To improve industrial productivity, it is necessary to act on three major levers at the same time:

• an intensification of actions to improve productivity,
• the optimization of cross-functional processes,
• the mobilization and professionalization of the personnel.

The first lever is applied by proceeding with an initial analysis of the maturity of the teams in this field: where do the ongoing initiatives stand? Have the basic productivity actions been taken?

Then, a common portfolio of initiatives derived from observations in the field needs to be created, accompanied by creative actions (challenges, suggestion boxes, Hoshin projects, etc.). Successful implementation and concrete gains can be guaranteed through the effective management of this portfolio (prioritization, definition of the resources and the stakes, implementation support, tracking scorecards).

The support functions (quality, production planning, maintenance) can also been engaged in these efforts to improve productivity by optimizing the support processes – ergonomics, quality controls, new resources – which all too often are a source of consumption of resources.

Staff mobilization and a review of the compensation systems can help to engage operators in this type of initiative in order to make them durable.

Argon Consulting helps its customers in:

• the initial diagnostic of maturity (maturity matrix, benchmarking, etc.),
• the identification of productivity actions (ergonomics, organization of work and workstations, optimization of procedures, balancing, etc.),
• the organization of creative initiatives,
• the construction of a common portfolio of projects for improvement,
• the definition, deployment and monitoring of a specific scorecard,
• the mapping out of cross-functional processes, the identification of points to be improved and the definition of the target processes,
• the tracking and control of productivity actions,
• the deployment of the change plan and associated change management (communication, support, changes in culture and behaviors, skills development, etc.).