Todays the Day – It may be April Fool’s But The National Living Wage is No Joke

Work Layout

Whilst mapping out the workflow as suggested in point 13, even in administration areas, the physical layout of the work area is paramount to achieving greater efficiencies.  Although technology now requires less paper to be pushed between desks, the physical flow of work should still be taken into consideration in the work area whether in the office, shop or factory floor.  I have seen (extreme) cases where the photocopier or printer is two floors downstairs requiring staff to be away from their desks for five or ten minutes.  It’s disruptive and time wasting, as well as encouraging slack if workers have a chat while they’re down there.

It makes sense to ensure machinery or workstations are aligned and positioned to reduce the movement of people, paper or product, especially on the factory floor where time may be of the essence, for example in food manufacturing, or where a product may be breakable.  Minimizing movement reduces the risk as well as the manpower required.  It may sound daft, even in the twenty first century but I know of factories where the storage facilities are at the opposite end of the production lines, requiring time, machinery and resource to move pallets all day from one end of the line back to the start.