BlogProd

What is too much?

2012-02-18T10:00:00.000Z

There has been significasnt controversy in the UK in recent weeks about the size of executive pay bonuses ... especially for executives in companies that appear to be performing badly.

So, when is too much pay simply too much?

Impossible to say ... but the differential in pay in the West generally, but especially in the US and UK, has reached impossible levels. The ratio of executive pay to the pay of the lowest paid is now abnout 200 times. 20 years ago it was about 50 times.

The rich are getting richer ... and have continuesd to do so throughout the economic crisis.

Now, that is just plain wrong!

The Jobless Recovery

2012-02-04T10:00:00.000Z

There is growing evidence that a number of economies are making (weak) recoveries from the depths of the depression. These recoveries are not being matched by a rise in employment - unemployment remains stubbornly high in most countries.

This, however, suggests that productivity is rising ... and if we can maintain that trend - as firms do start to take on workers - we might get a 'real' - and 'strong' - recovery.

Do not expect answers from consultants

2012-01-28T10:00:00.000Z

Too many people do expect consultants to answer their questions and solve their problems. Of course sometimes the problems are so specific and obvious that consultants can indeed solve them.

In many organisations,though, the 'problems' are not that simple. The job of a consultant then is to help us understand that problem ... so that we can work out our own - tailored - solution which fits in with our mission, our aims, our way of thinking and our way of going about things. Then it might work!

Bring out the real productivity stats

2012-01-21T10:00:00.000Z

An interesting letter in a UK national newspaper last week suggested that the average Briton walks 900 mile per year and drinks 22 gallons of alcohol each year. Thus, 'productivity' is 41 miles per gallon.

There must be a whole raft of such 'useful' statistics we could compile.

Any suggestions?

Careful with those figures

2012-01-14T10:00:00.000Z

It is at this time of year that we get lots of statistics for 2011. Some of these are eagerly awaited ... so we can see how serious the current financial position is.

Amongst the first to arrive are ... retail sales over the holiday period. In the UK these are being hailed as 'good' ... up on the same period last year, for example.

However ..
(1) The same period last year saw the UK with heavy snow ... the shops were empty because people couldn't or wouldn't get there.
(2) Sales were up. But what about margins and profits. If I lose money on each sale, rising sales aren't going to help.

So be careful how you interpret what you read. Someone might want to give you a good message .. .and might present the figures to give that message. Your job is to look carefully and decide on the real 'truth' (if you have enough information).

Down to business

2012-01-07T10:00:00.000Z

So, the festivities are over ... everything is packed away for another year ... and we can concentrate on business.

We know this is a difficult year ... and WE know it demands improved productivity.

So, whatever else we do, we must get that message driven home through the corridors of power and the offices of industry .. we need to tackle REAL productivity issues.

Governments should be looking to invest in infrastructure issues. In the short term, it will help industry. In the longer term it will help industry more.

Industry needs to hold its nerve ... to do those things that allow it to survive these difficult times ... but also to keep one eye on that longer term ... and to prepare for the better times that will undoubtedly come. US manufacturing figures look good ... and could spark a (mini) revival.

Now, if only we could solve the Euro zone debt crisis. Suggestions on a postcard, please!!

Just Do It

2011-12-31T10:00:00.000Z

Some folk make new year resolutions.

For many, its the same ones every year ... the things they know they ought to do, but don't want to.

Business can be like that. There are things we know we should do to improve our productivity ... but something (we always have an excuse) stops us. The time is not right, we have other priorities, it will disrupt production, and so on.

Well, for a change, this year ... think what you ought to do .. and put some time in your diary to actually do it ... or allocate the project to someone you know will deliver.

You know it makes sense!

The Model Employee?

2011-12-24T10:00:00.000Z

Over the next 24 hours, millions of presents will be distributed to children around the globe by one man and a team of reindeer (admittedly with some help from elves in the supply chain).

Can we find out this man's productivity secrets ... and harness them in other areas?

Attractive productivity?

2011-12-17T10:00:00.000Z

A recent research study of golfers on the US women's tour suggests 'attractive' golfers get lower scores and more prize money ... and suggests that this phenomenon of a 'beauty premium' is not uncommon in other sectors.

It also suggests that if an attractive female employee is better rewarded per unit of production than her less attractive co-workers, she might increase her productivity.

Does anyone have evidence of this phenomenon in practice?

Get the right things right

2011-12-10T10:30:00.000Z

Lifting productivity and driving export growth is the focus of the (New Zealand) National Party's primary sector policy, says Agriculture spokesman David Carter.

"A key plank is increased water storage and irrigation, and National recently announced that it will provide up to $400 million from the Future Investment Fund to support the construction of well-designed irrigation schemes.

"Water is one of New Zealand's greatest competitive advantages, but we are not making the most of it. Developing water storage and irrigation has huge potential to unlock economic growth and prosperity for the primary sectors, and for all New Zealanders."

Who needs productivity?

2011-12-03T09:30:00.000Z

Governments - especially European governments - are concentrating on climbing out of the pit of the financial crisis. All that is on their mind is quantitative easing (printing money), interest rates and debt reduction.

All this is necessary ... but not sufficient. In the longer-term, the only solution to the problem is increased productivity. But governments don't have time. They are fighting the fire, not refilling the extinguisher.

No sex please, we are productivity experts

2011-11-26T10:00:00.000Z

In the UK, a man was recently reported by his girlfriend for secretly filming their sex sessions.

His 'explanation' was that he was a 'time and motion expert' and was undertaking research.

It shows my 'take' on the subject by the fact that what amazed me was the use of the term 'time and motion' ... a term I haven't heard used for many years.

This profession of ours has been through many job titles ... and sometimes with some justification.

The term 'work study' was the wrong term when one realises that, often, the most important thing to look at is the 'non-work. It is generally 'systems', processes and procedures that are 'inefficient', not workers.

So, now we end up with industrial engineers and lean practitioners ... with slightly different toolsets ... but with the same general approach.The secret is to ask enough questions until you uncover and understand the 'truth' .. and then to start improving it.

Generally the people skills are much more important than the technical skills.

So, call me what you want. I'm still going to have fun doing what I do.

Governments keep out!

2011-11-19T10:00:00.000Z

Governments do have a role to play in improving national productivity.

But it is all about policy, infrastructure and direction. What governments must not do is 'meddle' at operational levels.

This was brought home to me (once more) by a recent report that the Nigerian Minister of Power, Professor Barth Nnaji directed the management of the 18 successor companies, created out of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) to start paying staff a 50 per cent salary increase effective from September, 2011.

In a memo to the Chief Executive Officers of the successor companies, the minister indicated that the Federal Government had agreed to pay the outstanding first three months of the new salary package which took effect from June 2011.

Now if there were a rational economic reason for this directive, it could perhaps be understood.

But it actually goes counter to earlier comments expressed by the same government a week earlier when they expressed dissatisfaction with the productivity of the PHCN workers, saying they generate less than half of their wage bill.

Of course, these successors companies are supposed to be independent, private companies with supposed liberty to formulate their own wage structures — based on fairness and productivity of staff.

But the government has crippled their decision-making ... and their future productivity.

So, my advice to other governments is ... do what you need to do at the macro level ... and you do need to do it ... then get out of the way.

Who knows?

2011-11-12T10:00:00.000Z

I suspect that few people in the UK are aware that an energy act came into law recently which aims to boost energy efficiency in residential homes.

More than half of homes have insufficient insulation, and around 50 percent more energy is used to heat and power homes than is used to power industry, according to the Department for Energy & Climate Change.

"It is vital, therefore, that action is taken to address home energy efficiency," the department said.

"The coalition is doing all it can to bear down on energy prices, but insulation will provide the long-term help to manage bills," energy and climate change secretary Chris Huhne said.

DECC also said that the energy act would set in stone the legal framework for the 'Green Deal', which will be launched in autumn next year."The Green Deal will . help people insulate against rising energy prices, creating homes which are warmer and cheaper to run," DECC said.

Climate change minister Greg Barker said that the Green Deal is "expected to attract capital investment of up to 15 billion pounds in the residential sector alone by the end of this decade and at its peak support around 250,000 jobs."The key elements to the energy act will remove the upfront cost of energy efficiency measures (like loft, cavity and external wall insulation, draught proofing and energy efficiency glazing and boilers) making expensive home improvement affordable.DECC said that the energy saving work will be repaid over time through a charge on the home's energy bill.

Roosting chickens

2011-11-05T10:00:00.000Z

The typical American family now earns what it did in 1996 allowing for inflation - yet they have more/bigger cars, more/longer holidays, more/better technology .... because they borrowed on their assets (mainly their home).

The same is true across the western world.

The result?

The current economic crisis as the 'chickens have come home to roost.

We can't spend money we don't earn (as individuals or as nations) and expect it to go on for ever.I bet your mum and dad told you that.Pity your government - and your bank - didn't!

I want to see the evidence

2011-10-29T10:00:00.000+01:00

National health and safety reforms will deliver up to $2 billion a year in productivity gains, the Federal Government of Australia says. Workplace Relations Minister Chris Evans said the regulatory impact statement for the harmonisation of health and safety regulations found the economic benefit of a national system would result in productivity gains of $2 billion. The national system is set to be implemented by January 1, 2012Well, I want to see the evidence on January 1st, 2013 that those savings have been realised.
Its not that I don't agree with health & safety legislation ... but I seriously doubt that $2billion can be saved by implementing such legislation.

It can be done!

2011-10-22T10:00:00.000+01:00

DuPont’s recent 2011 Sustainability Progress Report shows the company’s environmental footprint continues to shrinkDuPont delivered a 75 percent decrease in greenhouse gas emissions and a 6 percent reduction in absolute energy use since 1990, while increasing production 40 percent during that same period.

