There are certain things that will kill production. These are the things that will cost you money and eventually shut you down. They are the major wastes that you will want to identify and eliminate as quickly and effectively as possible.
There are two broad categories when it comes to waste within a business or organization. The first is true waste which costs money when it should not. The others are wastes that can not necessarily be eliminated, because even if the waste does not relate directly in the production, your company needs it to functional. These are typically office and corporate waste. This waste is as equally important as the cost of outgoing products and can call ruin your business the same as a production problem.
Often, even if these tasks are not necessarily related, they do influence each other. The accounting, and processing of payments for products and materials can directly influence the production requirements for a particular part of your business. In addition, if the paperwork is not processed correctly, delivery of products may directly affect accounts payable.
All the sections of the business are reliant on each other for the company to run smoothly and if they are not on the same page, at least most of the time, then the headaches of communication or lack thereof will only get worse. That is why it is very important to look for solutions to problems that affect everybody and not just point fingers and blame the other departments when there is a problem. It is also why communication between the departments is very important. Because without communication, everything is just a little bit more difficult. It also means that each department is only out for themselves and that whatever processes and directives they initiate will only help them.
Why should a department change a rule or a process that will make something more difficult or more complex for another department without at least communicating with other departments for their ideas? It should not work that way, but it often does, and it builds mistrust and resentment between departments. This is an ideal time to try and communicate, instead of just changing something, get opinions and ideas of the people that the change will affect directly and indirectly. It will make life easier in the long term and other departments are then also more likely to warn you of any impending change in their departments.