In the quest for increased production and efficiency, businesses often encounter an unintended consequence: complexity. But does this complexity explain the observed drop in productivity? This critical question forms the heart of our discussion.
Complexity in production – be it in workforce management, equipment use, or logistics – directly impacts the efficiency of the entire system. As depicted in our accompanying image, each incident of production disruption or equipment malfunction chips away at our overall productivity, leading to a noticeable downward trend. This decline in productivity is often mistakenly attributed to the diminishing effectiveness of labor in an environment of rising costs. While technically true, they are not the root cause. In reality, it's a multifaceted issue. But at its core is how we try and manage complexity.
Before we can solve the productivity problem we need to properly define it. Before we can settle on an adequate definition, we need to answer a few questions.
Is there really a productivity decline? If it’s so significant then why isn’t it enemy number 1?
The Productivity Problem Part 1: Defining the Problem Series