ing trends and changes in performance from
year to year. In addition, the study provides
valuable benchmarks against which managers
can gauge their own operations’ performance
within the company and against their competitors.
The study, conducted by Georgia Southern
University and consultancy Supply Chain
Visions, is jointly sponsored by DC VELOCITY
and the Warehousing Education and Research
Council, with support from Ryder and
Manhattan Associates. The full results will be
available in a report by Karl Manrodt and Kate
Vitasek at www.werc.org after the annual
WERC conference in Anaheim May 16–19.
EXHIBIT 1
the top 10: the most commonly
used DC metrics
Metric and category
1. On-time shipments (Customer)
2. Order picking accuracy (Quality)
3. Average warehouse capacity used (Capacity)
4. Annual workforce turnover (Employee)
5. On time ready to ship (Outbound operations)
6. Peak warehouse capacity used (Capacity)
7. Fill Rate - line (Outbound operations)
8. Dock-to-stock cycle time, in hours (Inbound operations)
9. Inventory count accuracy by location (Quality)
10. Order fill rate (Outbound operations)
Did not appear in Top 10 in 2009
Using
85.8%
73.2%
70.4%
60.2%
58.8%
58.7%
57.7%
56.2%
53.0%
50.7%
2009 Rank
2
1
3
5
7
8
6
9
*
4
Which metrics matter most?
What we have seen over the full course of the study is that
when it comes to the metrics used in America’s warehouses
and DCs, the fundamentals don’t change much. Survey participants still favor the same basic metrics they’ve been
using since the study was launched in 2004. As Exhibit 1
shows, this year’s Top 10 list of the most commonly used
metrics tracked quite closely with last year’s. In both surveys, “on-time shipments,” “order picking accuracy,” and
“average warehouse capacity used” topped the list, although
there were some variations in the rankings.
The Top 10 are only part of the story, however. Survey
participants use a wide range of other metrics to assess their
performance as well—metrics that encompass inbound
operations, quality, financial performance, capacity,
employees, outbound operations, and the customer.
EXHIBIT 2
going up! where DC performance improved …
Metric Major opportunity
Material handling damage ; 1.0%
Inventory shrinkage as a of total inventory ; 1.5%
Back orders as a of total orders ; 5.4%
Back orders as a of total lines ; 7.6%
Back orders as a of total dollars/units ; 5.6%
Annual workforce turnover ; 17.0%
Lost sales (% of SKUs out of stock) ; 5.6%
Cases picked and shipped per hour ; 40. 4 cases
Typical
; 0.09 and ; 0.4%
; 0.1 and ; 0.5%
; 1.0 and ; 2.0%
; 1.0 and ; 2.1%
; 1.0 and ; 3.0%
; 4.0 and ; 10.0%
; 0.5 and ; 2.0%
; 110.0 and ; 168.0 cases
Best in class
< 0.007%
< 0.01%
< 0.2%
< 0.2%
< 0.5%
< 0.8%
< 0.01%
; 281.4 cases
Median 2010
0.2%
0.2%
1.5%
1.4%
2.0%
6.8%
1.4%
142.5 cases
Median 2009
1.0%
0.825%
3.2%
2.75%
3.0%
10.0%
2.0%
128.95 cases
Note: Survey responses have been divided into quintiles to make it easier for companies to see where they stand in comparison with other warehouses and DCs. For example, the “best in class” category represents the
top 20 percent of all respondents, while “major opportunity” represents the lowest 20 percent of respondents—or those who have the most to gain from performance improvements.
