Please note, that due to lack of support the IMS Chairmans Lunch has been cancelled. However, If any of the Regional members would like to attend the AGM it is still being held on the 19th October. at the George Hotel in Lichfield as advertised in the journal.

If you intend to travel to Lichfield for the AGM. Why not contact Mostyn Lewis Tel 020 8319 2326 or mostyn.lewis@btopenworld.com to arrange to meet him at Euston Station to catch the 08.40  train to Lichfield via Birmingham, he would welcome  the company

Whole economy productivity and unit wage costs, Annual growth

In the first quarter of 2008, whole economy productivity growth (measured by output per worker) was 0.6 per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago, down from a growth of 1.6 per cent in the previous quarter. The fall in annual productivity growth was due to a decrease in the growth rate of output and an increase in the growth rate of whole economy workers.
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Again this year, the United States is first in the rankings of the 2008 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook, a pioneer in ranking and analyzing how nations compete and manage their path to prosperity,

But will the United States’ run continue? In 1989, Japan seemed firmly in the number one position with the US in third. By 1994, however, the US took over leadership, a position it has held ever since. The downfall of Japan in competitiveness bears some similarities with the present situation. Will the US follow the same path?

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An efficiency drive designed to save 57million is now likely to cost the Departmrnt for Transport [DIT} £81 million, a Government watchdog has found,

There was insufficient time to test a new IT system which has proved “unstable” whhen it went live,the report by the National Audit Office said.

Transport department staff told the audit office that people were being recorded as sick when they were not and the information being recorded was “garbage”

THe head of the audit office, Tim Burr said “it is disappointing to see a programme which aimed to improve efficiency and effectiveness leaving it - on current projections- some £80million worse off”.

The DIT had said that the programme would cost £55million and achieve gross savings of £112million.

However the audit office said the programme is forcast to cost £120million against the gross savings identified of “40million over its lifetime to March 2015.

Ministers are hoping to cut more than £7 billion from the cost of running the Government with a major review of wasteful public spending.

A 12 month efficiency  drive with reviews into different areas of Government spending headed by senior private sector figures has been outlined by. Yvette Cooper, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury  who said.  “We need continual improvements to make sure the taxpayer is getting the best possible value for money. Public Sector efficiency has improved significantly in recent years, but we need to keep doing more”

The four areas identified for cost-cutting are:-

• Buying in bulk by government departments.
• Using government property more efficiently.
• Changing the management of government asserts, possibly through greater private sector involvement.
• Merging back office and IT functions

Dr. Joseph M. Juran, an American industrial engineer and philanthropist, has died from a stroke on February 28 at the age of 103.

He was born on December 24, 1904 in Braila, Romania. In 1924, with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota (he would later earn a law degree), Juran joined Western Electric at the Hawthorne Works. His first job was in the inspection branch.

Juran was promoted to a managerial position in 1928, and the following year became a division chief. He would publish his first quality related article in Mechanical Engineering in 1935. In 1937 he moved to Western Electric/AT&T’s headquarters in New York City.

After World War II, Japan was experiencing a crisis in mass manufactured product quality. Japanese goods were thought to be inexpensive, however, easily broken and in general poor quality. The Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) recognized these issues and invited Juran to Japan in 1954.

Juran is survived by his wife Sadie Shapiro, 3 sons and 1 daughter.

Article Dated: 12 Mar 2008

Reacting to the Chancellor’s Budget speech, Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, said:

“The Chancellor didn’t set the Thames alight, but then he didn’t have anything to set it alight with.

“On the surface there are no nasty surprises, but his growth assumptions are optimistic and leave him with no room for manoeuvre should things take a turn for the worse.

“Borrowing also looks set to rise by a further £20 billion over the next four years, which is a cause for concern. And by 2010/11, the impact of this Budget will be to raise total tax take by nearly £1.9 billion.
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Alfred Minter, Hon Fellow of the Institute of Management Services, has died at the age of 85. He was a stalwart of the Institute and served on the Council of Management until he reached retirement age. Anyone who met or worked with “Alf” will have their own memories and stories.

