Page 40 - Industrial Technology March 2020 issue

UK MANUFACTURING

UK manufacturers are wasting

time on tasks that add no value

NEW RESEARCH REVEALS UK MANUFACTURING DECISION MAKERS working culture will not be simple, the research found that
ARE WASTING TOO MUCH PRECIOUS TIME ON VALUELESS TASKS a connected workspace, which brings together people,
tools, content and the conversations around them, can lay
n average, business and IT decision makers the way we work needs to change,” said Adrienne the groundwork for a collaborative culture, whilst driving
from UK manufacturing organisations waste Gormley, head of EMEA at Dropbox. “With decision the organisation forward in the process. In fact, 94% say
30% of their time at work on tasks that do not makers being time poor, it is of paramount importance that a connected workspace that does all of these things
Oadd critical value. This is according to Vanson that organisations can reduce this waste and maximise the would improve business results and the way that their
Bourne research commissioned by Dropbox – “The State amount of time that their employees are allocating teams work.
of Collaboration” – which revealed that monotonous admin towards creative and business critical activities.” As such, collaboration tools are among the biggest
is starving UK manufacturing businesses of innovation. investment priorities for almost a third (31%) over the
The findings revealed that decision makers in the Significant improvements needed next 12-24 months. And it’s money well prioritised:
modern workplace are spending too much time on Recognising the problem is a good start, with over half investment in a unified workspace will not only save time
administrative tasks, which is preventing them from (53%) believing that significant or large improvements are and increase efficiency (54%), it will also increase both
focusing their time on creative activities and being needed when it comes to collaborative working across employee productivity (51%) and product development
productive. As a result, almost a third (31%) said that teams. That’s because, for over eight-in-10 (81%), the (37%).
increasing employee productivity is a main priority for the organisation’s ability to manufacture on time depends on “There are so many upsides to implementing a
business over the next 12 months. But in order to do this, the collaborative tools they use to communicate with collaborative working culture, and the organisations who
the majority (85%) said they need the ability to meet the internal teams, suppliers, and contractors. recognise this and take timely action to encourage it, will
various collaborative working needs of different teams. But, given the challenges that could arise as a result of find themselves ahead of those who fail to recognise the
“The pace of technological change has us racing this need for improvement, 80% agree that the senior importance,” said Gormley. “But as much as the prospect
around from morning until night, working every minute leadership team at their organisation need to place more of a streamlined, focused future is appealing, it is clear that
and attempting to squeeze as much as we can out of a emphasis on the importance of good collaborative businesses first need to stop, hit re-start, and work with
day. With concerns about a burnout epidemic on the rise, working. Although moving towards a more collaborative solutions that reduce the noise, not add to it.”

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY • March 2020
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