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The metrics we talked about in the Previous article can form a solid backbone for reaching your company’s business objectives.
However, no two businesses are the same, and it’s important to make sure the metrics you track work for you.

How to choose the right KPIs for your company?
Here are some tips for choosing manufacturing KPIs and metrics for your organization.

-Start with business goals
Take some time to put together a list of your business objectives.
Those goals can range from providing the best quality products in your industry to minimizing delivery lead times.
Ultimately, however, they should make sense from a top-down perspective.
A given metric may make sense on a facility level, but if shareholders are unlikely to find value in it, it probably won’t catch on.

-Determine how maintenance can help you
A significant part of improving manufacturing processes is maintenance.
Taking the example of improving product quality, part of accomplishing that would be to eliminate product defects.
That, in turn, means making sure equipment runs properly with few, if any, errors.
The metrics you choose in that case will likely reflect efforts to improve your equipment’s reliability.

-Find which metrics best reflect progress
For example, if your goal is to deliver your products more quickly, you might track lead time to customer, as well as any of the metrics that factor into it (order processing, production lead time, etc.).
Maintenance metrics may also help support your efforts by allowing you to investigate into root causes when one of those numbers moves outside of acceptable parameters.

-Monitor and adjust
As you implement new KPIs in your organization, you’ll want to keep a close eye on them.
A CMMS or other system that logs maintenance and operations data will help you see whether the metrics you’ve chosen are making a positive impact.
For instance, if you’re trying to minimize costs and decide to track maintenance overtime hours, an unintended result might be the outright dismissal of a needed overtime shift.
Instead of working on the causes of the problem—such as poor preventive maintenance practices—the team has cut short-term costs while likely increasing the odds of future equipment failures.
In that case, you’d want to adjust the metrics you focus on. Instead of overtime, try focusing on a metric that will inspire positive change.

How to track and use manufacturing KPIs?
Once you’ve nailed down the KPIs and metrics you’ll track, it will come time to actually track them.
There are a few strategies you can use to make sure you’re on top of recording what goes on in your facilities and getting the most out of that data.

-Use a CMMS
One of the most common ways to track manufacturing KPIs is to implement a computerized maintenance management system, or CMMS.
A CMMS automatically logs data from work orders, meter readings, and so forth, which gives a great deal of insight into your processes, particularly where maintenance is involved.
The power of a CMMS only expands when coupled with enterprise software, which can provide valuable data from other departments in your organization.

-Implement predictive analytics
Predictive analytics software takes data from your CMMS and other sources and analyzes trends that occur over time.
That analysis allows the system to anticipate problems before they occur, and it’s invaluable when it comes to troubleshooting.
Whether implemented on a facility level with predictive maintenance sensors or as part of business intelligence software, predictive analytics are a powerful way to keep ahead of issues in your company and stay competitive in fast-paced markets.

-Industry-specific benchmarking
The targets you strive for with your KPIs should be based on your industry.
The ideal situation varies by industry, with world-class targets changing from one industry to the next.
As such, when benchmarking, look at what’s common in your sector rather than in general.

-Use KPIs to fuel improvement
When you’re striving to meet business goals and achieve world-class standards, it’s important to focus on improvement, rather than just reaching a target number.
This is part of the reason why you should be careful when choosing KPIs in the first place.
In some cases, your crews may take shortcuts to avoid unhealthy shifts in data at the expense of causing other problems later on.
Put simply, don’t strive for numbers alone, but think of KPIs as a natural result of your team’s actions.

In the end
There are a number of metrics and key performance indicators that manufacturers should track, but the exact metrics you target should be based on your industry and business objectives.
By carefully selecting the right metrics, you’ll be able to help processes in your organization improve by giving maintenance, operations, and other teams clear targets to shoot for.