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GDP per Worker

Revised data for 2006 (based on the current purchasing power parity (PPP) approach) continues to show the UK’s productivity performance, on a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per worker basis, as lower than that of the US and France, similar to that of Canada, Germany and Italy, and above that of Japan.
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NHS output rose by 3.8 per cent a year from 1995 to 2006, according to latest estimates from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). By 2006, output was some 50 per cent higher than in 1995, before allowance for quality change. But since inputs grew still faster, productivity fell by an average 1.0 per cent a year.
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Sir John Harvey-Jones who died on Wednesday aged 83, was a flamboyant chairman of ICI who later turned himself into a television celebrity as”The Troubleshooter”, dispensing frank advice on the art of management

After a career in the  Navy. He joined ICL on Teeside, recruited by the head of the Work Study Department, Russel Curry, as a work study officer,  he rose through the management ranks, becoming commercial director in 1967. He became chairman of the petrochemical division in 1970 and joined the main board in 1973.

In his autobiography he acknowledged that in addition to the concept of work measurement there was also a much more interesting and exciting field of study for the Work Study Officer, which was called method study. This was and remained an extremely valuable management tool, the principles of which, he applied throughout his career.

Whole economy productivity and unit wage costs, Annual growth

In the third quarter of 2007, whole economy productivity growth (measured by output per worker) was 2.6 per cent compared with the same quarter a year ago, up from a growth of 2.5 per cent in the previous quarter. The increase in annual productivity growth was due to an increase in output. Read the rest of this… »

Estimated days (full-day equivalent) off work and associated average days lost per (full-time equivalent) worker due to self-reported work-related illness or workplace injuries, by country and government office region within England. 36Million days were lost overall [1.5 days per worker] 30 million due to work related ill health and 6 million due to work place injury Read the rest of this… »

Article Dated: 31 Oct 2007

From April 2009, employers with 50 or more employees will have to send in-year employee starter and leaver information on forms P45(1), P45(3) and P46 online, along with similar pension information. And all employers - regardless of how many employees they have - will have to send this information online from April 2011.

“Doing it online means HMRC can process your information more quickly. This means more up-to-date employee records and tax codes, and so fewer queries for employers to handle.”

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The Better Regulation Executive in the Cabinet Office is driving forward the UK’s radical programme of regulatory reform, delivering real progress for business, the public sector and the third sector. It is: Read the rest of this… »

The Cabinet Office recently announced a further two departments undertaking ‘Capability Reviews’. These are HM Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs. Read the rest of this… »

The results of the 2007 edition of IMD’s World Competive Yearbook highlight a big shake-up in economic and business power. Emerging nations are quickly catching up in competitiveness. New companies and new brands are appearing all over the world. They now contest the long standing competitive supremacy of industrialised nations. “This could lead to an increase in protectionist measures in Europe and the US” says Professor Stephane Garelli, Director of IMD’s World Competitiveness Centre

Of the 55 economies ranked by IMD, the USA still ranks No1 in 2007, closely followed by Singapore and Hong Kong.

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21 June 2007

A government strategy to reduce bureaucracy for front line workers so that public services can work more efficiently without compromising on standards was published today by Cabinet Office Ministers Hilary Armstrong and Pat McFadden.

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What is efficiency?

Efficiency does not mean simply cutting expenditure. To explore this, it is worth considering the definition of efficiency and its component parts, inputs and outputs.

Efficiency is a measure of how well an organisation uses its inputs to produce its outputs.

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Public Sector Employment falls in Q1 2007

Quarterly changes in Public Sector Employment, United Kingdom, Seasonally Adjusted

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Extract from the 2007 Budget Report by the Chancellor of the Exchequer - Gordon Brown.

