What do you mean by productivity? What is the importance of productivity and how to improve productivity?

 Productivity may be defined as the ratio between output and input. Output means the amount produced or the number of items produced and inputs are various resources employed, land and building, equipment, machinery, materials, labor, etc.

Importance of Productivity: Every organization should strive to increase productivity for all around growth of the organization. The purpose to increase productivity: 

(a) For management:  1. To produce good earning  (profit)

                                   2.  To pay back the debt or loans

                                   3.  To improve goodwill and position in the competitive market.

(b) For Workers:   1. Higher wages i.e. earnings

                              2. Better working condition

                              3. Job security and growth.

(c) For Customers: Reduced price of the article. In the true sense, the productivity can be said as increased if more products/ service can be obtained from the same amount of resources, i.e, available resource.

Productivity improvement

Productivity improvement is the result of managing and intervening in transformation or work processes. The areas are :

Increasing productivity of resources:

a) Material: Industries in which the cost of raw material is a big percentage of the cost of finished goods, higher productivity can be achieved through proper use of materials by reducing scrap. Sometimes a little change in the design of the component may save a lot of material. productivity of materials can also be increased by using correct process, properly trained workers, suitable material handling and storage facilities and proper packaging.

b) Labor: Work methods if improved through work study techniques, can substantially increases the rate of production.

c) Plant, Equipment and Machinery: Productivity can be increased through the use of improved tools, ( cutting tools in a machine shop), simple attachment and other devices. Total production times can be cut short considerably by improving machine setting up methods, thereby reducing set-up times, using advance machinery like N.C/ C.N.C machine in place of conventional machines etc. Proper maintenance will add to productivity by avoiding sudden breakdown.

d) Land and Building: A suitable plant layout can accommodate more machinery in the same space and thus raise productivity. Proper orientation, construction and inside condition of a building definitely affect productivity.