Increasingly, DuPont is focused on helping businesses integrate sustainability as a growth strategy, which is highlighted by an annual customer survey that shows an increased demand for products with environmental benefits.“While reducing our footprint continues to be important, our growing focus is on how to use DuPont science and innovation to bring new products to the marketplace that improve efficiencies and sustainability throughout the entire value chain,” said Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Linda J. Fisher. “We see DuPont having an expanded role to provide sustainable solutions to our customers around the world as population dramatically increases.”

A DuPont annual survey of more than 3,500 customers, conducted in August 2011, showed they want safer materials, a reduction in water and energy use in manufacturing and improved environmental profiles throughout the lifetime of their products.

Customers indicated a 7 percent increase in green job creation from the design and manufacturing of products with environmental benefits. Overall 28 percent said their business saw an increase in new green jobs over last year. And two-thirds believe that environmental benefits in products will continue to have a positive impact on job creation over the next five yearsLast year, DuPont generated revenues of $1.6 billion from products that help its customers and their consumers reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Much of the increase came from revenue growth in key areas like photovoltaics and from engineering polymers used in light-weighting of vehicles. DuPont estimates that these products have reduced greenhouse gas emissions throughout the supply chain by more than 6.5 million metric tons between 2007 and 2010.

Since 1990, DuPont’s own energy reduction has declined 6 percent resulting in a $6 billion savings in energy purchases and enabled the company to exceed its 2010 goal to hold total energy use flat. The new goal for 2020 is to reduce non-renewable energy use by 10 percent per dollar of price adjusted revenue by 2020.DuPont is to be applauded. This shows what can be done when the mission changes to meet the demands of 'the new world' in which we all live.

Necessity really is the mother of invention

2011-10-15T10:00:00.000+01:00

We all know the phrase ... suggesting that we often only think (really think) about things when we are forced to do so.I was reminded of that the other day when reading about recent developments in energy efficiency by a number of firms.The reports were quite impressive - suggesting that many firms are now looking seriously at their energy usage and costs ... and are finding ways of reducing them. Well, of course, they have had the opportunity to look at such costs at any time in the past - but only rising fuel costs and rising restrictions on emissions have turned a 'should do' into a 'must do'. So, thumbs up for the recent advancements; but thumbs down for the time it has taken for these firms to realise they should do something. Now what other savings should you be thinking about before you are forced into them?

Be Careful What You measure

2011-10-08T10:00:00.000+01:00

Patricia F. White, a doctor for about 10 years, is seeking damages for objecting to having her pay based on the number of patients seen per hour. She is also alleging that her employers retaliated by keeping her from work.White's attorney, Gary Baker, called the practice "stopwatch medicine.Should we measure a doctor's performance on the quantity of work completed?

Enjoy Your Stay

2011-10-01T10:00:00.000+01:00

Hotels will be able to contribute to mitigating climate change while rermaining finnacially strong under a new United Nations-backed ‘green’ scheme offering an online toolkit to evaluate energy consumption, find renewable sources and cut costs with improved energy efficiency.

The toolkit is from the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and its partners and was finalized recently after testing in more than 100 European properties in four different pilot destinations.

Although hotels and other types of accommodation account for only 2 per cent of the world’s global-warming carbon dioxide emissions, UNWTO says addressing this comparatively small yet important footprint is a priority for the tourism sector. Of the world’s 5.9 million hotel rooms, over half are located in Europe, where the project has been launched initially.

The Hotel Energy Solutions (HES) e-toolkit is the main 'product' of the Hotel Energy Solutions project and provides hoteliers with a report which shows their current energy use and recommends appropriate renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies and actions. It further sets out what kind of savings on operational expenses hotels can expect from their green investments through a calculator measuring returns on investment.

While Hotel Energy Solutions is a UNWTO-initiated project supported by the European Agency for Competitiveness and Innovation under the Intelligent Energy Europe programme, it is expected to be rolled out globally over the coming years. Once adapted for non-EU Member States, the project will benefit hotels worldwide.

The project has been implemented in partnership with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA), the European Renewable Energy Council (EREC), and the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

Relearn once more

2011-09-24T10:00:00.000+01:00

I have just read a dissertation from a student about the implementation of Lean practices in UK manufacturing industry.

Over-simplifying dramatically, it says lots of companies are trying it ... many are failing at it.

The reasons for failure? Everything that you would expect..

Lack of senior management commitment.
Lack of communication.
Failure to anticipate resistance to change
Unrealistic expectations.

These are lessons that are in every management textbook. Either managers don't read .. or they don't understand .. in which case, lots of writers and publishers of management texts are wasting their time.

Sometimes you get surprised

2011-09-17T10:00:00.000+01:00

Sometimes your instinctive feel is just wrong. Sometimes things are counter-intuitive.

For example, in Bahrain, they have introduced a ban on outside work between noon and 4pm in the months of July & August. The ban was introduced in 2010 and repeated this year.

Not surprisingly, employers - especially those in construction - complained, saying it would lower productivity.

However, there has been almost total compliance and the government is claiming that workers have been performing better - more productively. A government spokesman says that several employers have indicated productivity increased after the rule was introduced.

Healthier and safer working often does mean higher productivity ... it looks as though this is the case here.

Safe Hands

2011-09-10T10:00:00.003+01:00

I've just returned from an event in Ankara, Turkey organised by - and for - Turkish Industrial Engineering students. I have 4 comments to make ...

They did a great job of organising the event .... and looking after me. They engaged me in lots of interesting conversations, discussions and arguments (of the right sort).
I had fun!

... but most of all, I was impressed by their knowledge of IE approaches and - more importantly - the context and environment in which those approaches will have to be delivered. I think the future of IE is safe in their hands.

Work from Home and be more efficient

2011-09-03T10:00:00.000+01:00

Allowing workers to work from home will not suit every company, but providing greater opportunities to staff to do so can have real business benefits. According to BT, while the London Olympic Games provides a timely business case to make the leap to greater flexibility, that decision has the potential to deliver returns that outlast the summer’s sporting triumphs. And BT’s research in the wake of the Vancouver Games found that a substantial 30 per cent of businesses would in retrospect have taken the chance to improve flexible working facilities for their staff.

This is an area in which BT leads by example, having encouraged flexible working for years. More than 70,000 of BT’s staff are equipped to work flexibly and around 13,000 work from home. The result has been harder work from employees. Jon Lane, business development and partnership director at BT, says “we find that home workers are 21 per cent more productive than office-based colleagues.” They also take less sick leave. He adds, “We have also made significant savings from reduced accommodation costs, and savings from recruitment and induction costs through better staff retention.”

Our people are our greatest asset

2011-08-27T10:00:00.000+01:00

You will have heard that slogan many times before ... and, quite often, just before an organisation downsizes or treats its employees poorly in some other way.

Now, the UK government is getting in on the act.

Oliver Letwin, the coalition's policy minister, recently revealed the government's determination to instil "fear" among those working in the public sector, who he claimed had failed for the past 20 years to improve their productivity. (Note: 'they' had failed; not those setting policy and strategy.)

Letwin, architect of the coalition's plans to reform public services, told a meeting at the offices of a leading consultancy firm that the public sector had atrophied over the past two decades.

In controversial comments angering teachers, nurses and doctors, he warned that it was only through "some real discipline and some fear" of job losses that excellence would be achieved in the public sector.

Letwin added that some of those running schools and hospitals would not survive the process and that it was an "inevitable and intended" consequence of government policy.

I am sure we now have high morale and high perfprmance amongst public sector workers.

Government raises the bar

2011-08-20T10:00:00.000+01:00

In the US, the White House and car manufacturers have agreed to raise the fuel economy standards for vehicles.

Fuel efficiency standards require mileage to average 54.5 miles per gallon for passenger cars and light trucks by 2025.

This is a significant step up from the 2016 level where cars and light trucks must average 31.4 miles per gallon or 250 grams per mile of carbon dioxide equivalent. This year, the fuel economy of all 2011 cars and trucks sold has to average out to 27.3 miles per gallon.

If the car makers have agreed, they must be pretty confident they can reach these new levels.

Campaigns and Awards

2011-08-13T10:00:00.001+01:00

Campaigns and awards are one of the ways in which national and regional productivity centres stimulate interest in productivity development.

As an example, in the Philippines, the Regional Tripartite Wages and Productivity Board has announced the conduct of the Productivity Olympics 2011 in the Zamboanga Peninsula.

Joel Ijirani, RTWPB-Zamboanga Peninsula board secretary, said the Productivity Olympics will be held to showcase the best productivity improvements, programs, and practices of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the region.

Participants must have had a productivity improvement program for at least two years preferably under the National Wages and Productivity Commission's (NWPC) ISTIV productivity program, and not a former recipient of the Productivity Olympics award at the national level.

ISTIV stands for industrious, systematic, time conscious, innovative, and strong value for work.

One enterprise will be chosen for each of the Agribusiness, Service and Industry sectors.

Is the US active?

2011-08-06T09:30:00.000+01:00

From January 2000 to January 2010, the number of U.S. manufacturing jobs fell by 6.17 million, or 34%

This is a dramatic drop. Of course, if output has been maintained through higher productivity, this would be less serious. Unfortunately, output also fell.

From 2000 to 2009, 15 of the 19 U.S. manufacturing sectors shrank in terms of real value added (gross output minus the cost of inputs), and overall manufacturing output declined by 10%.

So productivity did rise but not by enough.

What is the US doing about this situation. Well, my eyes and ears have detected very little awareness of the problem, let alone action to address it.

If you know more, please let me - and my readers - know!

