Measuring Productivity in a Production Environment
Nousiainen, Ari (2016)
2016
Tuotantotalouden koulutusohjelma
Talouden ja rakentamisen tiedekunta - Faculty of Business and Built Environment
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Hyväksymispäivämäärä
2016-06-08
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201605264181
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tty-201605264181
Tiivistelmä
A vast amount of productivity research has been conducted regarding the measuring of productivity since acknowledging the term in firm environment. Although only a part of it has been focusing on environment, where a high level of customization in capital intensive products exists. The objective of this thesis is to find out the current state and challenges of measuring productivity in the case company’s four global equipment factories and suggest a more standard way of measuring the productivity in manual assembly in order to better control and improve productivity. Based on the literature review, a theoretical framework for measuring productivity has been made, which is used as a theoretical base for this thesis. The material in this thesis was collected through semi-structure interviews held with the key persons in the factories.
The findings in the current state are made regarding the use of productivity metrics, measuring in general, and setting of targets. Moreover, the challenges discovered in productivity measuring are concerned with the definition of productivity, commensurability of inputs and outputs, defining of standards, target setting, production planning and control, data utilization, and the narrow interpretation of measures.
As another result of this thesis, suggestions are made for a more standard way of measuring. Jointly with the framework constructed in literature review, it is suggested that both manual assembly efficiency (MAE) and value-added time to total time can be used for measuring productivity, while tracking and monitoring several production hours simultaneously. Moreover, it is emphasized that the measuring should be concerned with multiple levels of the organization and done in interplay with other departments. In addition, the targets for measuring are emphasized to be defined and updated through work measurement and the use of a learning curve formula. Furthermore, an updated framework based on the results of this thesis is presented.
The findings in the current state are made regarding the use of productivity metrics, measuring in general, and setting of targets. Moreover, the challenges discovered in productivity measuring are concerned with the definition of productivity, commensurability of inputs and outputs, defining of standards, target setting, production planning and control, data utilization, and the narrow interpretation of measures.
As another result of this thesis, suggestions are made for a more standard way of measuring. Jointly with the framework constructed in literature review, it is suggested that both manual assembly efficiency (MAE) and value-added time to total time can be used for measuring productivity, while tracking and monitoring several production hours simultaneously. Moreover, it is emphasized that the measuring should be concerned with multiple levels of the organization and done in interplay with other departments. In addition, the targets for measuring are emphasized to be defined and updated through work measurement and the use of a learning curve formula. Furthermore, an updated framework based on the results of this thesis is presented.