Productivity Improvement - Principles - Sumanth - 1984

David J Sumanth in his book Productivity Engineering and Management, published by McGraw Hill in 1984 listed the following principles in the chapter Productivity Improvement Concepts.

1. Microprocessor Principle
Whenever and wherever possible, design products and processes with microprocessor control.

2. Global-Market Principle
Design and manufacture products for global markets.

3. Learning Curve Principle
Wherever possible, plan productivity levels and product costs on a learning curve.

4.Secrecy Principle
Productivity improvement strategies that are novel when compared to the competitors must be kept secret.

5. Product-Mix Principle
Develop a product mix that consistently shows the largest gains in total market productivity and market share.

6. Emulation Principle
Take the best of at least three competitors' technologies in product design, development and production

7. Productivity Gain-Sharing Principle
Always, share the gains in productivity improvements with everydone directly or indirectly responsible for it, particularly employees and customers.

8. Leading Competitor Principle
Be the leading competitor for as many products/services as possible.

9. Harmony Principle
Seek harmony in human relations at all levels of management from the topmost executive down to the production/opertions level employee.

10. International Outlook Principle
Keep an international perspective in management activities related to planning, research and development, marketing, operations/production,and technology transfer.

11. Cooperative Research Principle
Work closely with universities and generic research establishments to bring in ideas for productivity improvement.

12. Productivity Process Principle
Productivity improvement must be an ongoing, day-to-day process and not a one-time program or project

Productivity Measurement is Becoming Complex

The simple definition of productivity is that it is the ratio of output to input.The concept is simple, yet there were difficulties in measurement. Historically, the variety of input has given measurement difficulties. Today, even the output side is giving measurment difficulty. The production has to meet customer needs, quality expecations and time of delivery and productivity measurement is expected to meet those dimensions also.

The chapter "THE CONCEPT AND IMPORTANCE OF PRODUCTIVITY" written by Kenneth E. Smith, H. B. Maynard and Company, Inc. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in Maynard's Handbook of Industrial Engineering 5th Edition deals with the complexities of the issue. I wrote a small review of it on google knol platform.

http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao-k-v-s-s/review-of-the-concept-and-importance-of/2utb2lsm2k7a/2297#

Total Productivity Management

Total productivity management (TP management) provides a system for coordinating all the various improvement activities occurring in a company so that they contribute to top management’s goals for the entire company. Starting with a corporate vision and broad goals, these activities are developed into supporting objectives, or targets, throughout the organization. The targets are specifically and quantitatively defined.

Productivity is an area that is of prime focus of industrial engineers. Total productivity management is an enterprise level initiative in which industrial engineers need to take initiative and take up leadership position.

Saito and Yokota authored a chapter on TP management in Maynard's handbook of industrial engineering. I wrote a small review on the chapter on google's knol.

http://knol.google.com/k/narayana-rao-k-v-s-s/review-of-total-productivity-management/2utb2lsm2k7a/2298#