What constitutes national productivity infrastructure

2011-07-30T09:00:00.000+01:00

The obvious elements of infrastructure required to underpin productivity growth are: a suitable macro-economic environment, good transport and telecoms links and high quality education and training. But there is more.

Take a look at this example.

World Bank experts have attributed Jamaica's perpetually disappointing economic performance to low productivity and suggest there are three major obstacles.

They estimate the country could achieve GDP growth of up to 5.4 per cent, but said that was predicated on the Government addressing and removing the constraints.

Low productivity, the bank argues, is ascribed to a high crime rate, deficient human capital primarily reflected in lack of adequate training for most of the labour force, and distortionary tax incentives combined with enclave development, manifested in the mining sector and all-inclusive resorts, that do not spill over to the rest of the economy.

Some of these fit within my first paragraph ... others don't. Its not always as simple as it first seems.

We Want More ... but we will have to wait

2011-07-23T09:00:00.001+01:00

Workers in most countries are 'feeling the pinch'. Prices are rising; wages are not.

Productivity must rise ... yet in many industries there is lower demand.

Governments do what they can to increase demand but their powers are limited.

The answer? There isn't one .. except to lay the foundation for a more productive future. Hold your nerve ... invest ... train.

Workers will have to wait for their pain to be eased .. but if we don't take this opportunity to reflect, regroup and prepare ... they will wait longer than they need ... and (y)our competitors will seize the opportunity because they have prepared.

Social media bad?

2011-07-16T09:00:00.001+01:00

Lots of companies have Intranets - to share information.

May of these are firewalled and isolated from the Internet ... so that employees don't get distracted by Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and so on.

Yes, these social media have a part to play ... in improving communication, contact and commitment ... but perhaps we need 'walled gardens' of social media.

When Toronto law firm Hicks Morley started its own internal social network in 2008, it found that by adopting tools that mimic Facebook, Wikipedia and Twitter within the confines of a corporate firewall that collaboration between employees increased dramatically, and productivity soared.

As the song says "It aint what you do, its the way that you do it. That's what gets results"!

Waste energy wasted no more

2011-07-09T09:00:00.001+01:00

Engineers at Oregon State University are working on ways to capture and use the low-to-medium grade waste heat that’s now going out the exhaust pipe of millions of automobiles, diesel generators, or being wasted by factories and electrical utilities.

It hopes to be able to use much of the waste heat either in cooling or the production of electricity.

"This could become a very important new energy source and way to improve energy efficiency," said Hailei Wang, a research associate in the School of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at OSU.

It is called a "thermally activated cooling system" that gains much of its efficiency by using extraordinarily small microchannels, which help to better meet the performance, size and weight challenges.

It effectively combines a vapour compression cycle with an "organic Rankine cycle," an existing energy conversion technology.

The OSU prototype succeeded in turning 80 per cent of every kilowatt of waste heat into a kilowatt of cooling capability.

It should also be possible for such systems to be used in hybrid automotive technology, taking waste heat from the gasoline engine and using it not only for air conditioning but also to help recharge the battery that powers the vehicle, explained Wang.

Was Malthus right ... and if he was ???

2011-07-02T09:00:00.000+01:00

World population rises at a greater rate than agricultural production. This is the belief that gave rise to the thinking of Thomas Malthus.

If this is true ... and I suspect it is ... then we need some major innovation in terms of population control, agricultural productivity or ... politics?

Remember agricultural productivity has been rising inexorably over the last few hundred years ... but remember also that there is a fundamental difference between rising productivity and rising production. If productivity rises but we use less land and fewer people in the industry, we may not get an increase in output.

Remember also, the 2 things that slow down population growth are wealth and (especially female) education. The West - where both have increased substantially - has a much lower birth rate.

We need the politicians to learn these lessons and solve world problems through creating more wealth and spreading education ... surely its worth a try instead of dropping more bombs.

Organic farming holds back productivity growth

2011-06-25T09:30:00.002+01:00

Brett Stuart, a partner in analytics firm Global AgriTrends suggests that agricultural productivity is being impeded by the minority demand for organic or "natural" production systems.

This is an interesting debate.

Organic produce commands a higher price - so value added per area rises ... so, in one sense, productivity can be said to rise.

However, that doesn't help feed a growing population. For that we need higher 'physical' productivity.

So, is Brett right. If you want to comment, head over tho the Productivity Futures group on LinkedIn and join the discussion.

USA clean, China dirty. right?

2011-06-18T09:15:00.001+01:00

We all know that the Chinese are massive polluters, don't we?

(Some of us even sympathise knowing that China is playing economic 'catch-up' with the West ... when the Chinese have the same standard of living as Americans, then we can complain.)

Well, things are changing. In 2004 the U.S. was the focus of approximately 20% of total global clean energy investment and China accounted for just 3%.

By 2010, China saw 20% of that investment and the U.S. 19%.

So, China might be dirtier ... but it looks like it is trying to clean up its act.

Do not believe all that you read

2011-06-11T09:30:00.001+01:00

Chicago economist William Strauss explains how rising worker productivity has led to the situation where manufacturing occupies much less of GDP than it once did.

"In 1950, the manufacturing share of the U.S. economy amounted to 27% of nominal GDP, but by 2007 it had fallen to 12.1%. The greater efficiency of the manufacturing sector afforded either a slower price increase or an outright decline in the prices of this sector’s goods. As one example, inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) averaged 3.7% between 1980 and 2009, while at the same time the rise in prices for new vehicles averaged 1.7%. So while the number (and quality) of manufactured goods had been rising over time, their relative value compared with the output of other sectors did not keep pace. This allowed manufactured goods to be less costly to consumers and led to the manufacturing sector’s declining share of GDP."

Some go on to suggest that this rise in productivity also cost jobs ... but efficient productivity (as we see above) results in lower prices for goods ... which means that more people can afford them .. which changes the size of the market... which creates jobs.

I am not saying that there is not a link ... just that the link is complex and multi-dimensional

Don't believe all the blogs you read ! (Only this one of course)

Innovation Areas

2011-06-04T09:30:00.002+01:00

It is obvious that some technologies lend themselves to, and lead to, innovation. Electronics, for example, has seen massive changes over the last couple of decades ... there are so many products available now that were not even conceived 20 years ago.

Yet, in many other areas the pace of change is astonishingly slow.

About 50 years ago, the internal combustion engine (ICE) and auto design led to fuel efficiencies of about 40 miles per gallon. Since then we have made improvements ... but incremental and evolutionary ... most cars are still in that 40 mpg ballpark.

Is this lack of innovation and change due to the existing technology being so good ... or a lack of enthusiasm by the manufacturers/designers ... or the fact that fuel has been relatively cheap and thus there has been little pressure from consumers for greater efficiencies.

Probably all of these have had an effect.

It will be interesting to see how the changing pressures and priorities (which themselves change the political and economic dynamics) will affect the rate of development of better ICEs ... or better alternatives with the current development of electric and hybrid vehicles.

I don't want to get drawn into the debate about 'better' (well not in this post at least)... here I am only interested in the development of more mpg (or some equivalent measure).

Let the innovation begin.

Of course its important ..

2011-05-28T09:20:00.003+01:00

In Australia according to the third annual Telstra survey – the Telstra Productivity Indicator 2011 – 76% of organisations regard productivity as important, but only 24% actually measure it (and we all know that if you don't measure it you don't understand it, and if you don't understand it, you can't improve it.)

When it comes to the public sector, that 24% drops down to about 14% of senior managers measuring productivity.

I am not sure these figures require any comment .. they are simply too damning in their own right!

Population Grows

2011-05-21T09:01:00.000+01:00

A higher population is not necessarily a more productive population.

Once, agriculture and industry needed labour ... and many developed countries imported labour to keep things moving forward.

Technology has changed all that. Now production rises as a result of better technology, better systems, creativity and innovation - not as a result of more labour.

In fact a rising population simply means more mouths to feed.

A number of countries with rising populations are about to face a crisis ... the next couple of decades will see them struggle to find enough food, water and shelter. They have to find ways of educating their current population to restrict the size of families ... and curb the growth that will undermine their growing economies.

The best way to do this is to 'emancipate' women, put them into the workforce, educate them, enrich their lives and make them wealthier.

In some countries, this doesn't seem too likely.

Can we have some more, please, Sir?

2011-05-14T09:15:00.001+01:00

Food security is going to be a major global challenge over the next few decades. The world population is still rising ... yet the percentage of land given over to agriculture is falling.

For example, a recent policy summit in Melbourne was told that that while Australian farms are capable of feeding the nation until it more than doubles in population, agricultural productivity is in decline and the effects of a looming food crisis overseas are already being felt in rising grocery costs.

Many countries are in a far worse state than Australia ... and shortages are likely to lead to higher prices then perhaps political instability and even mass migration.

We (collectively) have to find ways of significantly increasing agricultural productivity. Our past record is good ... but the problem gets ever more acute.

In the meantime, perhaps you'd better put a few extra tins in the cupboard!

NHS crawls into the black

2011-05-07T09:00:00.002+01:00

A report from the UK Office for National Statistics shows National Health Service productivity rose by 0.7% in 2009 compared with a 2.7% fall from 1995 to 2009.

Any commercial enterprise is likely to have 'gone under' given this record.

So, why is the NHS finding it so hard to be more productive.

I don't know ... but I do know from my experience across a whole range of sectors that it CAN be more productive.

Will the recession-induced cuts help? Possibly. A crisis can be a useful motivator ... but it depends on whether the will is there to identify and implement real productivity changes ... especially where these are potentially politically unpopular.

We all love the NHS .. but we could surely love an efficient NHS even more!

