Improving productivity is a goal that is sought by companies from all segments, focusing on increasing profitability and achieving even better results. Improving productivity in industries is one of the main challenges in this sector, mainly because of increasing competitiveness and changing consumer expectations.
We can understand productivity in the industrial environment as the ability to produce more without the need to increase the amount of capital and work involved . This means that it is necessary to deliver more without increasing the availability of resources, doing more with less.
In this sense, industrial productivity is related to the ability to use resources with more efficiency and intelligence . For this reason, it is necessary to adopt strategies that help use raw materials, machinery and labor in a more strategic way so that the industry can increase its profitability and deliver better results.
Understand how the industrial productivity can be calculated:
Given this, how is it possible to increase productivity in the industrial environment? To assist you, we have separated seven indispensable tips to improve productivity and achieve a different competitive level within the industry.
Productivity in the industrial environment
Regardless of the segment, productivity is considered a synonym for agility, efficiency and good results. This means that productivity is directly related to how much it is produced with the resources that are available for it.
When we treat productivity in the industrial environment we are referring to the efficiency and intelligent use of resources and raw materials available for production with efficiency and quality. For this reason, it is necessary to establish intelligent planning so that there is adequate productivity within management expectations.
For this to be possible, the company must exert assertive control over all aspects related to the productive steps. This includes from the acquisition of raw materials to the logistics processes of the products already produced , ensuring their proper control and storage.
This control and management must be implemented in all industrial sectors, such as:
- Chemical industry;
- Food products;
- Civil construction;
- Health equipment;
- Metal structures;
- Devices and equipment;
- And much more.
In addition to productivity control, it is essential that there is a quality management process to ensure that what is produced is in accordance with expectations. In the case of the chemical industry, for example, the procedures must be adequate with the guidelines established by regulatory bodies , as well as in the case of food industry and the pharmaceutical industry.
All processes should be executed with excellence, such as product sampling, documentation, release, on vessel and, etc. Each stage of the industrial process must be adherent to quality and safety standards so that you can meet the expectations of the end consumer.
Between 2019 and 2022, effective work productivity in Brazil suffered a 9% drop . Among the 11 countries that were part of the survey, Brazil presented one of the worst performances after the pandemic. The research conducted by the National Confederation of Industry took into consideration the productivity of work in the transformation industry, showing a historical fall in the indicator.
Such as loss of productivity impairs industries
Unproductivity is directly related to the fall in a company's financial performance. The less an industry produces, the lower its performance at the end of the period, impairing its growth and the desired results.
The less an industry is able to deliver with the available resources, the greater the waste of raw materials and the expenses with labor and equipment maintenance . If a company is unable to produce with a certain amount of resources, it means that these resources are being wasted and the company is suffering significant losses.
Failing to produce not only means that the industry is failing to win, but that it is spending more than it should on its processes. In addition to spending on raw materials and labor costs, this company is investing with space, machinery maintenance, electricity and more.
Productivity can be considerably impacted by the lack of industry's strategic planning, and managers are essential to establish smarter and more based processes. Thus, companies can produce according to business expectations.
In this sense, it is the role for managers to find resources that allow employees to remain productive, such as internet access control, for example. Although it is an essential tool, internet access can cause distractions during working hours and favor the incidence of cyber attacks, highlighting the need to invest in tools to ensure the safety of information within the industry.
Digital safety in industry: investments in cyber security
Industry 4.0 has brought a significant concern with the security of information that is stored by companies . Data security has reached an extremely priority level within these organizations, and it is necessary not only to improve productivity in industries, but also invest in strategies that help maintain information security .
In many cases, productivity may be related to cyber safety . This is because it is common for employees to access pages and content in the digital environment that endanger information security and create vulnerability points that expose the confidential data and the integrity of the company. In this sense, investing in cyber security is critical so that sensitive information, access passwords, formulas, strategies and planning do not fall into the wrong hands.