Meeting the Productivity Challenge

The world is changing rapidly, and the global economy is becoming more integrated and competitive. Improving productivity and developing a dynamic economy is increasingly important for sustaining growth, prosperity and opportunities for all. The UK is well placed to meet the long-term challenges presented by a changing global economic environment, but continued progress on fostering productivity growth depends critically on building a flexible,
open economy, with a highly skilled workforce, and well-developed infrastructure Read the rest of this… »

Manufacturing industry is enjoying the healthiest spell of Business for almost 12 years despite interest rate increases and the strength of the pound, says the CBI. But the Office for National Statistics figures suggest the claimed productivity improvements may have been overstated. Read the rest of this… »

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, reported to Parliament today that, halfway into the three-year efficiency programme, government departments have reported £13.3 billion in annual efficiency savings, 62 per cent of the £21.5 billion target.

But departments  progress towards achieving their individual targets varies, indicating that some departments still have a lot more to deliver than others. Progress ranges from the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions reporting the achievement of more than 90 per cent of their efficiency targets by September 2006 to the Department for Education and Skills reporting only 28 per cent of its target. Read the rest of this… »

At the Council of Management Meeting on the 19th of January. Ray Martin, Chair of the Eastern Region, was awarded the highest honour that can be attained by a member- Honorary Fellowship- in recognition of the contribution he has made to the Institute of Management Services for over 33 years. In making the award, John Lucey the Chairman of the IMS drew attention to Ray’s commitment and enthusiasm for the work of the IMS and in particular, his service in the Eastern Region.

As part of a programme entitled Lean. Civil Servants are being trained, by consultants, how to keep their desk tidy. Staff at one HM Revenues and Customs office have had strips of black tape fixed to their desks to mark where items should be placed. This is intended to improve efficiency by clearing clutter and keep computer keyboards, telephones and stationery in their optimum position.

This is very reminiscent of the use of the Work Study technique -Motion Economy -where in designing a work place layout tools, materials and equipment should be positioned so they can be used by the operative, in a seated position, with the minimum of movement, within a maximum working area that can be reached with the arms outstretched.

11 December 2006
CAB/073-06

A government-wide action plan identifying over 500 ways to reduce red tape was unveiled by the Prime Minister today. The government ‘Simplification Plans’ will save business and the third sector over £2 billion in administrative costs.

The detailed measures, across 19 departments and agencies, have been identified as a result of comprehensive consultation with business, public and third sector organisations. The aim is to cut administrative burdens by 25% by 2010*.

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The Leitch Review will report its conclusions and recommendations to the Government in 2006.

A brief overview of Skills in the UK: The long-term challenge:

• The UK has a strong economy and world-leading employment levels, but its productivity trails many key comparator nations; poor skills are a key contributor to this problem as well as having wider impacts on social welfare.
• Over the last decade, the skills profile of the working age population in the UK has improved.  For example, the proportion of adults with a degree has increased from a fifth to over a quarter of the population.
• Despite these improvements, the UK still does not have a world-class skills base:

  • over a third of adults in the UK do not have a basic school-leaving qualification – double the proportion of Canada and Germany;
  • five million people have no qualifications at all;
  • one in six adults do not have the literacy skills expected of an 11 year old and half do not have these levels of functional numeracy.

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Equality and Diversity: Age Discrimination in Employment and Vocational Training.
From 1 October 2006, new laws protect workers from age discrimination. The Employment Equality (Age) Regulations make it illegal for employers to discriminate against employees, trainees or job seekers because of their age and ensure that all workers, regardless of age, have the same rights in terms of training and promotion.

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The network is made up of 25 Sector Skills Councils [SSc] covering 85% of the entire workforce. Uniquely they are employer led, independent sector- based and UK-wide, and therefore best placed to understand your needs.

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The US has been unexpectedly knocked off the top of an influential league table ranking the world’s most competitive nations, while Britain is precariously close to losing its place in the top 10.

