Chems industry ranked next to bottom in productivity survey

06 September 2004 00:32  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (CNI)--The chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry has been branded one of the least productive industry sectors by a UK consulting firm.

 

Proudfoot Consulting, which on Monday released the findings of its 2004 global study, placed the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry joint second from bottom on its productivity league table, with only the food and beverage industry accused of wasting more time.

 

According to the consultants’ findings, employees in the chemical and pharmaceuticals industry spend 43% of their time unproductively, wasting 97 days (of a global average of 225 days) at work annually. This compares to an across sector average of 38% of time wasted.

 

The chemicals and pharmaceuticals industry is also getting less rather than more productive, according to the survey. In 2003, its productivity was assessed at 59%, putting it on a par with the paper and retail sectors in middle of the productivity table. This year's survey shows chemicals and pharmaceuticals down two percentage points at 57% where it lies joint second from bottom with the banking and finance sector.

 

Unproductive time was categorised as time spent by employees on an activity that does not add value, for example from IT systems crashing or wasted time by waiting for meetings to start. Proudfoot said the report was based on a minimum of 10 368 hours with management and sales staff, conducting an in-depth analysis of each company’s processes and approach.

 

One hundred companies from Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, South Africa, Spain, the UK and the US were surveyed.

 

Poor management was highlighted across all industries as the main reason for the loss of productive working time. Other key findings were that ineffective communication, poor working morale, inappropriately qualified workforce and information technology (IT)-related problems were additional barriers to productivity.

 

Industry sectors included in the survey were: telecommunications (which was rated as most productive); automotive, travel and logistics, engineering, electronics, primary industries, retail, paper, textiles, banking and finance, healthcare, manufacturing, and food and beverages.

 

For further details: visit the Proudfoot web site at: www.proudfootconsulting.com

By: Glenda Thisdell
+44 20 8652 3214

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