Metrics tell an organization where it is and where it is going. They show trends and determine preventive and corrective actions. Metrics hold people accountable and drive results. In the warehousing and logistics industry it’s typically about measuring your performance for customers, but you also need to make sure your own organization measures up. 
Making sure you are measuring the right things and the right number of things can be the difficult part. Evans is retooling our Key Performance Indicators for 2012 to continue to drive the results our customers demand. If you find your own organization needs to refocus in this area I thought I would provide a glimpse into some of Evans’ Warehouse Operations KPI’s:
Inventory Accuracy – This one probably seems like a no-brainer, but it’s important and at the top of the list. In warehousing, inventory accuracy is our job. If we are not keeping track of our customer’s goods, we are not performing our duties. Inventory accuracy is calculated by Stated Inventory / Inventory On-Hand.
Order Accuracy – Our customer service and floor teams work hard each and every day to deliver exceptional order accuracy. Evans reviews order accuracy (# of perfect orders / total orders) on a monthly basis and reports out the associated costs. This metric drives attention to detail and has a direct correlation to the inventory accuracy metric.
Safety Incidents – At Evans, the safety of our employees, visitors, and contractors is a top priority. An unsafe work environment decreases morale and increases costs. The monthly reporting of safety incidents will encourage each facility to continue best practices in workplace safety.
Here at Evans the KPI’s are reported by division so we can easily benchmark best practices between our operations. As the new Quality Systems Manager at Evans, I’m very excited to contribute to these metrics in 2012: adding value to the both the organization and our customers.