Group members : Aasif Nawaz 16JZIND0002

Atta ur rehman 16JZIND0009

Muhammad zaheer khan 16JZIND0026

“Process improvement in Labour Productivity in Material Department

Mol”

Literature Review:
Productivity is usually defined as the ratio of output to inputs in production. Labor productivity
(the value of goods produced in a period of time divided by the hours of labor used) and material
productivity (amount of economic value generated by a unit of material input) are some instances
of…productivity measures. Describe and compute appropriate productivity measures for your
practice organization.
Would you classify the production system of your company as Make-To-Order, or Make-to-
Stock, or a combination of both? Elaborate your answer.
Describe how production plans are developed, implemented, and controlled. Considering the
causes that can disrupt a production plan, list things that can go wrong.
State three different items kept in stocks in your practice organization. What requirements do
they serve, or what causes them? Use a graph to plot the inventory on hand (i.e. in the storage or
use areas within the facilities of the company) versus time for at least one of these items. Do you
observe any pattern? How can you explain that pattern (or none)? Supply your sources of data
used in the plot.
What difficulties do you observe with regard to managing inventories? Describe the costs
associated with maintaining inventory.
Process Classification:
Classify the service process in the Service Process Matrix. This classification uses two factors:
(i) labor intensity, and (ii) degree of interaction and customization. In this matrix each factor has
as a high or a low value which yields a total of 2x2=4 classes. These classes are named service
factory, service shop, mass service, and professional service (check below table).
Explain the type of operations in the company with respect to the classification given in the
service process matrix. Place your company in one of the four cells of this matrix. Discuss why
you made your classification; give examples of companies/industries that have the same
classification as your company or contrast your company to others that do not have the same
classification.
Service Process Matrix Degree of interaction and customization

Low High
Labor intensity Low SERVICE FACTORY SERVICE SHOP

High MASS SERVICE PROFESSIONAL SERVICE

Applications and Background of Labour Productivity:

Labor productivity and “output per hour”, as compiled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor
Statistics is recognized as one of the standard guidelines.
Using U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics methods a company can determine its labor
productivity as:
Labor productivity index = Total annual output / The total hours worked
These figures obtained from year to year can be indexed and can be related to a base year
so that output per man hours comparisons can be made.
Increased productivity makes it possible
To pay good wages to employees
Provide satisfactory dividends to stock holders
To sell products / services at low prices

Why labour productivity matters?

Growth in labour productivity is a key aspect of economic performance and a change instigator
in the rising standards of living in a country (OECD, 2013a, 2013b; Freeman, 2008; Gomez-
Salvador et al., 2006; Pilat, 1996). Labour productivity is a straightforward measure of the
efficiency of engaged labour on the output (goods or services produced) or a measure of real
added value per one hour of work.Comparisons of productivity growth are a standard tool of
economic analysis, but comparisons of productivity levels are less frequently made, although
they can indicate the relative standing of a country and yield useful insights in the potential for
further productivity growth and catch-up (Pilat, 1996). At the microeconomic level, when only
labour is considered as a production factor, this is a single-factor productivity measure
designating the productivity of the labour employed. In this case, labour productivity is a key
indicator of company performance, given that it has direct influence on the production costs,
which determine cost-effectiveness and profitability (Avelini Holjevac and Vrtodušić Hrgović,
2012). Comparisons of labour productivity on a micro-level are much more difficult than in the
case of examining the productivity of entire national economies. It should be noted that there is a
range of other productivity measures, which should be considered in combination, rather than
come to conclusions based on a single measure.
The complexity of measuring methodology becomes even more evident when one reviews the
literature on this topic. A number of authors have analysed the interdependence of particular
sectoral factors, intersectoral differences and their impact on total productivity and labour
productivity (Lucidi and Kleinknecht, 2009; Gomez-Salvador et al., 2006; Van der Wiel, 2001;
Lowe, 1995). Apart from this macroeconomic approach, there are numerous studies that
investigated the impact of the relative cost of labour (Lowe, 1995), of FDI (spillover) and MNEs
(ownership and spillover) (Oulton, 1998; Doms and Jensen, 1998; Davies and Lyons, 1991) and
the impact of work intensity on productivity (Roca-Puig et al., 2012).
The microeconomic approach is more directed towards the relationship between Human
Resource Management and productivity (Bloom and Van Reenen, 2010), the impact of working
time and job insecurity on labour productivity (Dekker and van der Veen, 2015; Osuna, 2014;
Laihonen et al., 2012; Lee et al., 2007; De Cuyper and De Witte, H., 2005; De Witte and
Näswall, 2003; Tippins and Stroh, 1993), job satisfaction (Rollinson et al., 1998), and even
differences in labour productivity between the public and private sectors (Vaughan-Whitehead,
2012; Lee et al., 2007; Moreton, 1999). Since this paper is focused on working time and working
time organization as important factors of labour productivity, the following chapter will deal
with the basic notions and trends that explain the meaning of “normal exertion”.
Moreover, about 30% of the respondents worked overtime exclusively voluntarily, and 50% of
these voluntary overtime workers were not rewarded for their overtime. The results of this study
imply that moderate overtime work does not have to be a major problem as long as employees
have the freedom to decide whether or not to work overtime.
The negative effects of involuntary overtime work may, to some extent, be reduced by fair
compensation for extra work efforts. Stated differently, this study shows that proper working
conditions (e.g., high work time control and/or fair rewards) are not only vital during contractual
work hours but also (and maybe even more important) during overtime work. Good working
conditions can be achieved through legislative initiatives as well as constructive initiatives from
the employer.
With respect to the former, every EU country has now issued general legislation on maximum
work hours and minimum rest breaks. Work time laws in EU countries all follow the general
European Work time Directive, stating that the average working week (including overtime, as
calculated over a 17-week reference period) should not exceed 48 hours per week.
Furthermore, workers should have non work periods of at least 11 hours per day, and 35 hours a
week. From the viewpoint of worker protection, such general regulations are important;
however, they more or less ignore the complex nature of the relationship between overtime and
well-being (Beckers et al., 2008).