by Elizabeth Hines | Aug 20, 2014 | Blog, Leadership, Strategy, Supply Chain, Talent
Losing an employee is costly — very costly. Yet, many organizations don’t know how to ensure that its human resource assets don’t just walk away.
The US Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that more than 2 million people voluntarily leave their jobs each month. The Society of Human Resources Management has found that the cost of replacing an employee ranges from 50 percent of the employee’s annual salary to 400 percent of their annual salary. What do these numbers mean? They mean that the cost of replacing an employee with an annual salary of $45,000 could be between $16,000 and $160,000. And the cost of replacing your employee with an annual salary of $150,000 could range from $60,000 to $600,000. Not inexpensive.
In July 2013, Tompkins Supply Chain Consortium released its Supply Chain Talent Report. According to the report, the supply chain industry is expected to experience an increase in turnover within the next 18 months. Most impacted will be positions in planning, procurement, and manufacturing. Reasons include plant closures, outsourcing, and the need for specialized skillsets. There are other reasons as well. Accenture conducted a study (across industries) and found the top four reasons why employees quit their jobs are: a lack of recognition (43 percent), internal politics (35 percent), a lack of empowerment (31 percent), and because they don’t like their boss (31 percent).
For managers, several lessons are there to be learned. Let’s start with the simple lessons. These lessons involve flipping the negatives (the reasons for leaving) to the positive (creating reasons for staying). That is: recognize employees, empower employees, and take steps to remove from the work environment as much bureaucracy and internal politics as possible. By taking these steps the employee who is considering a move may change their tune. If not, it is reasonable to talk with an employee and determine what the issue is. If the issue is something that cannot be addressed and if it is impacting productivity and team morale, explore transferring the employee within the company.
Other keys to employee retention include buy-in and success. Specifically, it is important to gain buy-in from your employees. If an employee is going to be motivated to not just do their job, but to excel at their job — they need to buy-in. They also need to, regularly, succeed and realize progress. A great resource on achieving buy-in and enabling success is The Heart of Change by John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen.
While the time and expense of retaining an employee may seem daunting, the cost of losing an employee is much greater.
Want to learn more about improving employee retention and hiring top talent? At Fronetics we work with clients to understand and execute on talent acquisition, performance management, learning and development, and succession management. Additionally, we offer management and leadership solutions to organizations within the supply chain and logistics industries during times of transition.
A version of this post previously appeared on EBN.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jul 31, 2014 | Blog, Data/Analytics, Strategy, Supply Chain
Want to have a better-run business? Define clear metrics and use them as a launch pad to move your organization forward.
Metrics enable you to operate more effectively and efficiently because they provide you with valuable information on how you can drive improvement and how you can apply resources (people, time, money) to the activities and programs that will get you to where you need to go.
Critical metrics for effective business are ones that focus on the strategic goals of your organization. Here are five metrics every business can benefit from using:
Financial metrics
Make sure you have, at the very least, a quarterly plan in place. A yearly plan is ideal, but a quarterly plan is a good starting point. Track against your plan. Looking at financials in aggregate is not a helpful exercise. Rather, look at your financials on a granular level.
Business metrics
Determine what makes your customers happy and what enables your organization. Track these. Soon, you will know what you should do more of and what should be cut back.
Customer metrics
Determine the who, what, when, and why of your customers. Knowing what matters to them will help you understand how to serve them better.
Vendor metrics
Determine the who, what, when, and why of your vendors. Relationship management and partnering can only be built on a strong foundation.
Quality metrics
When it comes to quality it is important to look at anything and everything. That is, the quality of your products, the quality of your relationships with your clients, the quality of work your employees produce… Start tracking all of this.
Track the data
Develop tracking methods for each of these five metrics. Archive the data. Learn by studying the results on a regular basis. You’ll start understanding how to drive the direction of your organization. You’ll develop a focus for your organization and your performance. You’ll be able to make better decisions and drive performance.
Although most (if not all) of the material will be used internally, you should make sure that it is “external facing ready.” What you are creating is a database that you can query when you need it. In the end, you’ll have, at your fingertips, a decision database to run a better business.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jul 31, 2014 | Blog, Data/Analytics, Strategy, Supply Chain
Want to have a better-run business? Define clear metrics and use them as a launch pad to move your organization forward.
Metrics enable you to operate more effectively and efficiently because they provide you with valuable information on how you can drive improvement and how you can apply resources (people, time, money) to the activities and programs that will get you to where you need to go.
Critical metrics for effective business are ones that focus on the strategic goals of your organization. Here are five metrics every business can benefit from using:
Financial metrics
Make sure you have, at the very least, a quarterly plan in place. A yearly plan is ideal, but a quarterly plan is a good starting point. Track against your plan. Looking at financials in aggregate is not a helpful exercise. Rather, look at your financials on a granular level.
Business metrics
Determine what makes your customers happy and what enables your organization. Track these. Soon, you will know what you should do more of and what should be cut back.
Customer metrics
Determine the who, what, when, and why of your customers. Knowing what matters to them will help you understand how to serve them better.
Vendor metrics
Determine the who, what, when, and why of your vendors. Relationship management and partnering can only be built on a strong foundation.
Quality metrics
When it comes to quality it is important to look at anything and everything. That is, the quality of your products, the quality of your relationships with your clients, the quality of work your employees produce… Start tracking all of this.
Track the data
Develop tracking methods for each of these five metrics. Archive the data. Learn by studying the results on a regular basis. You’ll start understanding how to drive the direction of your organization. You’ll develop a focus for your organization and your performance. You’ll be able to make better decisions and drive performance.
