past, according to the survey. “The gap continues between the
good and the rest,” says Vitasek. “For some of the metrics, the
gap is actually widening, while some are narrowing.”
Overall, Vitasek says she is heartened by the results. “We
are seeing steady improvement in the performance of DC
and warehousing performance across a wide variety of
measures. The entire profession is lifting. When the gap
between the median and best-practice companies narrows,
that suggests everyone is getting it. It is really wonderful to
watch it happen.”
about the study
The annual benchmarking study began in 2004 as a collaborative effort between DC VELOCITY and Georgia
Southern University. The initial study focused on what
metrics DCs were using rather than on how they performed against whatever measures they used. That
study found that while there was no single set of universally accepted metrics, most respondents were using
metrics from at least one of three broad categories:
time-based measures, financial measures, and service
quality measures.
In 2005, the Warehousing Education and Research
Council and Supply Chain Visions joined the research
effort. The survey shifted to a formal benchmarking study
designed to provide data not just on what metrics were
most widely used in warehouses and DCs, but also on
performance against those metrics—data managers
could then use to benchmark their own operations. That
has remained the focus of the study ever since.
As for the 2009 survey, the respondents came from
varying disciplines. Half identified themselves as working in manufacturing, 16 percent in third-party logistics
services, 13 percent in retail, and the remainder in life
sciences, transportation, and other segments. As for the
types of operations represented, 39. 7 percent said their
operations performed broken-case picking, 27 percent
full-case picking, 20. 6 percent full-pallet picking, and
11. 8 percent partial pallet picking.
The survey respondents also represented companies
of various sizes: 31. 5 percent said annual company revenues were under $100 million, 39. 4 percent came
from companies with revenues of $100 million to $1 billion, and the remaining 29.1 percent worked for companies with revenues exceeding $1 billion.
A more extensive report, written by researchers Karl
Manrodt and Kate Vitasek, is available through WERC at
www.werc.org.
Which metrics matter most?
Despite the general upward trend, not all of the news this
year was good. For example, the survey found that, when
compared with last year’s results, performance against some
of the metrics deteriorated slightly. Whether that’s due to
the impact of a weak economy or a change in the survey
participant mix from year to year, or whether it’s because
managers raise the performance bar upon seeing signs of
improvement is uncertain, the researchers say.
As for the metrics themselves, the survey results showed
that respondents still tended to favor the same basic metrics
they’ve been using since the survey was launched. As in the
past, “order picking accuracy” and “on-time shipments”
topped the list of the most popular measures. (For a list of
the 10 most commonly used metrics, see Exhibit 1.)
Manrodt and Vitasek grouped the metrics into several categories: customer service, operations (both outbound and
inbound), financial, capacity and quality, and employee.