By avoiding these risks and mitigating the damage that may result from cyber invasions and damage caused by cybercriminals. It is very important to avoid financial losses and the impact on the image that can be caused by today's cyber threats
In addition to causing financial losses to the company, cyber threats can also have significant impacts on the organization's image. Business that suffer from cyber attacks end up having their image considerably impaired before the consumer and the market, impairing their growth and profitability. In the first half of 2023 alone, Brazil suffered more than 23 billion cyber attacks , which shows the importance of adopting strategies focused on the protection of information.
For this reason, it is essential that the company takes daily measures to increase the security of the information that is collected and stored. There must be a total change in organizational culture to protect information and prevent confidential data from being accessed by unauthorized users.
What can impact the performance of industry employees?
In order to improve productivity in industries, it is necessary to first understand what can undermine employees' performance. In this sense, we separate the main factors that can impact this performance and impair the productivity of your business:
Organizational climate
Problems with the organizational climate are directly related to the low productivity of employees. In order for these employees to deliver the expected results by managers, they must be motivated, engaged and happy with the activities and the climate within the company.
It is critical that there is a process of continuous assessment and optimization of the organizational climate to prevent such problems from impacting profitability and harming business results. Gossip in the work environment, communication problems, friction between managers and employees, all may be related to low productivity and should be avoided.
Dissatisfaction
Dissatisfaction at work may be related to numerous factors. Whether due to the lack of encouragement from managers and leaders, low growth probability, the company's lack of interest in the growth of these employees, etc… All this can make the employee feel devalued and dissatisfied with the company.
In this sense, it is necessary for managers to be able to identify these failures and establish efficient measures to solve these situations. A partnership relationship between the company and employees is essential to have a harmonic and fluid exchange relationship, being beneficial for both parties.
Lack of communication
Communication between the company and employees is indispensable to understand what are the expectations of both parties. Communication problems between leaders and teams can impact employee productivity and bring increasingly worse results to companies.
People want to be heard and have their questions, complaints and suggestions always validated by the company, so that good communication can make all the difference. Good communication will help to avoid dissatisfaction and improve the organizational climate continuously, allowing a clear and intelligent information to perform tasks, possible improvements and feedbacks to be provided.
Lack of training
For the worker to be able to perform their activities with quality and efficiency, it is the company's role to offer the necessary training to do so. Thus, the worker will be able to perform their activities with quality and will also feel valued by the organization.
Establishing a continuous training process will make all the difference when it comes to improving productivity in industries, ensuring that workers stay up to date on tasks and are able to perform it without the incidence of errors and failures. This employee will feel seen and valued by the organization, improving the climate within the company and the satisfaction over time.
Distractions on the internet
As we said earlier, the internet is a risk -full environment that can expose confidential and delicate information from a company . In addition, it is also full of workers' productivity For this reason, indiscriminate access is a real risk for companies that want to combat low performance.
Access control tools can help keep your employees away from online distractions by blocking features and pages that may pose some kind of risk. Personal emails, social networks , game sites and bets, entertainment pages, among other content, can be blocked to help your employees stay away from problems.
How to improve productivity in industries? Check out these seven tips!
As we can see throughout this article, there are many problems that can undermine industry productivity and cause numerous problems for your business. However, combating these problems can be simpler than you think.
To assist you, we have separated seven tips for improving productivity in industries and helping your business ensure even better results:
01. Process standardization
Within industry, there are numerous processes that should be performed to ensure that items are produced according to the expectations of managers. For these processes to happen, it is necessary to establish an order and methodology that ensures that all steps are followed and established as expected.
The standardization of processes will help deliver better results regarding the final product ensuring not only that all steps are followed but also that there is a better quality in the results. This standardization will help employees set out in intelligent and efficient tasks , even if there is a change or restructuring of the sectors.
02. Eliminate the waste
Waste is one of the main problems faced in the industrial environment. In addition to representing a major financial and raw material loss, waste shows that the processes established by the industry are not adequate and do not deliver the expected productivity by managers.
It is necessary to identify where these waste is happening so that modifications and improvements that help eliminate this problem are established. For example, if waste happens in the storage of raw material it is necessary to adopt a storage strategy that avoids the loss of this material and ensures that all this matter is used and used in the best way possible.
