strategicinsight
BY PETER BRADLEY, EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
METRICS & KPIs: RESEARCH REPORT
Our sixth annual survey of DC and warehouse metrics shows
that the skillful use of measurements leads to better operations.
best practices make
(nearly) perfect
AN OLD BUSINESS ADAGE HAS IT THAT YOU CAN’T MANAGE WHAT
you don’t measure. The flip side of that might be, you can manage what you do
measure, and, if the results of our annual survey of DC and warehouse metrics
are any indication, you’re likely to see performance improve as a result.
Trends in metrics use and DC performance were the subject of our sixth annual survey, an online study conducted earlier this year. Jointly sponsored by DC VELOCITY and the
Warehousing Education and Research Council (WERC), the study was performed by Karl
Manrodt, associate professor of logistics at Georgia Southern University, and Kate Vitasek,
managing partner of consultancy Supply Chain Visions.
The 783 individuals participating in the study—with 684 responses actually used—grad-
ed the 2008 performance of their
DCs and warehouses against 50 key
operational metrics. Manrodt and
Vitasek analyzed the results by
industry, type of operation (pallet
picking, partial pallet picking, full-
case picking, or broken-case pick-
ing), business strategy, type of cus-
tomer served, and company size.
What they found was that the use
of metrics in the nation’s DCs is on
the rise. They also concluded that
the growing use of metrics is lead-
ing to higher performance levels at
the best companies and, oftentimes,
among those trying to catch up.
Still, the researchers did not see
performance improvements across
the board. In some cases, those play-
56.2% -
ing catch-up have actually fallen fur-
ther behind the leaders than in the
EXHIBIT 1
the top 10: the most commonly
used DC metrics
Metric and category
1. Order picking accuracy (% by order) (Capacity/Quality)
2. On-time shipments (Customer)
3. Average warehouse capacity used (Capacity/Quality)
4. Order fill rate (Outbound operations)
5. Annual workforce turnover (Employee)
6. Fill rate - line (Outbound operations)
7. On time ready to ship (Outbound operations)
8. Peak warehouse capacity used (Capacity/Quality)
9. Dock-to-stock cycle time, in hours (Inbound operations)
10. of supplier orders received with correct documents
(Inbound operations)
Using
84.9%
84.7%
74.1%
69.2%
68.9%
66.3%
64.7%
64.2%
59.4%
2008 Rank
2
1
7
5
3
4
-
6
9