Is higher labour productivity always good?

2011-05-01T09:00:00.000+01:00

Statistics New Zealand said labour productivity grew 3.7 per cent in the year to March 2010, the strongest increase in 10 years.

However, this was only because labour input dropped more steeply than output during a period of recession. (This is a common phenomenon which is why productivity figures are unreliable going into or out of recession.)

Paid hours, which Statistics NZ used to measure labour input, dropped 4.3 per cent, the steepest fall since 1992, while output shrank 0.8 per cent.

The drop in labour input was driven by the manufacturing and construction sectors as well as a substantial and widespread decline in self-employed hours, Statistics NZ said.

For the period 2006 to 2010, labour productivity growth was 0.9 per cent, less than half the 2 per cent average since 1978 and a third of the rate prevailing between the mid-1980s and the end of the 1990s.

However Statistics New Zealand notes that the 2006 to 2010 period does not cover an entire peak-to-peak business cycle.

The figures cover about 80 per cent of the economy. They exclude parts of the public sector where productivity is hard to measure, notably in health, education, government administration and defence.

Where does the data come from

2011-04-23T09:00:00.001+01:00

A number of European countries are under the financial 'microscope' as they have either been 'bailed out' by the IMF/EU or considered likely candidates for future bailing.

Spain is one such candidate ... and the Prime Minister,Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has suggested that in future wages will be linked to increases in productivity.

I just wait to see who does the measuring .. and the methods - and data - they use.

Give them incentives

2011-04-16T08:00:00.002+01:00

Dow Chemicals is investing $100 million in making its manufacturing operations more energy-efficient ... and is using an internal competition to select the divisions and plants that will receive the investment.

When (as here) the result is both good for the company and has an altruistic side or a 'greater good', this is a useful way of involving the workforce in the decision-making process.

The competitive element gives people an incentive to think about where energy can be saved or conserved.

However, if all the benefit accrued to the company (rather than some to society more widely), the incentive would have to be more direct ... with some reward going to the individuals or teams submitting 'winning' entries.

Incentives have become rather unfashionable ... but they still work ... but, of course, you have to be absolutely clear that the incentive you are offering will drive behaviour in the direction you expect!

Its all about energy

2011-04-09T09:12:00.000+01:00

Energy productivity is important. Energy costs us money ... and the prices of energy have been rising rapidly in the last few years.

However, we also know that using energy has all sorts of 'side effects' - in terms of creating pollution, in terms of warming the planet ... and, of course, in terms of using up the remaining stocks of fossil fuels.

The Japanese nuclear disaster means it is now much harder to contemplate nuclear power as a contribution to future energy strategy ... so while we look at alternatives, we have to use less of what we have.

Can the planet afford you to use a 2 litre car to take your daughter to school? Can it afford you to fly strawberries halfway around the world just so you can have them out of the local season? Can it afford you (me?) to have your PC on all day just so you can check your emails every few hours?

All of these problems can be addressed by technology .. but shouldn't they be addressed by us thinking a bit more carefully about our priorities .. and about our energy productivity?

China moves to save energy

2011-04-02T09:08:00.001+01:00

The Chinese government will publish and implement new building energy efficiency design standards, which are growing closer to the world advanced level, according to a recent meeting on building energy efficiency in Beijing.

During the 12th Five-Year Plan, Beijing will aim at the international advanced level in building energy efficiency and the city plans to promote the standard through legal means as well as economic and administrative methods.

Sui Zhenjiang, director of Beijing Municipal of House and Urban-Rural Development, said that the step will boost the transformation of building energy efficiency, the development of green buildings and the promotion of renewable energy sources and new energy use.

Unintended consequences

2011-03-26T02:52:00.000Z

Those of us with experience realise that most decisions have both intended and unintended consequences. .. more so, if decisions are made in haste or on incomplete or imperfect information.

Here is an example. The British government has recently introduced measures to curb the influx of immigrants into the UK.

This has been largely welcomed ... but not by many employers.

Curiously, in a situation mirrored in lots of other countries, unemployment is rising but employers cannot fill vacancies.

(There can be many reasons for this, of course ... workers in the wrong places, with the wrong skills, unwilling to work, etc.)

Of course this wasn't meant to happen. It is an unintended consequence of a fairly hasty political decision.

Let's hope those members of society who welcomed the curb on immigration, don't see the effects on the economy hurting their own pockets.

What are the measurement units?

2011-03-19T02:49:00.000Z

The productivity ratio has 2 components (as do all ratios, of course). Sometimes we forget to think about the units of the denominator.

If you have cattle, you might look at their productivity in terms of quantity of milk produced per animal.

But if your most expensive resource is land (as it is for many farmers) then the yield per hectare is more important. So, you might be more efficient with a lower yield per animal but more animals grazing the same area.

So, next time you see a productivity ratio, give a little thought to the units ... and whether changing them would change priorities.

Purposed Identity

2011-03-12T02:47:00.001Z

Jamaica's Education Minister Andrew Holness has identified what he described as "a lack of purposed identity" as a key problem for the country.

"In a productive society, everyone is able to define themselves by what they do and what they know," Holness said recently, as he launched the National Career Development Awareness Week at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Addressing students and educators, Holness emphasised the correlation between professional identity and productivity.

"Poverty is driven by a lack of knowledge, and the solution to poverty is dependent on the ability to have productive skill," he suggested.

Budget cuts focus the mind

2011-03-05T09:00:00.003Z

It is amazing how legislation and budget cuts focus the mind.

Two bills proposed by Senate leaders in Texas recently aim to distinguish prevention-based health care from the current state of "sick care."

The content of these bills has been discussed for years ... but they are only coming into force now because of federal health care reform.

The goal is "to cut waste, fraud, and abuse" and "reward providers who are efficient and who are achieving healthy outcomes for their patients," said Sen. Jane Nelson (R-Flower Mound) in a press conference in February.

Perhaps this is a tactic we should use more often to shake up thinking - change the rules and change the budget. People start to think - and then behave - differently.

Its not a choice

2011-02-25T17:01:00.002Z

I have seen a couple of recent debates about whether improving fuel efficiencies is more effective (at reducing climate change) than moving to alternative energy sources.

This is not a choice. We need both.

Even those who deny climate change (or deny that it is caused by man's activities) must accept that fossil fuels are in limited supply. We have to make stocks last while we determine what our longer-term strategy should be.

So, let's ask the media to stop fuelling the debate about improved efficiency OR alternative energy. Let's ask them to make the case for improved efficiency AND alternative energy.

The gaps appear

2011-02-18T20:23:00.002Z

China and India top yet another global league table, this time for growth in labour productivity. The findings by the New York-based think tank, The Conference Board, show that China and India are the most dynamic economies with 8.7% and 5.4% growth in labour productivity in 2010.

However, when one looks at total factor productivity - taking account of all factors of production - the two diverge. China has shown a rising pattern since 1995, whereas India started to slow in 2005. "China has shown strong output growth since 2005, while India's transition to a higher growth path has been more resource-consuming and more constrained by a continuing need for reforms," the report says, adding that a lot of potential for efficiency gains still needs to be realised.

What is the problem?

2011-02-11T19:48:00.001Z

I come across 'productivity' news all the time. Like a recent report from the Australian Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism which suggests that significant investment is needed to improve the productivity of the Australian tourism industry.

The report entitled Tourism Productivity in Australia goes on to say that while gross domestic product statistics reveal tourism has outperformed the economy as a whole in the past year, the productivity of the industry has lagged behind the economy-wide average over the long-term.

But does the industry need new investment, better marketing, less news about floods and cyclones or ...

I'm a productivity guy. But I don't automatically think that because a sector isn't 'pulling its weight', there must be a productivity problem.

Keep on truckin

2011-02-05T10:44:00.001Z

Proposed new rules for US truckers (announced by the Transportation Department in December) could cut an hour of driving time per day for the nation’s 1.6 million long-haul truck drivers. Truckers would also have to take breaks after driving seven consecutive hours and wouldn’t be allowed to work as many consecutive days of long shifts as they may now.

As you can imagine, there is vocal oppostion to the proposals calling them anti-productive.

Here is where debate starts. Do we prioritise economic productivty at the risk of safety or driver well-being? Is there any evidence that these proposals will reduce accidents (involving truckers and others) ... or improve the health & well-being of truckers.

I don't have answers. I'm just pointing out that decisions we take have both intended and unintended consequences ... and that productivity is a complex issue, moderated by a host of other factors.

Of course I would feel diffferently depending on whether I was a trucker (and especially the wife of a trucker) or an employer of truckers. So, let the debate run .... perhaps Amercia is moving to tougher legislation .... bringing it in line with the EU.

Is it also moving to lower productivity. Its too early to tell ... people find all sorts of ways to improve productivity. The direct productivity of drivers may go down (though tired drivers are probably not all that productive) but what matters is the productivity of trucking operations ... and that can be affected by all sorts of other factors ... including technology ... and innovation. So, let's see how the trucking operators solve the conundrum ... and move to a state of higher productivity AND safer trucking.

Be wary about the figures

2011-01-29T10:06:00.000Z

During an economic downturn, companies naturally trim payrolls. When recovery comes, output tends to rise more quickly than employment and productivity growth looks healthy. Over a period of something like 6 months, employment rsies ... and productivity growth figures go back to their 'normal' levels.

So, when you see good productivity growth figures - globally - wait ... and look again in a few months. You will get a more realistic aseessment of what has been happening. The recovery has been notable ... but will start to look worse (especially in advanced economies) as employment catches up.

Join the discussion

2011-01-22T09:57:00.000Z

There is a really interesting discussion going on in the LinkedIn group "Productivity Futures" sparked by a position paper on the website of the World Confederation of Productivity Science written by John Parsons. (There is a link on this page to the group.)

