HOW TO MEASURE SUPPLY CHAIN PERFORMANCE

2 | R i g h t S c o r e s ™ question.” The second thing I thought was, “This mindset can only make things worse.” The third thing I thought was, “I better come up with something.” The answer I gave him is what I passionately believe to be true. Develop, implement, and maintain a world class set of performance metrics and targets . People for the most part behave based on the way they are measured. If you give people the right definition of success embedded in a healthy set of performance measures and targets, the right behaviors will normally follow. Unfortunately, most metrics exacerbate the very problems they are meant to solve, often introduce new problems, and go hand-in-hand with targets so aggressive as to be discouraging or so lame to be irrelevant. It’s so bad that the average lifespan is six weeks. People don’t think, they just start measuring and crisis begets crisis. So before we delve into the metrics and targets themselves, let’s consider a few of the most important characteristics of healthy metrics and targets in general and then apply those characteristics to a supply chain in particular. 2.1 Metrics and Targets I usually do a seminar exercise where I ask the seminar attendees to name the characteristics of healthy metrics and targets. I’m writing a synopsis here of the most important characteristics. Metrics and targets are frequently confused. Metrics are the