Sync Stage: How to Assess Your Operation's Efficiency
In this week’s article, we will be focusing on the sync stage of the fulfillment process. As with every stage we have discussed thus far, there are critical questions to ask and components to consider to make an accurate baseline assessment of your fulfillment process.
Critical Sync Questions & Elements to Consider
One of the primary questions to ask when reviewing the sync stage of your current operation is if your shipments and customer order data automatically sync with your ERP without the need for manual data entry. If you are currently relying on your warehouse workers to manually input shipment and order data into your business systems, it’s safe to assume that it’s leading to errors that are impacting the speed of fulfillment and your bottom line.
Next, does your operation utilize performance dashboards to analyze data and provide reporting on your fulfillment operations in real-time? A performance dashboard allows you to improve decision making with visibility into your team’s pack and ship performance. And this data doesn’t just benefit the sync stage of your operation! With this data, you can identify areas for improvement, see shipment cost trends, and track movements of orders through your warehouses.
Finally, are you reviewing your carrier performance? Comparing your shipment volume and carrier performance versus the cost on a monthly basis will not only provide overarching visibility into where you’re at, but also enable you to see which carriers are doing the best, as well as look at whether or not you should consider further diversifying your carrier mix to meet your delivery expectations at the lowest possible cost.
Important Sync KPIs to Track
In addition to considering these critical questions and elements, it’s equally important to understand the KPIs that can help you track the status of your fulfillment operation. For example, metrics specific to the sync stage can include:
- Time spent on manual entry of customer order data
- Perfect order %
Tracking these vital KPIs can help you better understand the sync stage of your current operation and identify opportunities for improvements that can help scale your business.
The list of sync questions and metrics worth considering doesn’t end here. To learn more about how you can establish a greater understanding of the sync stage of your fulfillment operation and how to improve it going forward, take ShipHawk’s Fulfillment Scorecard assessment.
If you would like to learn more about important questions and metrics for other key stages of your fulfillment process, check out our Pick, Pack, Ship and Track articles.