John is suggesting that the paradigm of continuous growth might not be viable for the future .. .but we rely on it (growth) to feed a continually growing population and to increase wealth and well-being.

If we can't continue to grow, many of the models and assumptions we build no longer hold true. John suggests we had better start looking afresh at some tried and trusted ideas and frameworks before we hit crisis point.

Governments mean business

2011-01-14T17:19:00.000Z

The US government says car companies paid $9.1 million in fines last year for failing to comply with federal fuel efficiency requirements.

Six companies had to pay fines to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Jaguar-Land Rover paid the largest fine of $3.2 million. Mercedes-Benz paid $2.9 million; Porsche, $1.5 million; and Maserati, nearly $1 million. Ferrari was fined almost $500,000 and Fiat paid about $11,000.

The penalties were established to make sure that vehicles meet basic gas mileage standards. Some makers of luxury vehicles consider the fines to be the cost of doing business.

Car companies paid penalties of $13.3 million in 2009 and $37 million in 2008.

Thai workers get more money, need more skill

2011-01-07T20:27:00.000Z

Kasikorn Research Centre KRC advises in a new report that the Thai government should further develop the skills of the country’s workers and their productivity so that Thai products can compete more effectively in the global market.

The KRC recommendations were made after the recent National Wage Committee decision to increase the daily minimum wage from Jan 1. It said the increase is slightly higher than the inflation rate and is considered “positive news” to workers throughout the country.

The government should introduce innovative knowledge and technology in order to strengthen labourers’ skills from medium to long-term by offering improved incentives so that they would not migrate overseas,

However, Thai industry will encounter a challenging problem next year due to the rise of operational costs due to the increase of the minimum daily wage and a decline in profit margin because of a fiercer competition in the market, both local and overseas.

UK Manufacturing needs support

2011-01-02T10:33:00.001Z

The UK manufacturing sector should be at the forefront of the countrys economic development, the CBI said recently.

The CBI has published its Vision and Ambitions for UK Manufacturing, ahead of a widely anticipated Government framework for the sector and review of advanced manufacturing.

John Cridland, CBI Director-General Designate, said: UK manufacturing is in many ways the unsung hero of our economy. Big productivity gains in the past ten years have made it leaner than ever before, and its now well placed to lead the countrys economic recovery.

To achieve this, however, the Government must act fast. It should build on the sectors strengths, work with business to harness its innovation, and create a tax and regulatory environment that helps UK manufacturers drive up growth in productivity and exports.

We want the Government to be ambitious: focus its support on the sectors with most export growth potential, and improve the UKs competitiveness as a place to invest.

Since 1997, productivity in UK manufacturing has increased by 50%, about double the growth in productivity for the economy as a whole. The sector accounts for 46% of the UKs exports and 74% of its research and development (R&D).

Gifts?

2010-12-25T10:14:00.002Z

Many readers of this blog do not celebrate Christmas. However, even for the this is a good time to think about presents and gifts?

Think about what would really transform your organisation - new technology, new ideas, new organisation, or whatever ... and then think about how you can become Santa (the catalyst) that can make it happen.

Energy Strategies

2010-12-18T12:07:00.000Z

Governments around the globe are trying to determine 'sensible' energy strategies. Sometimes these strategies cost (taxpayers) quite a bit of money as governments mandate or encourage the switch to 'greener' energy technologies.

However, it is clear that (as fuel gets scarcer) the costs of fossil-based fuels will continue to rise. So we clearly need to switch to greener alternatives ... the question is how fast?

For example, the California Energy Commission earlier this month approved almost $2 million for the University of California Davis to develop ways to increase the energy efficiency of light commercial buildings.

The research represents a promising opportunity for helping the state reach its ambitious greenhouse gas and energy efficiency targets. The goal of the project at UC Davis is to increase the energy efficiency of existing multi-tenant light commercial buildings — such as strip malls, office parks and mixed-use developments — while decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

The project aims to identify the best technologies to use, market barriers to avoid and to make recommendations for retrofitting buildings. Three principal investigators will join faculty and staff from the California Lighting Technology Center, the Energy Efficiency Center, the Graduate School of Management and the Western Cooling Efficiency Center on the project.

There are bound to be mistakes and stumbles along the way to a greener future ... but we do need to progress on this journey ... and we need more research like this to give us better signposts for the journey.

Good or Bad Figures

2010-12-13T12:29:00.000Z

I see lots of national and regional productivity figures ... I even publish some of them in this blog.

However, I am holding back at the moment ... the recent (ongoing?) recession means that most figures are not really to be trusted. Oh, they're 'accurate' ... but at the start and end of recessions especially there are lag effects that make interpretation of the figures more difficult ... and certainly more dangerous.

So, in many countries productivity appears to be going up .. but that's because output is rising but many organisations have not started re-hiring ... they are using overtime and other temporary ways of providing the resources necessary to create those outputs.

So, governments should be way about trumpeting higher productivity ... in time the figures will settle to their 'real' levels.

Jamaicans - Read This!

2010-12-04T15:11:00.003Z

The publication Jamaica: Productivity Summary Report 1972-2007, by the Jamaica Productivity Centre, should be required reading for all Jamaicans - government ministers, officers and public and private sector management and employees. It states: "Labour productivity or output per worker has been declining at an annual rate of 1.3 per cent over the past 34 years (1973-2007). For the past five years (2003-2007) this decline has increased to 1.8 per cent per annum."

And this is at a time when technoloy has been revolutionsining manufacturing, offices, hopsitals and mostl other workplaces.

The statistics also compare most unfavourably with the figures achieved by Jamaica's Caricom partners who have shown improvements of 1.5 per cent per annum from 1972, and pf 2 per cent in the last 10 years. The report states: "In 1997 the average worker in Trinidad was three times more productive than the average Jamaican worker. However, this gap had widened to over five times by 2007".

China - the great balancing act

2010-11-26T17:53:00.001Z

I have just returned from a few (very busy) days in China – in Beijing and Guangzhou. The country never fails to amaze.

For example, I went to the Guangdong Higher Education Megacentre – a ‘town’ just outside of the city of Guangzhou which houses 15 Universities and 300,000 students. Now that’s what I call investing for the future.

This investment is seen elsewhere. The infrastructure continues to develop. I saw new roads, new railways, new bridges, new tunnels.

I also made a couple of internal flights with China Southern – a very good airline with fantastic customer service.

Of course I also experienced some of the less welcome aspects of China’s development – I couldn’t (at first) blog or tweet – Blogger, Twitter and Facebook are all banned. I did eventually manage to ‘beat the system’ … I won’t tell you how or that route will be blocked too.

China is trying to develop – very fast – in a controlled way. It tries to balance growth and freedom. My overall assessment after several visits – is that they have largely got the balance right. And I am not so arrogant t as to claim that the West has all the right answers … we all know the ills of our own development processes … and freedoms.

So China continues to be an enigma. I continue to love the place. I will most certainly return.

Get them to read

2010-11-19T12:47:00.002Z

We all look at technology and technical improvements to give us more productivity. But sometimes, the answers lie elsewhere.

According to the research on literacy, four in 10 Canadian workers lack the necessary level of literacy to understand a safety manual, a set of instructions on a new piece of equipment, or a new piece of computer software necessary for them to accomplish their work.

One recent report on the subject shows that improving literacy scores by one per cent would increase labour productivity by 2.5 per cent.

Cold progress

2010-11-13T19:32:00.002Z

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market recently opened the first grocery store in Southern California to use naturally occurring carbon dioxide (CO2) refrigeration. The store, located in Rosemead, is Fresh & Easy’s first to be GreenChill certified and is among four stores that the company opened today, including the 100th in California.

Fresh & Easy’s sub critical cascade CO2 refrigeration system, which is one of only four in the United States, reduces the impact of the store’s refrigeration on the ozone layer by about 70%, as compared to industry standards. By utilizing a natural refrigerant, the system has an approximately 50% lower Global Warming Potential than traditional refrigerants.

The store also earned a silver certification award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) GreenChill Partnership by meeting tough benchmarks for cutting emissions that harm the earth’s protective ozone layer and contribute to global warming. Fewer than 40 of the nation’s 35,000 grocery stores have received GreenChill Store Certification awards.

Walk a mile in their shoes

2010-11-08T12:24:00.000Z

TOMS shoes is a small(ish) US company selling cloth & canvas shoes through retailers and through its website. But its USP is that for every pair of shoes bought by a customer, the company donates a pair of shoes to a child in need somewhere.

They say they are a "for profit company with giving at its core". Their customers have a strange sort of "buy one, get one free" arrangement, knowing that they are doing good.

They are not the only organisatiion adopting this approach with what - though very small - seems to be becoming accepted as an alternative business model.

Of course TOMS has to be productive enough to be able to make a profit under this arrangement - and it is!

Auckland is the future?

2010-10-29T16:54:00.000+01:00

Auckland in New Zealand, want to grow and become a 'super city' believing that larger cities have a better chance to thrive in a knowledge economy - because people, companies and institutions clustered in close proximity interact creatively to achieve more than they would if widely dispersed. This leads to higher levels of productivity, and higher returns to businesses - and workers.

Of course there are other factors created by size - 'critical cultural mass', for example, meaning that a wider range of cultural events seems to emerge in bigger cities - because specialist audiences become large enough to sustain professional cultural service provision.

The challenge for Auckland is how to achieve an urban environment that will create growth and realise such benefits. Is this always an organic, natural phenomenon or can it be accelerated by appropriate policy intervention? Time will tell!

