Rex Draper, Negosentro | An efficient workplace is a workplace that every business dreams of having. It is one where your employees do their jobs to the best of their ability, where inefficient or lost data doesn’t cause huge setbacks in your workflow, and one that produces and manufactures products properly, meaning you don’t accumulate waste and are as efficient in the production as possible.
Efficiency does not mean a loss of quality. In fact, it often means improved quality, and to achieve this efficiency in your production, follow these three easy steps:
- Clean
Both office environments and manufacturing floors alike must be clean. They must be clean for the safety, health, and efficiency of your workers. Clean workplaces require two steps; the first is to spring clean, the second is to deep clean. Doing this now, especially if you have been lax about it in the past, will improve workflow immensely. Employees won’t have to waste time looking for items, and your machinery and workstations will be clean.
To accomplish this, first remove all items that your employees do not use on a regular basis and create an efficient storage solution for them. If you are unsure for any reason, place a red tag on it. If the item is not used within a month, find a new home for it.
The next step is to clean the property. The cleaner it is, the happier your employees will be and the better they can expect any and all machinery for faults or maintenance issues.
- Organize
The next step is to organize. Clearing out all the items that your employees don’t need is one thing, organizing their workflow is another. There are two ways you must organize your workplace. The first is physically – create a structure to the processes involved, as well as create a home for each item. That way employees can find what they are looking for quickly and you can know what is happening on the floor.
The second aspect of organizing your business is to organize your data. Lost or improperly stored data can lead to lost opportunities or even huge mistakes in an order. Go through and organize all the data files you have in a single system, and then train your employees on how to add metadata so that everyone can find new information easily.
- Maintain and Upgrade
There is no efficiency if, after a few months, your business falls back into its original state. To improve your business’s successes, you must maintain your efforts. Train your employees on how to efficiently do their jobs (and be open to suggestions), and keep a close watch on your production floor. Knowing that you need a new right angle gearbox and ordering one in advance, for instance, can continue production without a hitch.
Becoming more efficient will be difficult, because it is against how you and your employees have operated until now. Stick with it, however, and you will realize what organization can do to benefit your company.
