By nature I have always been a very competitive person. I’ve learned early on that tragedies can happen, your skill set may not rival others, or you may just not be a natural at something. One year I was feeling a little down as I thought I should be further in certain areas of my life and a wonderful mentor of mine asked me what was I even comparing myself to? He then said, “Take a look at a few things here. At one time you were waiting tables and now you are an owner of a company with a very long history and employees who count on you. Long ago you did not even know how the chess pieces moved and lost every game you played. Now you’re someone to be reckoned with. You’re not really looking at the total picture.”
What does this have to do with KPIs? A KPI is a key performance indicator. They are used to evaluate the performance or success of any given task, program, employee, etc. So, what makes it so important to anyone in the business world?
Constant Improvement Equates to Success
Let’s face it; there are people who work hard and people who hardly work. If your organization has a bunch of busy people but nothing is getting done, or mistakes are made etc. your bottom line will be affected. However if you utilize technology (such as our wireless data-collection and management tool) you will be able to see and analyze real information. This will not only allow you to track and reward top performers but also provide an opportunity to reeducate or train slower performers. In a well-oiled environment, wherein people know they are being evaluated, success will ensue.
Problems Don’t Go Away If They Are Not Identified
If you have many customers, you may not be able to stay on the pulse of each one. This could mean if and when you lose a customer or two, unless they are of significant revenue (let’s say a major client), you may not even be aware of why. If this trend continues quickly, or slowly over time, without being noticed it will eventually cost you profits. Therefore, it is absolutely critical to be able to evaluate data that includes your shipment date, delivery data, customer service data, etc. on a daily basis. One of the features our system has is the ability to track everything from order entry to shipping and everything in between. This allows our manufacturing and distribution companies to evaluate who touched the order, what was on the order, whether it was delivered on time, and more.
You Need A Basis for Comparison
If you don’t know what your employees should be capable of, the standards your products should meet, or how to compare quality performance to poor in anything, this is very risky. An example of how we help our clients leverage data is being able to compare multiple DC’s or facilities with each other. Many of our faster growing companies may have a main warehouse or plant that runs extremely efficiently because it’s been fine-tuned over time. Then BOOM, they open another warehouse or purchase another company. This is where our data such as monthly data of packages pick, packs and shipped, reduction of shipment errors, number of counts, inventory moves, receipts etc. becomes a basis for comparison.
KPIs Keep it Real
All in all, key performance indicators allow employers to keep track of all things in your business that affect efficiency as well as allowing you, as the employer, to reward your top performers and train those who need an extra push. To get a high-level understanding of how DCWarehouse Functionality can assist you in gathering this data in real-time, check out this page full of information and a free download!
