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You are here: Lean Six Sigma Home » Operations Management » Fulfillment and Distribution » Warehouse Management Metrics

Warehouse Management Metrics

by Pete Abilla on November 30, 2010

metrics, key performance indicators, kpi

In a previous post on Fulfillment Operations, I discussed the processes core to most Warehouse Operations. In this post, I discuss – generally – the metrics associated with those processes.

Previously, we discussed the major process paths common to most Distribution Centers such as: Purchasing, Receiving, Inventory Management, Order Management or Order Fulfillment, and Shipping. As with most business processes, there are metrics associated with those process paths.

Here are just some:

Metric Definition
Gross Margin Revenue Minus Cost of Goods Sold
Demand Forecast Accuracy Average Time from Receipt of Product to Payment
Days Sales Outstanding Average Collection period from invoice to cash receipt
Labor Productivity Total Units Handled / Total Labor Hours
Cost/Pick Line items pulled per month/compensation & benefits
Payroll to Net Sales Compensation & Benefits/Revenue
Cost of Goods Sold LIFO, FIFO, or Average
Total Cost of Procurement Total impact on Cash Flow, COGS, Terms
Supplier Quality % Defects = Lines Rejected/Lines Received
Lead Time Order-to-Receiving Time
Transportation Cost [Inbound Freight Costs/Sales] + [Outbound Freight Costs/Sales] + [Liquidate Costs/Sales]
Receiving Accuracy % of Orders Received Accurately (count @ receiving, cycle count)
Supplier on-time Purchase Order Receipt (PO) date-to-first receipt
Inventory Turns # times inventory gets soled and reordered within 12 months or 12 month rolling COGS (LIFO, FIFO, or Average) / Average Inventory
Inventory Accuracy Actual versus Total – by Cycle Count
Inventory On-Hand # of Days Inventory Carried
Warehouse Utilization (Pack Factor) # of Bin Space Utilized / Total Available
Perfect Order An order that is complete, accurate, on time by order by line item
On-time Delivery First Customer Shipment to Expected Customer Date
Adjustment Loss Over a rolling time period less X days, reconcile “missing inventory” with “found inventory” for both virtual items and physical items

lean fulfillment operations, lean manufacturing

The list above is by no means an exhaustive list of Distribution Center metrics, but gives us a sense of the metrics associated with the process paths core to any Warehouse Operation.

In the next post, we’ll discuss the success as it relates to the directional trajectory of the metrics.


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Moriene July 28, 2011 at 4:29 am

Nice Information thanks for sharing. The best metric to use is business return on investment. The second best metric is data usage. he third best data warehouse metric category.

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