6 Ways to Reduce Company Waste

Reducing company waste is an important part of running a leaner and more efficient business. It helps you save money, time, and resources. But how do you go about making the changes needed to reduce your company's waste? Let's look at six key ways to make your company less wasteful and more profitable.

 

1) Effective Planning

Clear goals and objectives are vital to reducing company waste.  When you have a well-defined purpose, it's easier to prioritise tasks and eliminate activities that are no longer necessary.

Careful planning will save you from an array of mistakes and prevent you from becoming sidetracked. As is the case with a road trip, a clear map will help you get to where you want to be in a much shorter amount of time, with far fewer detours.

 

2) Efficient Staffing

A lean company relies on effective planning, but it also needs an efficient staffing plan. How much work is your team currently completing? What are the bottlenecks in production or service delivery that lead to excess waste? If you can identify these issues ahead of time, you'll be able to better staff accordingly  and eliminate waste.

It’s also important to review employee performance regularly and take action if certain team members are underperforming.  This will allow you to address any issues before they cause even more damage and improve productivity.

 

3) Process Improvement

A major part of reducing company waste is improving your current business processes to make them more efficient and effective, thus creating less excess work for employees. 

This could mean anything from automating a manual task that's currently taking up too much time or streamlining the flow of work to make it more efficient and reduce bottlenecks.

A great way to start process improvement is by looking at your company's current workflow and identifying any recurring problems or waste that you can eliminate, such as unnecessary meetings or ineffective communication methods.  Once you identify these issues, streamline those processes to make them more efficient and effective.

 

4) Improve Forecasting

Poor forecasting is one of the main causes behind excess work and wasted resources. Make sure forecasts are accurate, not just for near-term projects but also for longer term strategies that require more time to complete. 

In order to improve your forecasting accuracy, consider using a software solution such as  Microsoft Dynamics CRM to do your forecasting. It's also important to consider forecasts across the whole company and how those figures affect different departments.

 

5) Centralise Information 

In a world where the majority of business is conducted online, it's essential to centralise your company data. By having access to all information from one source, you can reduce wasted time spent searching for documents and ensure that everyone knows exactly what they need to know when they need to know it. This will not only save time, but also valuable resources such as paper , ink, and postage. It will also improve security by reducing the risk of sensitive information being leaked via email or accidentally lost in someone's inbox.

 

6) Update Expense Reporting Policies

Finally, update your expense reporting policies to ensure they are in line with the current business environment. As part of this process, consider allowing employees more flexibility when it comes to their expenses so that you can get a better idea of where company money is being spent and how effective different strategies are.  

 

Conclusion

By following these tips, you can get a clear understanding of where your business currently stands and how to improve efficiency in the future. By putting the above strategies into practice, you'll be well on your way towards a leaner and more powerful business.

 

For more info on starting or managing your business, why not read some of our other blogs to help simplify things.

If you have any questions, do feel free to get in touch with us!

Have a great week,

Ben & The BR Team.