News

Citation

(2013), "News", International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol. 62 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijppm.2013.07962caa.002

News

News

Article Type: News From: International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Volume 62, Issue 3.

Less energy for India …

In India, the state of Andhra Pradesh has adopted a set of energy efficiency standards for buildings when constructed or renovated. This follows shortly after the National Resources Defense Council, in partnership with the Administrative Staff College of India, published a report, “Constructing change: accelerating energy efficiency in India's building market” that identifies barriers to energy efficiency in India and puts forward actions to overcome those barriers for state and local governments, real estate developers and financial institutions.

… and for South Africa

The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank's private-sector lending arm, is partnering with Sasfin Bank to develop a portfolio of energy efficiency and renewable energy financial products for small, medium-sized and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in South Africa.

The partnership will see the formation of a new advisory services agreement, to support a $10 million line of credit to expand lending to projects that would help smaller businesses become more energy efficient, sustainable and more competitive.

The programme is to be cofunded by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) and follows an earlier engagement during which the US Agency for International Development funded and assisted Sasfin to develop its financing strategy in consultation with the IFC.

Performance is wrong … or is it the indicators?

UK doctors (general practitioners) continue to struggle with new quality and productivity indicators for reducing hospital Accident & Emergency (A&E) attendances, with a quarter missing the deadline for a recent crucial report.

Some 74 per cent of practices of the 24 PCTs surveyed submitted results for QP indicator 13 by the deadline.

QP13 asks practices to hold an external peer review to assess A&E attendance data and agree an improvement plan to be sent to their primary care organisation.

But 22 per cent of practices required an extension and 4 per cent did not submit results or missed the deadline and are pending a review from their PCT as to whether they will gain the points.

The indicators – that the Department of Health said this week it wants to continue for another year – have proved problematic for practices. A spokesperson for NHS employers said: “We have recently undertaken a very small scale survey of PCTs to ascertain their opinion on the operation of the Q&P indicators.”

Australia aims for top 10

Australia must boost its productivity to achieve the government's ambitious wage goal over the next 13 years, according to Treasurer Wayne Swan.

Labour's Asian century white paper lays down a goal to put Australia in the global top 10 countries in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) per person by 2025.

If achieved, the average real wage per person could rise to around $73,000, from $62,000.

While productivity gains were already in the economic pipeline, Mr Swan said greater effort was needed. “We cannot take these gains for granted, and while we are already a highly productive economy by world standards, reaching the top 10 will require a sustained and concerted effort to lift our productivity growth,” he said in a statement.

Mr Swan said gains in skills, education, innovation, infrastructure, tax and regulation would require the efforts of governments at all levels, business and the community.

India is cooperative

The state of Bihar will soon have a network of basic level farming cooperatives. M.K. Das joint program director of Bihar State Productivity Council (BPSC) said the cooperative units will be patterned on the Gujarat agriculture model to speed up agricultural development in the state.

The council would raise an army of professionals and experts to man the cooperatives, Mr Das added.

According to Mr Das, the cooperatives would be kept free from any political interference and they would have complete freedom to function on the basis of the principle of economic rationality. They will be encouraged to adopt the strategy of niche marketing for their products as well, Mr Das noted.

Singapore adopts OEE

Singapore's manufacturing industry will benefit from a productivity boost with the launch of the Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) initiative – a move spearheaded by the Manufacturing Productivity Technology Centre (MPTC) hosted at A*STAR's Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). The OEE initiative encourages companies to increase productivity by improving machine utilisation, performance and quality with R&D and the adoption of advanced manufacturing technologies developed by A*STAR's SIMTech.

Central to this OEE initiative is a unique programme comprising OEE champion training, OEE assessment, identification of areas for improvement, as well as OEE technologies adoption and nurturing a culture of improvement. The initiative advances expertise through systematic training of the local manufacturing workforce in application of knowledge and technology to raise competency and productivity on the manufacturing shop floor.