MESA White Paper Provides Roadmap for Using Metrics to Solve Critical Business Problems

Aug. 25, 2010
The Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) International today released Harnessing the Power of Metrics to Diagnose and Solve Business Problems, a white paper that illustrates a systematic approach for achieving the measurable business results demanded by enterprise managers.

MESA has leveraged the extensive experience of its membership to develop both a conceptual framework and real-world best practices that enable manufacturers to achieve-and demonstrate--performance improvement.

"Management often demands that operating groups or plant managers demonstrate performance improvements in terms of business improvements," says Steve Kaplan, Global MES Administrator for Murata Power Solutions and MESA Metrics Working Group Co-Leader. "There are so many nuances to the process of diagnosing and solving problems. For example, a supplier might think its shipping process is running smoothly when it is really triggering customer problems. Mutual supplier/customer metrics' analysis can enable corrective action. The team that assembled this paper provides a range of real-world examples like this and identifies common best practices for addressing such issues."

The paper goes well beyond the theory of why and how metrics work to improve performance and delivers actual examples and best practices. In addition to a series of easy-to-use checklists--common metrics aligned to various job titles or goals that might appear on a dashboard, for example--the paper includes actual examples of operational issues and how they link to financial results. Among other topics the paper addresses include:
- identifying key problems and the metrics that actually reflect those outcomes;
- diagnosing performance issues using metrics;
- identifying deviations, trends and dynamic changes;
- preventative and corrective approaches; 
- goal-setting.

"The paper will provide guidance to practitioners with a range of experience with metrics," says Kaplan. "It covers the basics for those just learning about manufacturing metrics and, for advanced metrics users, provides ample examples that clearly illustrate how to apply metrics to improving business performance, all written from the manufacturer's point-of-view."

The paper is available now for MESA Members to download from the MESA website, www.mesa.org.

The MESA Metrics for Diagnostic Purposes team that developed this paper wants an interactive approach with the readers. Team members ask that after reading the paper, you submit questions, comments or related topics that you would like to see MESA address. The team is planning a webcast and will address your comments during that session. You may send your response to: Brandy Richardson at [email protected].

Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association (MESA) - www.mesa.org

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