a number of sophisticated intelligence tools and wearable devices that have emerged and this has led some to believe that the simplest solution to tackling idle time can be found in these new gadgets. However, this investment in technology is essentially, only a cosmetic fix. What warehouse leaders need to do is to start from the ground up, outlining smarter processes for tracking and assessing all labour hours that lay a foundation for future transformation.