Efficiency as used in business is a term which means delivering the product or service with the least amount of resources thereby keeping the cost as low as possible.
There is no universal finite set of business principles. In the aggregate, there are over several hundred of them. Many of them are not applicable to every industry, on the contrary, many are specific to a unique business or industry. The best approach to understanding business principles is to look at this in a holistic manner, i.e. overall doctrine down to a few rules specifically designed for that one business.
One of the industries in the transportation sector is materials hauling. This is your dump truck industry. All of us see these trucks out on the highway usually hauling gravel or dirt. To profit well, efficiency is the primary business principle. Lack of efficiency drives up fuel costs, loss of time in hauling; increased maintenance and repairs, and finally customer dissatisfaction. This article is an introduction to this industry as a part of the transportation sector of our economy.
One of the basic business concepts is range of production. It means maximizing the capacity (range) of the assets in your operation. When the business operation goes beyond the maximum production range, costs associated with the marginal production generally exceed the revenue generated with the marginal increase. To maximize profit in any business, operate within your range of production.
My first concern was making enough money given the labor input against the time invested. In my first entry, I stipulated that in the long run I wanted to make at least $70 an hour for the services I rendered.
The primary goal of the Human Resources Department is to match the best person to the job in the company. This maximizes both effectiveness and efficiency for the company. In order to achieve the best matching of resources to the positions in the company, the human resources director should develop a position profile. This profile identifies the job title, describes the job in detail, pinpoints the best hours of work, defines the duties, and sets out the skills needed to perform the job.
In every business no matter production or service, there exists a bottleneck. Your job as the owner or manager is to find it and fix the problem. Once this one is found and resolved; move onto the next one. There is always a bottleneck to find and fix. What is important is to find the problem, identify the core issue, and then resolve the bottleneck. This may sound simply, but it takes someone in a position of knowledge and experience to complete this task.
I laugh at the definition of labor costs because in my opinion the so called experts only have it half right. Labor costs are more than just gross wages and benefits. It should include the costs of insurance, employer taxation, human resources management and incentives. All of the costs associated with delivering the human element of service should be included. Let’s explore these costs from the most expensive to the least.
What I learned was that equipment didn’t call in sick, it didn’t back talk me, it never got upset about how much it was paid and it just kept on humming. It was making us money and I didn’t have to deal with personnel issues. Boy, if only all production could be like this. Turn it on and make money.
All the rest of the business issues I write about mean zilch unless you have great production. This is the one area that you as the business owner need to devote your energy towards over any other.
Matching the right person to the right job is the primary objective of any human resource manager. If you had a company of highly trained, well informed, and happy staff, you would control the best place to work in the whole wide world. To me, the best place to work is Santa’s Workshop.
