Method for optimization of labor productivity using work measurement techniques

Colombia, like other Latin American countries, is a country of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs), where the use of operational (unskilled) labor is intensive, under a configuration of cells and/or process lines for manufacturing or providing services of different kinds. This article is based on a review of the case of a company that stands out in the market as a provider of contract packing services and support for logistics processes in the city of Medellín (Colombia); it presents difficulties in its growth and capacity to respond to customers. The process of quotations appears as a bottleneck of all its commercial and operative work, product of a formal design, based on rigorous calculations of normal times and complex standards that require qualified human resources and a time of elaboration that affects costs and time of response. A review of the process, based on historical data, allows us to simplify the quotation method, reduce the qualification requirements of the personnel who develop them and increase the speed of response with a significant reduction in the cost of production, to such an extent that ABC considers expanding its service offerings to more customers at a better price. This situation illustrates how rigorous formal processes are necessary, but it is recognized that their results must be adapted to the particular needs of the company and its market, since their rigidity can affect the normal performance or evolution of the company