Royal Society got there first

2010-10-23T14:55:00.000+01:00

Those of you who are into the Lean philosphy will probably know of the term 'Go To Gemba' which means that you should never simply trust what you are told; you should go and see for yourself. (Gemba is the japanese for 'truth', so by observing things for yourself, you get to the truth.)

Of course those of you who are not into the Lean philosophy will probably just be thinking ... "Well, that's common sense" ... but it is surprising how often we fail to abide by the rules of common sense.

The neutrals (and perhaps even the rest of you) might be interested to know that the Japanese were certainly not the first to codify this particular piece of common sense. The Royal Society - formed in London in 1660 and still very much alive - has as its motto ... "Nullius in Verba" ... which the Latin scholars amongst you will know translates (very roughly) as "Don't take someone's word for it - check it yourself".

So the Royal Society got there first - by a few hundred years. That's the thing about common sense - its usually been around for a long time!

Ireland needs productivity

2010-10-16T09:53:00.002+01:00

Ireland's productivity was €18,850 (GNP) per worker in the 1st quarter of 2008. Over the next 12 months this dropped by about €1,000 per worker as a result of a fall in output of 13%, together with a drop of 8% in the number of workers.

Then in the next 12 months (taking us to the first quarter of 2010), the drop in output was only 4% cent. However, the fall in the number of people at work was slightly greater than this, so there was a small improvement in productivity - in terms of output per worker.

The decline in the workforce is still going on - though more slowly. Ireland thus has to maintain its productivity growth to keep output levels up.

India goes for growth

2010-10-08T15:35:00.001+01:00

India is aiming at 9-10% economic growth in the coming years but labour productivity has to improve to sustain high growth, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Wednesday. “Our aim is a growth rate of 9% to 10% in the medium term. But this will not happen automatically. There are deficiencies we will have to remove and strengths that we will have to acquire,” Singh said at an award function. “As you all know, India’s economic performance in the last few years has been truly impressive. Our country is poised to move to trajectory of sustained high economic growth, which is so essential for fighting mass poverty, hunger and disease that still afflict millions of our people,” he said.

Policymakers have forecast 8.5% growth in 2010-11, higher than 7.4% of previous year, after a series of stimulus in the form of cuts in interest rates, excise duties and higher public spending. India’s economic growth was hovering around 9-9.7% between 2005-06 and 2007-08, but it slowed to 6.7% in 2008-09 after the global economic crisis trimmed demand and output.

While praising the country’s millions of workers, who have toiled to build India’s infrastructure and industry, Singh said high economic growth could be attained with higher productivity. “To achieve our goals and our ambitions, we will have to enhance productivity across all sectors of the economy. Our resources are limited and need to be utilised optimally,” he said. “I would urge all of you present here to pay greater attention to cutting costs and boosting the quality of the products and services that our country produces,” he said.

Small Power

2010-10-01T19:48:00.000+01:00

Sometimes, democracy throws up some interesting anomalies.

For example, we generally assume that policies that come to the fore are those espoused by the majority party – who had the most backing for the electorate.

But take the current situation in Australia where the labour party only just retained power – by ‘dealing’ with a couple of independents and the Greens.

The dealing was around the ‘green’ agenda – Australia is likely to take a greener route than previously because that small band of people that were needed to secure power was able to do some tough negotiation on priority polices.

Can we offset public sector cuts

2010-09-25T16:55:00.000+01:00

Public sector cuts are coming ... indeed, in some case they are already here.

The doom-mongers suggests that there will be massive cuts in services resulting ... but is this necessarily true?

Local government is lagging behind the private sector in terms of getting the most out of staff, according to research into workplace productivity by Knox D'Arcy.

The management consultancy's study found that more than two thirds of junior staff members' working day is lost on average, while the staff utilisation rate for local government stands at 32%.

In comparison, the private sector had a rate of 44%. If the public sector matched this rate, staff numbers could be cut by approximately 500,000 without affecting services.

Paul Weekes, the report's author and principal consultant at Knox D'Arcy, said: "Put simply, by matching average private sector staff utilisation levels, local government could increase its productivity by roughly a third.

"This sort of dramatic increase would help significantly offset the cuts that are on the agenda as part of the government's austerity package."

It was also found that managers and supervisors within local government were spending fewer than 15 minutes a day engaged in "active" management tasks, such as following up work assigned to their team.

Bananas!

2010-09-20T10:44:00.000+01:00

The National Research Centre for Banana (NRCB) at Podhavur village near Tiruchi, a unit of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, New Delhi, has released a special micronutrient, ‘banana sakthi,' for enhancing crop productivity.

This is one of the major outcomes of research undertaken at the NRCB this year, said M. M. Mustaffa, director. He was speaking at the inaugural of an exhibition-cum-seminar on banana conducted as part of the foundation day celebrations of the NRCB recently. Mr. Mustaffa said that the nutrient was a solution comprising a mixture of zinc, iron, copper and boron and should be sprayed on leaves during the fourth and fifth months of the season.

Giving away the ‘banana sakthi' to farmers present on the occasion, he said that there was a strong need for supplying micronutrients to the crop. Continued application of chemical fertilizers coupled with lack of awareness of its importance had resulted in serious shortfall of micronutrients, he said.

Recipe for Success

2010-09-04T09:36:00.001+01:00

Korea (South, of course) has had a meteoric rise up the competitiveness ladder ... mirroring that of Singapore a couple of decades earlier.

To what do we attribute their successes. Well, of course to productivity - borne out of essentially stable economies, favourable macroeconomic climates .. and discipline - a willingness of the workforce to work for both their own gain and the greater good of society.

But one other thing as well - creativity. Both of these countries - and especially Korea - have not only adopted 'Western' technologies ... they have adapted, refined, improved and extended them.

This is a 'killer combination - productivity and creativity. Together, they are unbeatable. Of course each will slip a little ... but if that overriding discipline remains, they will come back.

Singapore has been 'off the pace' recently - not performing badly, but not as well as it was doing .. or as it can. The government knows this and is taking measures to rectify this 'slippage' ... and it has Korea firnly in its sights as both role model and competitor.

A healthy prescription

2010-08-28T09:19:00.002+01:00

The new US healthcare bill reduces Medicare payments for goods and services (other than doctors' bills and drugs) by an amount equal to the annual economy-wide increase in productivity. The assumption is that the health-care industry can raise productivity by at least as much as the rest of the economy. Of course the figures show that it has rarely done that in past years.

If it doesn't, is it just 'more inefficient' than other sectors. Well, of course it is very labour intensive ... and it is 'service-intensive in that it relies on a lot of one-to-one interaction with the customer.

So times will get tough for the sector over the next few years ... unless, of course, there ARE real productivity improvements to be made .. and someone can unlock the secrets that lead to them.

SMEs are excellent

2010-08-21T10:40:00.000+01:00

An SME Manufacturing Excellence (S.M.E.) Programme to groom a pool of “Change Agents” or “TechnoVation Managers” within the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector of Singapore has been launched by Minister of State Lee Yi Shyan.

SMEs employ nearly six out of 10 workers in Singapore and play an important part in the national productivity drive.

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector seeking to raise their productivity and capability, received a shot in the arm today with the launch of the new SME Manufacturing Excellence (S.M.E) Programme.

Designed to groom a pool of Process Improvement Champions or “TechnoVation Managers”, the programme aims to train managers in Operations Management Innovation (OMNI). With the knowledge and skills acquired from the programme, managers in the SMEs can help raise productivity, and improve business and operational excellence within their companies.

Developed by A*STAR’s Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), the S.M.E. Programme will be offered under the Singapore Workforce Development Agency’s (WDA) Precision Engineering Workforce Skills Qualifications (PE WSQ) framework.

South Africa - could do better

2010-08-13T13:59:00.001+01:00

South Africa needs a greater emphasis on productivity and competitiveness to boost economic growth and job creation, the World Bank said recently.

"South Africa's business environment compares favourably to its peer group of upper-middle-income economies globally," lead author of the report Taye Alemu Mengistae told a briefing in Benoni on Johannesburg's East Rand.

However, he called for greater efforts to raise the market share of efficient, high-performing enterprises, enhancing productivity, and increasing export competitiveness for job-led, sustainable economic growth.

Life in the old dog

2010-08-07T14:12:00.000+01:00

I saw a flyer for a 'Mobile Voice Conference' the other day (its in January 2011 in California) and thought ... 'How quaint ... still holding conferences on something that's been done and dusted for years'. After all, can you think of many innovations in the mobile voice arena over the last few years ... since conference calling became commonplace.

Then I thought a little deeper (yes, superficial thinking is one of my vices) ... if you're in the mobile voice business, you have lots of revenue and it makes sense to explore every avenue that might retain or even increase that revenue.

And we know - don't we - there are ideas' out there' that can still have significant impact on this relatively static area of technology. If I knew what they were, I'd make my fortune. But I would be prepared to bet that someone will come up with an idea that will amaze us all in both its simplicity and its impact.

Think, John, think!

Terms of payment

2010-08-04T11:00:00.000+01:00

Banks in the UK are reporting healthy profits ... they seem to have 'turned the corner'. Bad debts are down. Sounds like good news .. and it is .. in the sense that our fortunes are inextricably linked to those of the banks.

However, what about 'fairness'. There is little doubt that reckless behaviour by bankers, seemingly fuelled by both corporate and personal greed, was a major factor behind the global recession ... a recession which means that you and I - and especially our children - are going to pay for for many years to come. The living - and retirement - standards of millions of people will be worse than they should have been.

Yet the banks - and those same bankers - are now on the up. Profits are rising. Bonuses are rising. I would have liked at least some trace of guilt, humility and regret.

