A few days ago, I was having a conversation with a client that was experiencing errors in his factory.

Assembly issues…

Quality issues…

Mistakes etc.

There were multiple headaches.

He asked: What KPI’s do I need to measure, to eliminate these errors?

My first question was – Do you have a clear manufacturing Process?

Hmmmm, not really.

What Ive found is that trying to improve a system by purely observing numbers, doesn’t actually work.

Trying to “fix” your process through measurement, is like trying to count the number of squeaks your bike has, as you’re cycling along. Its not the squeaks you should be counting, its the bicycle itself that needs attention.

More often than not, its the PROCESS thats faulty. Thats were we need to start.

Here was my advice to resolve his manufacturing problem:

1. Design a manufacturing PROCESS from end to end. What are the steps?
2. Create a checklist or SOP for each step of that process.
3. Assign accountability to someone to ensure each step is followed correctly
4. Measure what matters (only) throughout the process.

*Note: the measurement part is the last step in this solution. Until you have designed the process, created consistency with a checklist then monitored each step, thats when metrics can be applied.

And, as above, Measure only what Matters. Don’t overcomplicate things with dashboards, meaningless KPI’s and numbers that aren’t relevant.

Keep it simple people.

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