Implementation
A typical installation and training programme requires 4 week of on-site we recommend a minimum of one month "on site" to train a team of people, thereby imparting to them the ability to continue the cost reduction and productivity improvements that we initiate during the installation process. During our time on site, we also evaluate and measure existing working methods, and we then engineer those methods in order to improve productivity and reduce cost. We report back to you with measurable results so that you may evaluate the success of our joint efforts... and so that you may project and compute a "return on investment". This period is also the start of a process of data compilation for product costing, wherein a "library" of methods and times is compiled for given styles and products. These data may then be modified and added to whenever designs/styles change, thereby ever increasing the library of times and costs associated to your product range.
In applying our work measurement philosophy, we adhere strictly to the guidelines laid down by the International Labour Office, Geneva, and teach your team to adopt the same approach. This assists with matters related to "social compliance" and ensures that the workers are treated fairly and to an international standard. Through this approach, GSD can be used very effectively to optimise productivity and to provide realistic and achievable targets, which in turn motivates the operators and controls and reduces excessive overtime - all important factors in achieving a socially acceptable working environment. In short, GSD leads to the ethical application of work measurement and many positives follow.
Our approach provides very meaningful results. On average, our customers see between 15 and 20% measurable improvement in production output... sometimes more. This means workers are more productive during normal working hours and do not therefore need to commit to excessive overtime in order to achieve a living wage nor to meet delivery deadlines. Equally important is the fact that our customers also significantly improve the accuracy of their costing and planning processes. Moreover, the Industrial Engineers are more effective, the workers increase productivity... and using GSD as a benchmark means that evaluation of Operator Performance and Factory Efficiency is more accurate and more consistent across multiple lines and factories. All of which leads to a happier workforce, thereby reducing absenteeism and labour turnover, which in turn reduces operator training costs.
The level of investment in our products and services is determined by a number of variables - the size of the organisation, how many factories are to benefit from the application of GSD, how many people are to be trained, how many copies of GSD software are required and how long we are to spend on site undertaking method improvement - so, to provide an estimate of cost without more detail of the organisation wanting to implement GSD would be difficult. It is possible, however, to say that whilst prices may range from GBP25,000 to as much as GBP75,000 an "average" project will cost in the region of GBP35,000 (fully inclusive of expenses). We appreciate that this is a considerable investment, but our efforts will prove to be of significant benefit and most of our customers achieve a return on investment within 6 to 9 months, and oftentimes less.
We are in our 34th year of business, during which time we have worked in more than 60 countries, with over 5000 companies and trained in excess of 30,000 people - 12,000 of whom are registered "GSD Practitioners", now a recognised international qualification.