1997
MEASURING
PRODUCTIVITY
Michael F. van Breda
“Control is what we need. Cost control. And urgently,” said owner-manager
Dana Jackson emphatically to her management team. “Just a glance at these
reports tells me that our costs are going up faster than our revenues. We won’t
survive much longer on that basis.”
“ Well, we could try using cheaper inks and lower quality paper,” said Tom
Dodge, production manager of Jackson Printing, half-facetiously.
“That’s not the answer,” exclaimed marketing manager Ahmad Grande.
“ We’re having a hard enough time as it is selling in this competitive market. If
we start to produce an inferior product, our sales will tumble even further. No-
body is going to pay our prices and take cheaper quality.”
“Ahmad’s right,” said Dana. “Our aim should not be to reduce costs so
much as to control them. Remember that we have a goal to meet in this organi-
zation—to produce the best-quality products that we can. If we don’t keep our
eyes on that goal we won’t be effective as an organization.
“ What I’m really after is efficiency. I want to see us produce quality
products as cheaply as possible—but I don’t want us to produce cheap prod-
ucts. We must improve productivity.
“To get the ball rolling, I want Tom to draw up a set of standards for pro-
duction. Our attorney has been explaining the new system they have installed
in their office to control their billable hours. We could do something similar in
our business.”
As eyes rolled, Dana explained what their law firm had done. “I was
telling their senior partner about our concerns and he related to me his own