Industrial engineering is a branch of engineering management concerned with the development and utilization of efficient systems that integrate workers, machines, materials, information, and energy to manufacture a product or provide a service.
Engineers in this field are knowledgeable in both engineering and business. They use their creative abilities and vast knowledge of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to develop innovative solutions to complex problems.
While industrial engineers optimize processes to attain the best possible outcomes, such as reducing waste of time, money, materials, and energy by streamlining procedures and manufacturing processes, employee recognition programs can generally improve overall staff engagement and significantly boost productivity.
One of the best employee recognition programs to aid productivity and profitability is the service awards.
Trophy ideas for employee service awards are most effective when tailored to the milestone celebrated.
Below is how to leverage industrial engineering tools and employee recognition programs to boost staff productivity:
Set goals and metrics
The first step in solving any problem is accepting that there is a problem. To increase productivity, it is vital to set goals and provide specific metrics to track them.
The goals need to align with your organization’s vision and mission. The timeline for achieving the goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
Analyze your current situation to strategize how to work towards your goal. Setting goals and defining metrics will help you select the perfect industrial engineering tools to boost your productivity.
Likewise, understanding the reasons for employee dissatisfaction will help in designing the perfect employee recognition programs to improve productivity.
Identify bottlenecks
If you notice a drop in your production, the following tools can help identify the bottlenecks:
● Key Performance Indicators (KPI): A KPI is a tool that can be used to measure your production output and related factors. It can help track your goals and areas where the output lags behind expectations. Proper monitoring of the KPIs can help identify areas of production that need urgent attention.
● Process mapping and flowcharting: These tools can be used to visualize the flow of work. Process maps provide information about a process. It visually maps out the workflow and process. Flowcharts, on the other hand, simplify the processes into sequential steps for easier comprehension.
● Work sampling and time studies: It is estimated that over 30 percent of employees waste about 30 minutes daily. Sixty-four percent visit non-work-related websites each day. Time spent in unproductive meetings costs organizations about $37 billion a year.
● Work sampling and time studies can help you analyze how workers spend their time throughout the workday to identify areas for improvement.
Optimize workflows and resource allocation
Optimizing workflows and resource allocation can boost productivity and, at the same time, reduce the cost of production. Below are some tools to achieve this:
● Lean process improvement: The tool focuses on eliminating waste and streamlining processes to ensure employees only focus on tasks that deliver maximum customer value.
It is a continuous process that involves on-time detection of inefficiencies.
● Line balancing: It involves the even distribution of tasks among staff to reduce idle time on assembly lines. The strategy aims to balance operator and machine time for optimal productivity and resource usage.
● Methods engineering: This is a branch of industrial engineering that is concerned with designing the most efficient way to complete tasks.
It employs a systemic approach to improve processes involving human labor to achieve greater efficiency and productivity.
● Facility layout design: In the manufacturing industry, every pace matters, as the time taken to cover them can be used to complete an essential task.
Organizing your workplace for effective workflow will minimize travel distances and help workers be more productive.
Enhance quality and reduce defects
The quality of a product or service offered by a company plays a significant role in its competitive advantage. Organizations that can reduce defects in their production produce quality products and deliver better customer satisfaction.
Below are some tools you can leverage:
● Statistical Process Control (SPC): SPC is a technique used to monitor and control the quality of a process or production.
● The tool can help you monitor process behavior and discover issues that may affect quality in internal systems.
● This procedure ensures the process functions at an optimal level, consistently producing high-quality output with minimal waste.
● 5S methodology: Sort (Seiri), Set in Order (Seiton), Shine (Seiso), Standardize (Seiketsu), and Sustain (Shitsuke) is a workplace organization method that originated in Japan.
It provides a methodology for organizing, cleaning, developing, and sustaining a productive and efficient workplace.
● Single-Minute Exchange of Die (SMED), sometimes called Single-Digit Minute Die Change, is a technique used for reducing inefficiencies in a manufacturing process.
The strategy targets less than 10 minutes as the maximum time to switch between production runs of different products.
Industrial engineering tools are effective in improving workflows and team collaboration.
Service award programs are designed to help improve employee engagement and reduce staff turnover, thereby helping organizations keep their best talent while attracting more.