03. Employee training
As we said earlier, it is very important that there is a process of training the employees involved in industrial processes. These workers need to understand how processes occur and how best to perform their activities so that there are no errors or failures while performing the tasks.
Training will help prepare this worker so that he can perform his activities more agilely, helping his company to improve productivity and deliver better and better results . In addition, it is possible to make the talents even better through directed training, adapting and allocating employees according to the needs of the company.
04. Use performance indicators
Peter Drucker , the father of management, once said, " If you can't measure, you can't manage ." This means that if you cannot quantitatively measure the results of your organization, it is virtually impossible to establish efficient management.
The adoption of performance indicators can make all the difference in improving the productivity of your industry and can be applied as:
- Productivity per employee;
- Absenteeism index;
- Inactivity time;
- Quality indicator;
- Equipment productivity;
- And much more.
These indicators will help to metrify the efficiency of their production and from these data to establish improvements and modifications to the processes that help increase their productivity.
05. Automatize the processes
We currently experience industry 4.0 characterized mainly by the presence of technological resources that help optimize and bring more intelligence to industrial processes . Adopting smarter tools can make all the difference within the industry, helping to increase productivity and deliver higher results.
There are technological tools that can help your business establish smarter processes and adapt tasks for a more modern and efficient reality. Industrial automation can make all the difference in your organization's results , helping you stay modern and competitive in a market that is so fierce.
06. Perform preventive maintenance
Equipment inactivity time is one of the factors that most impacts your company's productivity. To improve productivity in industries it is necessary to reduce this time of inactivity through a preventive maintenance process that will help prevent equipment failures and maintain process continuity.
The preventive maintenance process will help identify failures before they happen and cause even greater problems, maintaining not only continuity but also increasing the life of your machinery . This preventive maintenance is critical to keeping your business always active and productive longer.
07. Eliminate distractions on the internet
Employees who are responsible for administrative tasks within the industry may end up distracting themselves with unnecessary content in the digital environment in everyday life. Improper access on social networks, game and betting site, entertainment site, and other content, can damage the smooth running of your business activities and bring a great loss of productivity.
Although these employees perform important functions in the routine of their organization, use during working hours , for example, can be extremely harmful. In addition to increasing the risk of errors and accidents, access to unnecessary content during working hours also impairs productivity.
Blocking this type of content will help your employees focus on what is really important to the company and prevent these distractions from having some impact on your industry's productivity.
The risks of indiscriminate internet access in industries
As we can see throughout this article, indiscriminate access to the internet is a real problem within companies of all segments . In addition to being a great distraction for all employees, this fully released access also represents a great cyber risk.
There are extremely dangerous pages on the internet, which work as true traps for more inattentive users. Cybercriminals take advantage of the distractions of these users to plant traps that make false links access or malicious files that can corrupt devices or facilitate free access to your company's confidential files.
In addition to the risk of leaking information can cause a major financial loss to your business. Imagine losing confidential projects or having leaked formulas for the competition?
The protection of information that is stored by industry should be a priority and indiscriminate access to the internet should be blocked to avoid safety and productivity problems for industries. More than just improving productivity in industries, the purpose of blocking indiscriminate internet access is to ensure more security and protection for information that is stored by these businesses.
Internet access control: Strategy can make all the difference
Given the digital transformation we live today, the way we perform the activities within companies has completely transformed. For this reason, it is essential to adopt resources and tools that help not only increase productivity, but also bring more security and protection to our information.
Internet access control will help maintain focus on what is really important to the company and ensure that data that is stored by your business remains confidential. Lumiun Lumiun DNS is a safety and internet access protection platform that does not need hardware. It allows this company to add an extra layer of protection to the network and apply content filters for access monitoring through artificial intelligence.
Lumiun Lumiun Box is a more robust service based on Firewall and Business VPN to provide security and internet access control in a granular way. With the help of this solution, your company can make the team more productive and ensure more network security.
Relying on these features will ensure access flow control and efficient monitoring for your business to add a more complete and efficient security layer to the network . This way, information may remain more protected and managers will have more control on the organization's internet.
