Strategies for Enhancing Productivity and Quality in Industries

Productivity refers to the physical relationship between the quantity produced (output) and the quantity of resources used in the course of production (input).Productivity is the ratio of output/input. Here output means No. of items produced or services rendered. Input consists of various resources viz men, machine, material and money. Productivity measures the efficiency of the production system. The efficiency with which resources are utilized is called productive efficiency. Higher productivity means producing more from a given amount of inputs or producing a given amount with lesser inputs Enhancing productivity in manufacturing industries is very essential in the present scenario. The present business scenario has undergone a lot of change. It is not the same as that existed before. Product life cycle has changed from years to months and variety has become the need of the hour. In fact the pace of change has accelerated. The competition has got intensified. Speed has become the essence of business. Today it is survival of the fittest. In addition to this customer satisfaction has gained prominence and undoubtedly it can be said that the customer has become the king of the market. Hence in today?s competitive manufacturing environment it is essential to get the most out of our existing assets. As it has been said that a nation, a state or an industry advances by using less to make more. In other words it is not important for industries to just increase production but it is even more important to maintain and enhance productivity.. The objective of this paper is to suggest suitable strategies for enhancing productivity in manufacturing industries. In order to enhance productivity in industries the first step is to measure overall productivity. Then the total productivity should be analyzed in terms of each input factor .To achieve this the cause and effect diagram of productivity shown in this paper can be used to pin point certain areas or factors which can be improved upon to enhance productivity. In other words by first analyzing the partial productivity indicators viz productivity of men, productivity of materials, productivity of machines and methods and then by combining all of them the overall productivity of a manufacturing industry can be increased. The other important areas which can be concentrated for improving productivity are rejection level, implementation of quality management systems, total cycle time, creativity and innovation, motivation of employees etc. Quality of a process has a direct impact on the productivity. Quality results in fewer rejections hence, lesser no of reworks and better productivity. Better quality standards save time and money which are very crucial to the efficiency of any process, be it manufacturing or service. Product life cycle doesn?t end after its purchase. When a product or a service is not as expected or as promised to the customer, it leads to customer churn. Today we live in a world where customer acquisition costs are high thanks to intense competition in every industry. In such a world retaining existing customers has become one of the main focus points of any business. This has led to companies pouring in huge chunk of money into customer service operations, which demand high level of productivity and quality, as it is a way in which the company interacts directly with the customer. Quality of such operations is crucial in meeting customer expectations. In this paper we also discussed a quality tool that can be implemented in any industry, be it manufacturing, IT, consulting etc. Critical TO Quality (CTQ) Drill Down Tree helps individuals or companies identify measurable parameters that can improve the quality of operations required to enhance a product or a service.