Unless you constantly measure your company’s supply chain performance, you will never attain best-in-class level, warn industry experts. Citing athletes Roger Bannister and Usain Bolt, they stress the importance of benchmarking, in a series of videos on our Supply Chain Secrets YouTube channel.

YouTube Secret: Benchmarking Can Transform Your Supply Chain

“You can’t improve what you don’t measure,” stresses Steven Thacker, Director of Benchmarking Success, in a seven-minute video on new YouTube channel Supply Chain Secrets. “We need to know how high to set the bar.”

If we want to break the world record for the 100m sprint, he continues, by way of an example, we need to know that Usain Bolt has covered the distance in a scorching 9.58 seconds.

The chief benefits of aiming for the sky, Thacker explains, are economic.

“Best-in-class supply chains operate at half the cost. The better the level of service, the lower the cost.”

More KPI and Benchmarking Explainers on the SCS YouTube Channel

In a separate video on the KPI and benchmarking subject, supply chain expert Rob O’Byrne of Logistics Bureau cites the example of Roger Bannister, who broke the 4-minute mile barrier back in 1954.

Just two months later, John Landy also ran the distance in less than four minutes—a feat that is now standard for top athletes. The record has since been improved significantly and is currently held by Moroccan runner Hicham El Guerrouj, who clocked 3:43.13 in 1999.

“The lesson from this,” says Rob, “is that sometimes there is an artificial glass ceiling … We think that that this is the best performance that is achievable.”

It just takes an individual or an organisation to break through, he says, “and suddenly it is commonplace—everyone is doing it.”

To attain best-in-class, says Rob, companies need to re-evaluate their perceptions of what they see as their best supply chain performance. “Maybe that is a glass ceiling that you can break through.”

Improve, Improve, Improve

Rob’s further advice to companies wishing to improve their bottom line is to constantly measure supply chain and logistics performance against those rated as the best in the industry, and, importantly, to be aware that competitors are forever snapping at one’s heels.

“We have to continually improve our performance in all directions,” he warns, and like Thacker, he stresses the economic benefits of BIC.

Top performers perform at half the cost of their competition.

These excerpts are just a sample of the advice doled out in the Supply Chain Secrets videos, to business owners and managers keen to improve their skills in benchmarking and measuring supply chain and logistics.

The SCS channel features scores of other videos in which experts in the field cover a wide range of topics pertinent to the supply chain industry.

A new production is added every week, allowing you to keep up to date on latest trends and to stay ahead of the competition. So don’t miss out—subscribe to SCS now to be notified of each fresh post.