Title: Measuring productivity and material handling cost reduction

Authors: Ranjeet Roy; G.S. Dangayach

Addresses: Cummins Filtration Business Unit, Cummins India Office, Tower B, Survey No. 25, Balewadi, Pune – 411045, India ' Mechanical Engineering Department, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India

Abstract: Productivity improvement is the first step towards competitiveness and long-term profitability. Improving productivity in any organisation includes motivated efforts in measuring the current productivity indices and understanding the most appropriate improvement methods. For Indian SMEs which lacks in financial strength and technological advancements, carrying out such study and proposing expensive improvements methods might not result in appreciation. In the following study, a small Indian SMEs has been requested for a productivity improvement study by measuring the existing indices and developing a proposal for the improvement. The study includes calculation of the various productivity indices and improving the current material handling process by means of the simplest tool possible.

Keywords: productivity improvement; SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; optimisation; materials handling; cost reduction; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBSR.2015.071820

International Journal of Business and Systems Research, 2015 Vol.9 No.3, pp.214 - 234

Received: 26 Aug 2014
Accepted: 19 Jan 2015

Published online: 19 Sep 2015 *

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