Productiviy And Quality Improvement Programme (P&QIP)

CONCEPT NOTE /INTRODUCTION

Organizations face daunting tasks every day of overcoming the productivity challenges leading to a mass decline of their productivity. The poor state of facilities, low skilled staff, low level of technology, poor working practices and weak management systems put together affects the per unit costs of goods and services produced leading to higher prices and low level of competitiveness in the market place.

The knowledge and application of productivity improvement techniques stands organizations out in the market through the quality/quantity of goods and services shunned out of an excellent process. The need to learn, apply the best practices enhances the productivity of organizations. Promoting organizational excellence and best practices to enhance profitability and growth is the main goal of the installation of Productivity and Quality Improvement Programmes (P&QIP) in organizations in Nigeria. The focus of this programme is on operational efficiency that guarantees effective service delivery and quality goods that satisfies or exceed the needs of customers and clients. The intent of the National Productivity Centre is that through this programme the Centre would help Strengthen Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and other larger firms through Productivity and Quality interventions.

P&QIP is an interventionist programme directed towards full and efficient utilization of available input resources, elimination of wastes in all its ramifications, improvement in methods of production, generation of optimal realization of performance, resulting in higher quality output and profit of an organization. The installation of P&QIP in organizations helps to strengthen their productivity management capabilities, increase their profitability and viability.  This will not only sustain the organizations but also result in employment generation and wealth creation.

RATIONALE/RELEVANCE OF THE PROGRAMME

The current status of organizations business process vis a viz their operations and outcomes calls for concerns. Both the Public and Private organizations ought to perform excellently for the nation to experience economic growth and development. This programme provides opportunity for total turn around for organizations through the implementation of P&QIP by using productivity tools and techniques to solve productivity problems for improvements.

The need to aid organization growth in order to improve their productivity (factor optimization) and quality (meeting customer’s expectation or satisfaction) in line with the mandate and functions of the Centre is the main driving force for the Productivity and Quality Improvement Programme (P&QIP).

TARGET SECTORS/’CLIENTS AND CUSTOMERS

The Programme is designed for Corporate Organizations both in the Public and Private Sector. The major target groups are the small business in the Small and Medium enterprises such as the SME’s and MSME’s.

IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS/HOW IT WORKS

The programme has six (6) strategic phases for implementation to achieve result and improvement for the client organization. There are as follows:

  1. Awareness Phase: The access stage where consultants meet managers and staff to discuss and create awareness about the improvement activities for the client organization. At this point the benefits and methods are discussed for understanding with signing of agreements. It is the entry point into the organization.
  2. Diagnosis Phase: This is the stage where productivity tools and techniques are deployed to identify productivity problems in the organization with scientific and empirical evidence to prove or show.
  3. Approach Phase: This is the stage where ideas are generated and created to solve productivity problems through tools and techniques. At this stage also Quality Circles are formed to use 7 quality tools for continuous improvement activities. The Improvement Plan is designed with time frame and presented to the client organization.
  4. Deployment Phase: At this stage the implementation of the improvement plan is carried out as improvement activities. All ideas and strategies are implemented for result.
  5. Learning Phase: This is the stage where monitoring and proper evaluation of result is carried out to ascertain the extent to which the tools and techniques helped the organization.
  6. Integration Phase: This is the last and final stage where the result of improvement plan and activities is presented to the organization while the continuous activities are handed over to the established quality circles. This is the exit point from the organization.
IMPACT OF THE PROGRAMME

The programme is very effective at turning around the fortunes of organizations. The other impacts of the programme are as follows:

  1. Reduction of waste
  2. Increase in productivity and profitability
  3. Improvement in quality of goods and services
  4. Improved processes and procedures
  5. Improved safety
  6. Increased workers skills and competencies
  7. Motivated work force
  8. Competitive products and services in the market
  9. High profit margin