Project example - Managing success with KPIs

In the past, businesses were often tempted to boost turnover or profits in the short term by applying some specialised approach in isolation, but the trend now is to aim to eliminate the key disturbances in the process landscape in order to achieve long-term comprehensive improvements.

Some of our clients simply take stock levels as an indicator for the quality of their production and logistics processes. But the ratio of stocks over the year and annual sales gives the stock turnover – and this is a more useful parameter which casts light on the process quality. Inefficient processes are often concealed by high stock levels, which can create a false sense of security. However, usually they do not lead to the desired increase in the availability of goods, but can lead to even more opaque processes, cost explosions and a high risk of obsolescence. With the help of the KPI it is possible to uncover process inefficiencies.

We are currently active for the manufacturing works of a German premium automotive company in Hungary. We are having an influence on the stock turnover parameter with comprehensive changes in a wide range of areas. This involves considering disposition parameters and strategies, supply strategies, booking processes, supplier management, material flows, and various production-relevant fields, some of which are being completely rearranged and newly organised. A monitoring procedure set up solely for this purpose allows us and our client to keep track of the status of process improvements and the sustainability of the measures which are implemented.

Such implementation-oriented project processing at “the sharp end”, for a client who is a major international player, means that our consultants finds themselves facing new challenges every day. The typical ZLU-project set-up involves a combination of old hands and juniors, and everybody has to able to hold their own, so that even young consultants quickly find themselves working together with the client’s experienced managers and shouldering responsibility. But afterwards they can claim their own share of the success.