You haven’t concentrated enough on Strategy and then Execution. There are plenty of books written about bringing companies from good to great. Most of these books have all the right buzzwords from all the best experts. What companies need to first focus on is strategy. Steve jobs had Apple focus on four great products when he returned to Apple in 1997. As for execution, Steve also brought his top 100 people on retreats and focused on the top 3 things the company should be doing next. Dell is another company that does an excellent job of this. Have you reconciled your product base and given them a divisional and global ranking and priority? Is your execution now properly aligned with your strategy? Strategy first everything else second.
Bring out the cold hard facts by data mining with the right tool.
Plenty of people have wonderful theories on how data can be extracted. Just recently we went through an exercise where a consultant was extracting data from SAP utilizing complicated excel formulas and our programmers know how. SAP already has a Logistics Information System that has most of this information. And it shows you the facts, plain and simple. Whether you are looking at Forecast bias data, Inventory data, planning alerts or procurement costs, start by data mining with SAP tools already at your disposal. You might be pleasantly surprised. Or not. At least now you have the facts and not theory based on a complicated spreadsheet driven by someone’s formulas.
Define your KPI’s around facts not fiction.
Most companies have too many Key Performance Indicators and a poor dashboard. Once you data mine the cold hard facts you can set your KPI’s.
- Forecast Bias
- Forecast Accuracy
- Total Inventory Level
- Inventory turns
- Inventory days of supply
- Production to schedule
- Delivery to schedule (procurement)
- Exception Messages
- Capacity Utilization
- Overall Financial margin
- Comparison to budget
- Cost of goods sold
- Targets – inventory, turns, margins and capacity utilization.
- Percentage of quality rejects.
My advise? Start data mining and see where you stand. Accept the feedback right away and focus on the facts. Focus , focus and focus. Be relentless.