Technological progress over the years, including most recently generative AI, has promised to transform industrial production. But few organizations have figured out how to maintain high productivity over the long term. One important goal, say senior partner Ulf Schrader and coauthors, is to shift how managers work, from process supervisors to reengineers who continually redesign how tech-enabled processes can improve work. For example, supervisors at many manufacturers spend only 31 percent of their time on leadership tasks. But to truly build capabilities for the long run, they should allocate double that time to emphasize process confirmation and team building as teams become increasingly self-managed.
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A pair of square area charts shows 100% of a factory floor supervisor’s workday, highlighting the time spent across various activities in both current and ideal scenarios.
In the current scenario, 31% of a supervisor’s workday is spent on essential capability-building activities, such as team building and process confirmation. In the ideal scenario, this would rise to 63%. The biggest disparity between the two scenarios occurs in team building, which would rise from 10.8 to 28.3% in the ideal scenario. Time spent on process confirmation would rise from 20.8 to 33.3% in the ideal scenario, while problem-solving would drop from 16.7 to 10.8%. Administrative tasks would drop from 25.8 to 10.0% in the ideal scenario, and breaks and lunch would drop from 12.5 to 11.7%. Lastly, time spent on emergencies would drop from 14.2 to 5.0% in the ideal scenario.
Note: Figures do not sum to 100%, because of rounding.
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To read the article, see “Today’s industrial revolution calls for an organization to match,” July 23, 2024.