Management Services

Chairman's Column

The author believes that the global economic crisis of recent years was directly caused by the lack of responsible leadership at a senior level in certain financial institutions. In a few instances the irresponsible actions of a few resulted in the demise of global organizations and brought many other large companies to the brink of oblivion. Thankfully, many companies are now taking the view that delivering results is not enough and have realized that how those results are delivered can have...

Regional News

The North West Region Visit to Bulldog Tools Ltd

On February 10, members from The North West Region experienced an exceptional 'Factory Tour' of Rollins Bulldog Tools Ltd, which is based in Wigan. Bulldog is the only company within the UK which uses the traditional solid forging method of hand tool manufacture. The company is currently celebrating 230 years of hand tool manufacture. The North West Region group was guided by the Marketing Manager, Fred Foot, who gave a detailed coverage of the factory processes. He gave some insight into rec...

North West Region the Tsr2 Saga

Although it happened 40 years ago, the sudden dramatic cancellation of the TSR2 bomber aircraft still resonates strongly here in the North West region where it would have been manufactured. It was therefore fortunate to obtain the services of Brian Mann to deliver a lecture on the TSR2 saga. He outlined the background of the origins of the project; the state of the Cold War, the government's proposal to replace manned fighters with AA missile defenses, and the future of the V bomber force in ...

Interest in Productivity Improvement Across All Sectors

A review of 2009 has shown up some interesting facts for Scott-Grant -- a leading provider of productivity training for the IMS Certificate and other Lean courses. The review found that all the business sectors were represented among its client list -- manufacturing, service, retail, distribution, public and financial sectors -- which contained many of the biggest national and international names. The stronger performing industry sectors of retail and distribution represented over 30% of Scot...

Obituary: Edward a King Fcis 1925-2009

It is with sadness that people learnt of the death of the Institute of Management Services' first director and general secretary, Ted King. King suffered a heart attack and died on Aug 4, 2009, at his home in Bishops Stortford, Hertfordshire. In 1964, King was recruited by the then Institute of Work Study to be the first Director and General Secretary of the rapidly growing Institute. During his 25 years in office with the Institute, King addressed countless Region, Branch and Specialist Grou...

Quiz

An Exceptionally Broad Analysis

Systemic Leadership Toolkit, by William Tate, is reviewed.

Business Process Reengineering

The second part of a series articles on business process reengineering is discussed. Al-Mashari and Zairi (1999) indicated that 'Empowerment' and 'People Involvement' were equally 'critical' to Business Process Reengineering's chances of success, yet in the research referred to initially there was evidence in both LGOs of management's reluctance to let go of their control and release the creative talents of their people, in order, as Al-Mashari and Zairi suggested, to 'Create an Effective Cul...

Can We Improve the Profitability of Seafood Companies by Applying Six Sigma to Packaging Operations?

A major problem in seafood companies is the increased reliance on automated or semi-automated plant for packing areas. Continuing new product development means that these lines are regularly faced with new types of packaging or packing steps. This particular project was an investigation, using the Six Sigma approach, of the causal factors of breakdowns of a particular labeling machine. A team comprised of students on the MSc in Productivity & Innovation, together with staff from the Grims...

Switch Off for Savings

This article presents energy saving tips that may well be applicable to domestic residences, as well as offices. Such tips are: 1. Using lighting systems efficiently in an industry is very necessary. 2. Maintaining heating and cooling systems in an industry is very important, but continual adjustment of the controls is not possible. 3. Switching off computers when not in use is a very important means of saving energy. 4. If all companies start adopting eco-friendly habits to save energy, then...

Corporate Psychopaths and Productivity

Corporate psychopaths, being parasitic, divisive and disruptive, are the enemies of efficiency and productivity in any organization and should be of intense interest to Management Services and every other management journal. However, recent research the author undertook, among 346 white collar and professional employees across a wide range of organizations in Australia, shows that corporate psychopaths do indeed affect workplace productivity in a negative direction because they add an additio...

Reducing Your Footprint

Warrington based, Centre for Assessment Ltd (CFA) has launched The Carbon Action Standard. Originally developed by CFA's parent company, Economic Solutions, to help businesses reduce their Carbon Footprint, organization successfully assessed against the Standard have also made significant savings on energy bills. In order to be accredited against the Carbon Action Standard, organizations need to demonstrate they have plans with targets to reduce carbon emissions from a baseline carbon footpri...

Feeling the Chill

Refrigeration systems are among the pieces equipment in a food plant that use more electricity for their operations, as lowering the temperature of products in the chilling cycle and freezing products requires a lot of energy. Better maintenance and proper usage increases the efficiency of refrigeration systems, making them last longer and use less energy. A good refrigeration system contributes towards saving money and using better systems improves a plant's energy performance. Tips for ener...

Rethinking Lean Service

The first part of a series on lean services is presented. This paper argues that 'lean' has become subsumed into the business as usual of conventional service management. By revisiting the development of service management, in particular the moves to industrialize service, the authors articulate a 'Core Paradigm' to account for what might be described as conventional service management. They then explain how lean emerged and became codified, and as lean extended its reach to service organizat...

Energy Efficiency in the Seafood Industry

Catching, processing, refrigeration and transportation all account for energy usage in the supply of seafood products. Within the fisheries sector, the numerous catching methods have different fuel efficiencies. As the price of marine diesel has increased greatly over the last few years, certain sectors have seen fuel bills become too high to remain profitable. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies the environmental aspects and potential impacts throughout a product's life from raw material acq...