Creating Usable Supply Chain Metrics

Measuring the performance of your supply chain has always been difficult to answer in a single PowerPoint slide. There are over a hundred metrics identified by the Supply Chain Operational Reference (SCOR). If you use some metrics that look good one month, they may not the next; while the ones you were not using look great. It’s hard to convince senior executives that the supply chain is at its peak performance when the metrics provided to them for decision making change every month.

The use of SCOR metrics to give an overall picture of your supply chain is discussed in an article I read last week. It highlights that the metrics SCOR identified are not appropriate when delivering detailed information to senior executives. Sometimes simple is best, and a small focused set of actionable metrics that are relevant to the decisions that senior executives need to make can be most appropriate.