Beneficial Quality Metrics

Although Quality Metrics sound uninteresting to the standard employee, any Quality representative should know that those metrics are the unsung heroes of a healthy company. Quality Metrics are also known as Key Performance Indicators (KPI's), which measures the success of a company based on meeting specific goals and targets set by Management.

Tracking KPI’s play a vital role in properly determining if a department is functioning correctly. Unlike a person’s relative opinion on a department’s status, i.e. “I think the Sales Department has been doing well this quarter”, Quality Metrics use a numerical value to assess the department, along with creating a target goal, i.e. “The Sales Department sent out 72 quotes this quarter, which surpassed the target goal of 60 quotes.” These numerical values help management evaluate the department quickly and bypass the possibility of a biased opinion.

Metrics also help determine trends occurring in the company. In the above example, if the Sales Department continues to surpass the target goal every quarter, this may be an indication to management that it is time to raise expectations. This could include, allowing more throughput on a production floor, incorporating additional capabilities, or taking on more projects. Of course, if metrics start to trend negatively, management will then have to discuss action plans to get the department healthy again. Implementing action plans first consist of asking the questions; What will be done to get back on track, What resources are required, Who is responsible for the new implementation, and When will the implementation be completed. These questions will initiate movement and gear people back towards success.

Tekmos has Quality Metrics in all core departments. Here are a just few; Average Response Time for Sales Inquires, Number of Supplier Late Deliveries, Raw Stock Cycle time to Finished Goods, and more. Tekmos’ metrics were chosen with the help of our President, VP of Operations, and myself – Director of Quality. Each of us brought different experience and understanding of the Organization to accurately assess what a “healthy” Tekmos should look like.

Tekmos’ Metric Practices;
-Establish beneficial Quality Metrics
-Set realistic target goals
-Perform quarterly reviews of Quality Metrics
-Address Action Plans when target goals are not met
-Adjust Quality Metrics and/or target goals, when applicable Tekmos continues to utilize the above Metric Practices to help eliminate potential risks and improve customer confidence in all department areas.