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Executive Summary

By increasing productivity by 3%, the public sector can free up over £6 billion per annum to re-invest in services, making a significant contribution to Britain’s economic performance. But this will not be achieved without a step change in the management of public services. Better performance management is the key to world-class public services, but current systems are often not functioning effectively. We therefore propose the use of the performance management framework outlined in this report, to help develop existing systems and processes. Working within this central recommendation, we have also drawn out and discussed the need for:

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2007 Comprehensive Spending Review.

As part of its preparations for the 2007 Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR07), the Government is taking forward a fundamental assessment of its expenditure, with the aim of maximising value for money across all public spending. By building on the progress of the 2004 Spending Review efficiency programme and pursuing even more ambitious reforms over the CSR07 period, this programme will enable the Government to sustain the momentum of public service improvement and release the resources needed to meet new priorities and challenges in the decade ahead. In the run-up to CSR07 the Government is:

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“Your Institute needs You”
Our membership base is increasing with the new life membership attracting new 1ife members and through our improved Education system. The IMS membership recruitment campaign is well underway and as part of this we would like to fully involve our members in

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A roadworks gang did less than one hour of productive work in an eight hour shift, an undercover investigation by Surrey County Council found that  while the team was supposed to be working they had been shopping and chatting. The investigation discovered that the team left the depot at 8.36am. It took two hours and a trip to a bakery and a bank before they arrived at their work site. But before starting work, they had to return to the depot to collect three kerbstones, drive to a location where no work was being carried out, where they “moved off”, driving around stopping and chatting, drinking tea and reading. The stones were laid between 1pm and 2pm. The men’s firm were penalised.

Source. Daily Telegraph June 1st 2006

History

Three men were especially prominent in creating the Toyota Production System: Sakicihi Toyoda; his son, Kiichiro Toyoda; and a production engineer Taiichi Ohno.

Sakichi Toyoda was the inventer of automatic looms who founded the Toyota Group. He invented a loom in 1902 that would stop automatically if any thread snapped. His invention opened the way for automated loomworks where a single operator could handle dozens of looms.

Sakichi’s invention reduced defects and raised yields, since a loom would not go on producing imperfect fabric and using up thread after a problem occurred. The principle of designing equipment to stop automatically and call attention to problems immediately is crucial to the Toyota Production System. It is evident on every production line at Toyota and at other companies that use the system.

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In order to produce world-class, quality automobiles at competitive price levels, Toyota has developed an integrated approach to production which manages equipment, materials, and people in the most efficient manner while ensuring a healthy and safe work environment.

The Toyota Production System is built on two main principles: “Just-In-Time” production and “Jidoka.” Underlying this management philosophy and the entire Toyota production process is the concept that “Good Thinking Means Good Product.”

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NHS productivity is static or falling according to the lastest estimate by national statisitations despite the record sums of money being invested into the health service.

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NHS Chief vows to cut waste and look to Toyota in efficiency drive

Pioneering techniques used by Toyota, Tesco, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force are being adopted by the NHS to cut out waste and increase productivity, according to a report -Lean thinking for the NHS.

As the NHS steps up its battle to improve value for money, trust chief executives admitted they must increase productivity before they can make the case for extra funding, according to a survey released today at the NHS Confederations annual conference.

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Guide to

Measuring Productivity
What we produce and the wages it costs
Productivity and Unit Wage Costs are key economic indicators used to measure the efficiency and competitiveness of the economy. They are constructed as ratios of other indicators and are published as indices. Three measures of productivity are produced: output per worker, output per filled job and output per hour worked.

UK output per worker is calculated at the whole economy level only and is the ratio of Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices and Labour Force Survey (LFS) total employment.

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Members will have seen a number of articles in the Journal on the use of Lean Management. The term was born out of the production system established by Toyota in Japan in the 1950s and was to a large extent inspired by Kaizen -  the Japanese strategy of continuous improvement.

For those of you who are not familiar with these techniques,

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