| Practical, easy-to-implement advice on the most successful logistics management techniques being used today--from selecting the best carriers, setting logistics performance goals, and planning logistics strategies, to streamlining shipping and receiving and slashing logistics costs, and negotiating and managing third party logistics service providers.
In the current metrics frenzy, the “measure of the day” is the focus of most discussion and action. Unfortunately, this approach generates streams of short-term data but not much in long-term solutions. More emphasis should be given to the philosophy and development of the measurement process itself—in essence, “what we want to know, and what we are going to do when we find out about it.”
For instance, Baldrige award winner, Stephen H. Woodward, vice president of logistics and purchasing at Armstrong World Industries, Inc., Worldwide Building Products Operations (Lancaster, Penn.; shwoodwrd@armstrong. com), believes, “Without an effective, well-defined and communicated strategy, it is difficult to set the ‘right’ type of measurement.” Further, he wants the feedback “quickly enough so the people receiving the metrics can initiate actions to correct the problems that have been uncovered.”
And, Alan L. Milliken, CFPIM, CIRM, and manager of supply chain projects at BASF Corp. (Mount Olive, N.J.; millika@bask.com) explains, “We’re looking for measurement processes, and not just a list of measurements.” To achieve this, he outlines some primary factors that performance metrics should provide. |
