Every couple of years, MESA (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) and the researchers at Cambashi Inc study how manufacturers are using metrics at the operations level to ignite overall business performance.
Today, it’s a rare business that doesn’t use metrics to survive and get ahead – but, every manager and executive wonders if they’re using the *right* metrics. You know – the ones that send up a red flag when we’re not on track, or promise wealth and fame when we’re doing the right things the right way.
In late 2009/early 2010, the folks at MESA and Cambashi found out that manufacturers had not improved much since 2006 in terms of getting timely information into the hands of the people who have the most impact on operations performance – line workers and supervisors.
Why? About a third of manufacturers were still keying at least some data into spreadsheets, and nearly a quarter of all businesses still had completely manual data collection. It’s no surprise then, that only a few leaders at the top were able to understand and link operations metrics to business metrics and success. It’s the BASS syndrome – really big, super-complicated spreadsheets.
So what progress has been made since 2009/2010? With affordable analytics, mobile business intelligence, and visual factory solutions now within even the smallest manufacturer’s reach, I’ll be surprised if the numbers haven’t gone up dramatically.
Look for the full MESA research report in February 2012. You might be pleasantly surprised at how well your business is doing by comparison, and you’ll read about the things that leaders and laggards are doing (or not doing!) to stay ahead of the competition.
