Improved Performance for Businesses Implementing ISO 14001:2015

22nd May, 2018

At a glance:

Since the emergence of the first certified environmental management systems (EMS) in the early to mid-nineties, there has been an increasing level of interest in their use within the furniture manufacturing sector. Improved environmental management means lower risk, higher potential for cost savings, which go straight to increasing profit while reducing emissions and subsequent pollution.

The implementation of an EMS enables a process of continual improvement, not only at the production facility but also through influencing suppliers and designing the product for eventual disposal at the end of life.

Highlights:

Benefits of implementing an EMS
How an EMS can improve performance
How to report environmental performance

Making improvements through the implementation of lean manufacturing and operations relies on the ability to measure performance. It is important to be able to measure both before and after any activities as this provides tangible evidence of the impact that these activities will have on the business. This article is a simple, beginners guide to performance measurement.

This article is a beginners guide to performance measurement

In effect measurement is important for:

day to day control
ensuring strategic alignment
driving improvement
best practice comparison
setting of World Class targets

When analysing a business it is important to see things from multiple points of view and consideration needs to be given to:

Shareholders
Customers
Operating effectiveness
Employees and Environment

Getting performance measurement right first time is essential. Wrong measures drive you in wrong behavioural directions, too few measures give unbalanced approaches to company performance and too many measures confuse and stop real action.

Key performance measures must be simple, concise and effective. They must take a balanced view and are likely to include many of the following:

1. Shareholder considerations

Sales growth %
Profit/turnover %
Value added per person
Floor space utilisation
Inventory turns

2. Customer considerations

Delivery schedule achievement (delivery to promise)
Order lead-times
Time to market for new products
Innovation: new products to product range %
Complaints per order

3. Operational considerations

Non right first time
People productivity
Overall Equipment Effectiveness
Spoilage/scrap/waste
Data accuracy
Supplier: purchased materials value verses no of suppliers

4. Employee considerations

Safety: accidents/employee
Leavers/employee
Training days per employee

Other Key measures for process improvement activities

Not right first time (NRFT)
Delivery schedule achievement (DSA)
People productivity (PP)
Stock turns (ST)
Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE)
Value added per person (VAPP)
Floor space utilisation (FSU)

Of course measurement and benchmarking are not the be all and end all of process improvement. Actions are key to the success of the company concerned. It is important to measure the effect of any intervention or action, collate by sector within the business and to disseminate the results. World Class Targets need to be established with a view to continuous improvement.

Need help? E-mail: info@fira.co.uk