Although most (if not all) of the material will be used internally, you should make sure that it is “external facing ready.” What you are creating is a database that you can query when you need it. In the end, you’ll have, at your fingertips, a decision database to run a better business.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 28, 2014 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
This article was previously published on EBN.
Looking for a way to make your supply chain more efficient? You might want to consider reusable packaging.
Reusable packaging includes pallets, racks, bulk containers, bins, dollies, handheld containers, and dunnage typically made from durable materials such as plastic, wood, and metal. Traditional packaging solutions are designed for one-time use, but reusable packaging can withstand the rigors of the supply chain for five years or more.
Using reusable packaging can make your supply chain more efficient from both an operational and environmental standpoint.
Operationally, reusable packaging can help you reduce overall packaging costs, product damage, labor cost, required warehouse/transport space, costs per trip, energy usage, and the number of trips you make. It can improve workplace efficiency and workplace safety. Studies have found that, on average, reusable packaging generates 29 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and 95 percent less solid waste than single-use packaging, and it consumes 39 percent less energy.
Let’s look at a couple of examples that offer lessons for the electronics supply chain.
ANG Newspapers (ANG) in California has the largest daily circulation among newspapers in the East Bay and the third largest in the San Francisco Bay Area. Facing the high costs of wooden pallet breakage and waste removal (wood waste) and seeking to improve its distribution system, ANG made the switch to reusable pallets. The switch has reduced annual labor costs by $46,000 and prevented 37 tons of wood waste per year. Additionally, less space is needed to store pallets, and the company has improved operations and worker safety. It realized a return on investment (ROI) of 125 percent.
Another example: Ghirardelli Chocolate Co. was spending $520,000 a year for 580,000 cardboard boxes for internal distribution. The boxes tended to collapse when they were stacked. This damaged the product and generated $2,700 of disposal costs for soiled cardboard. To reduce packaging costs and cardboard waste and to improve its environmental performance, Ghirardelli invested in reusable totes. The investment will provide the company with a net savings of $1.95 million, eliminate 350 tons of cardboard waste per year, and decrease repetitive stress injuries. What’s more, the company has realized an ROI of 325 percent.
Though reusable packaging is generally better suited for closed-loop systems, it is possible to increase your supply chain efficiency by using reusable packaging and working with third-party poolers.
Want to learn more about reusable packaging? Jerry Welcome, president of the Reusable Packaging Association, wrote an article for Packaging Revolution on how to determine if reusable packaging can boost your profits. Also, the Reusable Packaging Association provides calculators to help companies estimate the environmental and economic differences between one-way and reusable packaging systems.
The US market for returnable transport packaging (RTP) is estimated to exceed $1.1 billion. The Priority Metrics Group projects that the RTP market will grow at a compound annual rate of 6.1 percent over the next few years. By 2017, it expects the global market to reach $6.75 billion.
Reusable packaging may not be right for everyone, but the industry is growing, and the benefits can be large.
by Elizabeth Hines | Jan 28, 2014 | Blog, Strategy, Supply Chain
This article was previously published on EBN.
Looking for a way to make your supply chain more efficient? You might want to consider reusable packaging.
Reusable packaging includes pallets, racks, bulk containers, bins, dollies, handheld containers, and dunnage typically made from durable materials such as plastic, wood, and metal. Traditional packaging solutions are designed for one-time use, but reusable packaging can withstand the rigors of the supply chain for five years or more.
Using reusable packaging can make your supply chain more efficient from both an operational and environmental standpoint.
Operationally, reusable packaging can help you reduce overall packaging costs, product damage, labor cost, required warehouse/transport space, costs per trip, energy usage, and the number of trips you make. It can improve workplace efficiency and workplace safety. Studies have found that, on average, reusable packaging generates 29 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions and 95 percent less solid waste than single-use packaging, and it consumes 39 percent less energy.
Let’s look at a couple of examples that offer lessons for the electronics supply chain.
ANG Newspapers (ANG) in California has the largest daily circulation among newspapers in the East Bay and the third largest in the San Francisco Bay Area. Facing the high costs of wooden pallet breakage and waste removal (wood waste) and seeking to improve its distribution system, ANG made the switch to reusable pallets. The switch has reduced annual labor costs by $46,000 and prevented 37 tons of wood waste per year. Additionally, less space is needed to store pallets, and the company has improved operations and worker safety. It realized a return on investment (ROI) of 125 percent.
Another example: Ghirardelli Chocolate Co. was spending $520,000 a year for 580,000 cardboard boxes for internal distribution. The boxes tended to collapse when they were stacked. This damaged the product and generated $2,700 of disposal costs for soiled cardboard. To reduce packaging costs and cardboard waste and to improve its environmental performance, Ghirardelli invested in reusable totes. The investment will provide the company with a net savings of $1.95 million, eliminate 350 tons of cardboard waste per year, and decrease repetitive stress injuries. What’s more, the company has realized an ROI of 325 percent.
Though reusable packaging is generally better suited for closed-loop systems, it is possible to increase your supply chain efficiency by using reusable packaging and working with third-party poolers.
Want to learn more about reusable packaging? Jerry Welcome, president of the Reusable Packaging Association, wrote an article for Packaging Revolution on how to determine if reusable packaging can boost your profits. Also, the Reusable Packaging Association provides calculators to help companies estimate the environmental and economic differences between one-way and reusable packaging systems.
The US market for returnable transport packaging (RTP) is estimated to exceed $1.1 billion. The Priority Metrics Group projects that the RTP market will grow at a compound annual rate of 6.1 percent over the next few years. By 2017, it expects the global market to reach $6.75 billion.
Reusable packaging may not be right for everyone, but the industry is growing, and the benefits can be large.
