NEW YORK - Sales per employee - an important indicator of a company's progress - is rising rapidly at a number of industrial companies, according to a report from Standard & Poor's Corp.
During the last four quarters, non-farm businesses have increased output per hour by 5.2%, well above the historical trend line, said Martin Skala, senior editor of The Outlook, an S&P newsletter.
Companies have accomplished this by streamlining organization charts, re-engineering work flows and installing new capital equipment to lower costs, even as demand has increased.
"A business that generates rising revenue from a stable or shrinking work force can usually boost profits more rapidly than one that can't realize additional sales without adding more workers," Mr. Skala said.
Among the non-financial companies that have boosted their sales productivity at a rate of 7% or more during the past five years are: Owens-Illinois Inc.; Tektronix Inc.; Unisys Corp.; Hewlett Packard Co.; and Silicon Graphics Inc.
Many of the companies are in high-technology industries because they have achieved rapid sales growth with relatively small additions to their work forces.