Pressure from the big guys

2010-07-31T10:44:00.000+01:00

We are increasingly seeing large organisations insisting on 'compliance' from their many suppliers. This used to be about quality - understandably. Now, in many cases, this insistence has extended to environmental performance and sometimes as far as corporate social responsibility. (The big guys know they are at risk if their suppliers are caught adopting unethical practises.)

Few, however, extend this influence to issues such as productivity. Yet, if a supplier becomes more productive, there is more room for manoeuvre on pricing and the company is more sustainable, likely to stick around longer ... so it IS in the interests of the buyer to help suppliers become more productive.

So anyone thinking of starting a productivity hub for their supply chain?

US healthcare bill makes India fitter

2010-07-23T19:41:00.000+01:00

The recent US healthcare bill is a great help to India’s pharmaceutical industry, which is focused on the generic drug market and contract manufacturing.

India's pharmaceutical companies enjoy the advantage of having access to a good talent pool at affordable costs and they boast of having the largest number of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved production facilities outside the US.

As the industry matures, the growth has to come not only through capacity expansion but also through productivity improvements and the pursuit of operational excellence to satisfy regulatory authorities about compliance to standards, good manufacturing practices and electronic record keeping.

China does not care about the environment. Right?

2010-07-16T22:38:00.002+01:00

CHINA is using an “iron hand”, in a silk glove (of an extra $12 billion) to achieve energy efficiency targets.

The hard line is being taken after it was revealed that energy use rose 3.2% in the first quarter compared to last year, reversing the decline in the energy used to produce each dollar of gross domestic product.

This is seen as a major setback in China’s push to cut energy use by 20% by the end of this year from 2006.

Premier Wen Jiabao held a nationwide videoconference and used the occasion to direct government officials to wield an “iron hand” and shut down inefficient enterprises. China Daily, in reporting on the videoconference, stated the Chinese government had also earmarked an extra $12 billion to pay for upgrades and other measures to reach its energy efficiency goals.

The government pledged to shut down hundreds of smaller coal-fired power plants, below standard steel mills and smelting plants, cement works, aluminum manufacturers, glass factories and paper mills.

Garden for growth

2010-07-10T09:11:00.000+01:00

A new gardening project in Senegal is addressing issues of food security, poverty and climate change. 'Super Vegetable Gardens' are hoping to help small-scale farmers throughout Senegal and in tropical areas around the world.

The 'super vegetable gardens' initiatve has been running in Senegal for just over a year and there are now more than 150 such gardens throughout the country.

It is the result of 30 years of research that was first field tested in Niger in 2007, as a collaboration between the international aid group Pro-Natura and the French firm JTS Seeds.

"It is very, very new. The only obstacle is linked to the type of person taking care of the garden. It works exceedingly well technically, but you have to spend two hours per day to feed a family of ten people," says Guy Reinaud, president of Pro-Natura.

Each 60-square-meter garden starts with a simple kit - a toolbox for farmers. Inside is a selection of organic, non-genetically-modified seeds for fruits and vegetables including cabbage, tomatoes, carrots and melons. The kit also includes soil conditioners, such as fertilizers, and growing equipment, like plastic veils to protect the plants.

Is it science?

2010-07-03T11:59:00.002+01:00

Sergey Brin, the Google co-founder, is helping to search for a cure to Parkinson's disease ... tests show he has a pre-disposition to the disease. What's interesting is that he is doing it by turning normal 'scientific method' on its head.

Scientists usually work by creating a hypothesis and then conducting experiments and collecting data to prove or disprove that hypothesis.

Brin's approach is to work with 10,000 sufferers of Parkinson's, gathering data about them, their lifestyles and their condition .. and then looking for patterns that might create a hypothesis.

This is, in effect, a new approach to science made possible by the ability of computers to store and analyse vast amounts of data. Is it science? Well, yes. In effect, Brin's hypothesis is that the data collection and analysis project will identify patterns, connections or trends. If he proves this, its good - and very useful - science!

Failed States

2010-06-26T03:55:00.000+01:00

I've just been in Pakistan. In fact, I'm posting this from Abu Dhabi airport while in transit on the way back home.

While I was there one of the local newspapers published some think tank's list of failed states (measured on a range of criteria such as security, access to education, wage levels, health, etc).

Somalia topped the list, followed by Zimbabwe ... with Pakistan at No 8.

Did it feel 'failed'? Well, unfortunately it did, rather. I met some great people but most of them are bewildered and frustrated by an environment in which vast natural resources go untapped, small companies grow into comfortable slightly bigger companies and then stop, corruption is rife, many good jobs are 'political' appointments, the government often bails out failed companies (leaving no incentive to turn it round), only those whose parents can afford to pay for it get a good education, and so on.

The situation is not hopeless ... but its going to take a bold leader to take on this 'climate of cosiness' and create rewards for real success (not just commercial success).

That leader has not emerged yet!

A Community building a Future

2010-06-17T13:56:00.000+01:00

Today I was on Bhit island (just off Karachi in Pakistan) talking to representatives of the Baba Bhit (two islands making up one community) Fishermen Educational Society.

Baba Bhit is a community of fisherfolk who, until recently, had a literacy level of zero and an uncertain future. They land their catches at Karachi fishing harbour where 'middlemen' take a significant cut of the proceeds.

In the last 5 years, they have:

1. Established the Educational Society which has itself started a school - for boys and girls - on the island and recruited teachers from the mainland
2. Worked with a micro-finance bank to provide a 'branchless bank' on the island where fishermen can deposit and withdraw funds (within a certain agreed 'float') using chip & pin technology.
3. Established a plan for their own landing site, chillstore, market hall and shrimp peeling plant so that they can sell direct to processors, add value, employ women and - hopefully - secure permission to export to the UK

This is productivity in action!

I was there with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) and we hope to be able to help them with some funding for number 3. It is always better to help those who are helping themselves.

Can New Zealand match Australia?

2010-06-11T18:57:00.000+01:00

The poor old New Zealanders work among the longest hours in the OECD but have relatively low pay.

To address this, they naturally compare themselves witrh their nearest neighbours and matching Australian levels of productivity has become a kind of holy grail.

Australia has the advantage, however, of vast mineral wealth.

New Zealand, therefore, has to think and act smarter - taking advantage of its own advantages. Perhaps prime amongst these is New Zealand's smaller size. This should give it the flexibility it needs to to transform the economy, using their own impressive natural and human resources.

Of course, only time will tell whether they can pull this off.

Measure what?

2010-06-04T19:39:00.000+01:00

Last month the Washington Post ran a story about an employee in Alexandria, VA having to work so much harder (in effect doing the work of two men) due to the recession forcing companies to opt for 'greater productivity'.

This confusion of 'productivity' and 'production' is understandable ... since it reflects the difficulties of measuring productivity in appropriate ways. If this company has indeed made workers work longer hours - for the same money - then productivity ... measured as output per dollar ... has gone up, but productivity ... measured as output per person hour ... has not.

So, we need to be careful about making decisions or judgements on productivity figures without understanding the basis of calculation (and the underlying 'truth').

Singapore: 12 priority sectors

2010-05-29T18:36:00.001+01:00

Singapore has a new productivity council headed by Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean and this council has its sights fixed on a dozen key industries that employ half of Singapore's workforce and contribute 40 per cent to the economy.

These sectors have been identified to lead the national drive to raise productivity as part of Singapore's move to transform its economy to one fuelled by innovation and better skills.

A dedicated group will be formed in each sector to come up with ways to improve productivity, especially in devising measures specific and relevant to the industry, Mr Teo told reporters yesterday before he chaired the first meeting of the National Productivity and Continuing Education Council.

'If you take the construction or hotel industry, we'll look for things where we can compare with best practices in other countries, and I think these will give us a sense of where we stand, how we can improve.'

These measures will also help companies and sectors identify better with the national goal to raise productivity, he added. Singapore aims to boost productivity by 2 per cent to 3 per cent every year for the next 10 years.

The 19-member council met for four hours and later, in a statement, identified the 12 sectors. These are: construction; electronics; precision engineering; transport engineering; general manufacturing; retail; food and beverage; hotel; health care; infocommunication; logistics and storage; and administrative and support services.

What is half a metre among friends?

2010-05-22T09:10:00.002+01:00

The Australian Prime Minister set productivity as his number one priority back in January and has 'talked a good game' since ... but actions have not always matched the rhetoric.

Take one simple example. The New South Wales and Victoria governments are at an impasse on the subject of truck widths.

Under current regulations, Victoria allows trucks up to 3 metres wide to cross its borders while NSW only allows 2.5m.

This dispute over 50 centimetres is estimated to cost $2.4 billion per year in potential national income.

Save Water ... Grow More Sugar

2010-05-14T19:26:00.000+01:00

A new system of Rice Intensification (SRI) in India greatly reduces water requirement and ensures higher yield and less chaff. Motivated by its success, a Sustainable Sugarcane Initiative (SSI) has been designed, and was announced by P. Subbian, Registrar, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.

He was launching the SSI, an initiative of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics – Worldwide Fund for Nature (ICRISAT-WWF) Project, in the TN-IAMWARM project at the university.
Mr. Subbian said SSI was a combination of cane planting innovations and water saving practices that had great potential to increase productivity, improve natural resource management, and assure higher income for farmers.

Guest Blog: Active Assistance drives real CSR

2010-05-08T14:15:00.000+01:00

While recognizing that BOP [bottom of the pyramid] suppliers are endemic to such sectors as agra-business [small farms feeding into large farms feeding into coops/distributors, and so on], we should also note that most of the world’s economy is sustained by SMEs [small medium size enterprises]. This is not only true for advanced industrial nations like the US, EU, Canada, Japan, but is especially true in developing nations, even one like China. SMEs feed the Chinese heated economy more than state owned enterprises [SOEs].

Aside: I warn Westerners trying to do business in China not to be enamored of SOE powerhouses. These mega companies do not deal with little foreigners, and unless you can match their might, you will be dismissed outright. Opportunity in China is with the SMEs not only because there are more of them but also because they are hungry to do business with similar enterprises from abroad. They too cannot easily work with SOE monopolies, so foreign SMEs and Chinese SMEs have similar issues in terms of competitive advantage and growth opportunities.

It is an easy step to go from BOP to SME, and while the level of poverty may not be the same, the restrictions in size are quite similar. Multi-national corporations have the infrastructure, resources [people and otherwise], and financial capabilities to design, develop and implement across the board standards, which ultimately have a nugatory impact on SMEs which do not have comparable resources to implement them. This inability eliminates many from participating in MNC advantages on a global basis. From a business perspective [in addition to any CSR consideration], it stops good business practices in their tracks.

I was particularly taken by the “AAA” stance, that is, active assistance approach. It is not enough for a financially well-heeled MNC to establish a standard – whether it is a sustainability standard or a quality standard or a service standard – and then expect all of its suppliers in the chain to comply. Compliance is but one fact, and as essential as that may be, it must be recognized that compliance can defeat the entire goal by forcing suppliers [BOP, SME, etc] to subvert the goal by circumventing actual implementation through a smoke and mirror process [e.g., agreeing to comply but finding sub-suppliers to provide output, hence separating outcome (perceived good practices) from output (goods produced by someone else)].

This is the Mattel Toys issue with lead paint – policing the supplier contract to ensure compliance with quality standards while contributing little to the supplier’s ability to meet those standards in the first place. “Policing compliance” is the lowest common denominator of “managing inter-organizational relationships” along complex supply chains.

Active Assistance means you the customer get into the boat with the supplier and row towards the same horizon together/jointly. To me, this is key – AAA is an attempt to go from finger-pointing accusations from outsiders to collective effort of all key stakeholders to ensure everything that possibly can be done is done. More than compliance, it is about building opportunity – for the supplier and for yourself as the customer of the supplier. We are all in this together, so let’s stop throwing brick bats at supposed offenders. It is time to move away from the “management by fault/accusation” mode, with penalties incurred [a la Walmart].

This case also has an interesting take on global supply chains – we go from inter-organizational relations to developing a sense of inter-organizational shared responsibility. The issues for Starbuck’s are twofold: quality product at source and dependable/reliable/consistent source of supply. In the globalized business world, the real competitive issues are not products in the market, but the ability of a MNC to secure supply in the first place and to handle delivery/velocity through the pipeline to end use. Supply has become the critical issue – the new war of the worlds – whether that supply is coffee, water, gold, steel, coal, lumber, fish, or what have you. They who control the supply of any one thing have power over all the others.

Purely, from an enlightened self interest business perspective, Starbuck’s ‘do good sustainability principles’ are as much about securing sustainable supply, that is, steady and assured, as about sustainability from a social and environmental perspective. This is not to lessen or criticize the value of what Starbucks does; it is to put it in perspective. For me, CSR at root is about making money, winning the competition war, being profitable. One hugs mountain dwelling poor coffee growers in Mexico in order to ensure consistent, steady supply of quality coffee, and the financial viability of the company. It is not just for good PR to attract overfed North Americans to buy their morning lattes with a good conscience.

Guest Blogger: Victor Deyglio, President, Canadian Professional Logistics Institute
http://www.loginstitute.ca

Two strikes and you are out

2010-05-01T11:30:00.001+01:00

The Australian federal government is supporting the Productivity Commission's proposal to introduce a "two strikes" rule on executive pay.

Financial services Minister Chris Bowen and Treasurer Wayne Swan are backing changes that mean if more than 25 per cent of shareholders were to vote against a remuneration report for two consecutive years, then all directors must face election at an annual general meeting (AGM).

Mr Bowen said the change would benefit shareholders, without harming a company's ability to attract talented executives, and would mean that votes on remuneration reports would become binding.

Though some are unhappy about some of the detail, the measure does seems to have across the board support.

Demograhic changes means trouble for Canada

2010-04-24T15:18:00.000+01:00

At a recent political event in Montreal, Rick Miner, the former president of Seneca College, served up some painful truths ... "Canada has two major trends emerging," he said. "First, an ageing population. And second, the movement from a labour to a knowledge economy."

Over the next several years, the great population bulge (the 'Baby Boomers') will pass retirement age and even if, as seems likely, they stay on longer than workers in the past, the labour force will lose a huge number of bodies. At the same time, the demand for skilled and adaptable labour will continue to rise rapidly, and projections show Canada's education and training systems won't keep up.
Combine those two massive forces and we are likely to find ourselves in a uniquely awful situation: High unemployment rates and severe labour shortages at the same time.

There's still time to avoid a future in which there are "millions of people without jobs and millions of jobs without people," Miner said. But it's dwindling rapidly. A big push on education and training is needed right away.

India needs to modernise capital good sector

2010-04-17T12:16:00.000+01:00

Corporate India has sought an allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for modernising the capital goods sector and developing industrial parks to reduce India’s dependence on imports.

“The capital goods sector needs a modernisation fund of Rs 500 crore and another Rs 1,000 crore for developing capital goods parks in the country,” the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) said in a paper.

The development of such parks is required to overcome the infrastructure deficiencies faced by Indian capital goods sector, said Ficci.

Capital goods imports in India have increased by over five times in the last six years from $6.5 billion in 2003-04 to $30 billion in 2008-09.

Ficci said the parks would ensure timely delivery of components and standardisation of manufacturing processes. They would also improve productivity and thereby help the sector become cost effective and competitive.

The proposed fund should be used for productivity enhancement through technology transfer, support to research and development projects, climate change, common facility centres and market development support, it added.

“The primary reason for lower productivity of the capital goods sector is the lack of latest technology,” it said.

Predictable Supply - Innovative software

2010-04-09T19:39:00.000+01:00

Only very occasionally do I refer to specific products or systems ... when I see something which I think is innovative. Here is one such product.

TraceLink’s Predictable Supply Suite establishes a supply chain management and outsourced contract manufacturing solution for integrating companies, their partners and the resultant virtual teams across inter-company business processes. This supply management solution enables virtual teams to create a secure business cloud that can execute any business process with any partner at any time and using any information.

This approach eliminates the need for costly portals and fragile b2b links when connecting to virtual supply network partners. Individuals and companies can decide the appropriate level of cross-company connection. For companies looking to tightly collaborate with an entire, hard-to-reach network ecosystem, the Predictable Supply Suite offers a unique "integrate-once, inter-operate with everyone" approach to connection.

For more, see http://bit.ly/948whX

Malaysia to attact more investment?

2010-04-03T16:14:00.000+01:00

Malaysia is poised to attract more foreign direct investments (FDIs) when higher skills and productivity set in through the New Economic Model (NEM), two government leaders said in response to Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s comments in Hong Kong on Wednesday.

Najib is scheduled to unveil a number of administrative reforms when he introduces the NEM next week to emphasise the execution of the model to transform Malaysia into a high-income economy and spur greater economic development.

Economic bureau member Datuk Dr Norraesah Mohamad said the country needed the NEM to break out of the “middle-income trap”.

“NEM’s greater focus on climbing up the economic value chain, attracting and retaining talent, as well as emphasis on innovation will definitely drive more investments into Malaysia.

“This is our wake-up call. With stiff competition for FDIs from our neighbours and the world’s focus on the larger Asian economies of China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia, Malaysia faces challenges in not just attracting FDIs but also in attracting talent to our shores,” she said.

The NEM, she said, would address that imbalance.

The Government approved 766 manufacturing investments worth RM32.6bil last year, of which foreign investments accounted for 67.8% or RM22.1bil.

NHS needs surgery?

2010-03-27T14:05:00.001Z

UK official statistics show that the productivity of publicly funded healthcare fell by an average 0.3 per cent every year from 1995 to 2008.

Figures just published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that productivity within the National Health Service fell by a total of 3.3 per cent during the period.

In the report, the ONS said that between 1995 and 2008 inputs — the amount spent on healthcare — rose by 75 per cent, or an average 4.4 per cent a year. Yet outputs — the amount of healthcare provided and its quality — rose by only 69 per cent, or 4.1 per cent a year.

Coffee Up

2010-03-20T16:05:00.000Z

Thiet Van Nguyen, Vietnamese coffee specialist with UTZ CERTIFIED, the leading global agricultural sustainability certification program, presented at the National Coffee Conference (March 19) and showed how coffee production under the UTZ CERTIFIED program increased in Vietnam as a result of the organization’s program which focuses on productivity, efficiency, and quality.

Results show an increase in both Arabica and Robusta coffee grown under the program in Vietnam from 11,600 metric tons (MT) when the UTZ program started in 2002 to 93,634 MT in 2009. Currently 10 percent of Vietnam’s coffee production is UTZ CERTIFIED and 13 leading traders offer the coffee. The Vietnam program is a positive example of a country’s coffee sector growing in a sustainable fashion.

The efforts of each company and country can add up to major changes in efficient, yet sustainable coffee production globally.

One of the main benefits of UTZ CERTIFIED’s program for farmers in Vietnam is cost-reduction through adequate use of fertilizer (correct mix, amount, and application methods) and pesticides (spray less of the correct product and only on the infested areas of the farm, rather than the entire farm). In addition, irrigation water use is reduced by understanding the required amount of water per tree. These steps have reduced costs by decreasing inputs while steadily increasing productivity 6 to 8 percent per year.