article_customer_order_dates

Order fulfillment is a huge component of supply chain success. If the plan is great and costs are low, but the
customers don’t get what they want when they ask for, what’s the point? To that end, most mature companies have
Customer Service as a key performance indicator. Some people say that “you treasure what you measure.” Hawkeye
Planner agrees in principle, but the reality is that measures can easily be manipulated.

For customer service measures such as Line Fill, Order Fill, or Perfect Order, there is always one thing in common:
the customer request date. If your delivery meets the requested date, you win. If it misses, you lose. However, the
management of delivery dates can drive some bizarre behavior. Here are some examples.

Case 1: The VP of Supply Chain is rated on customer service; in this case it is a Line Fill measure. Interestingly, that
individual also owns the Customer Service desk that place orders. To make the measure look good, he instructs his
team to push out orders for shortage products. The problem is solved and the measure looks great. If only those
irate customers would stop calling the company President.

Case 2: In this Fortune 500 stalwart, one common customer service measure is in place for all divisions of the
company: On-Time In-Full orders to Customer Request Date . The results go right up to the CEO, and therefore the
customer request date cannot be manipulated. To make sure that people are putting in order dates correctly, an
audit team reviews each business at least once per year. The only problem is that the customer dates don’t really
match the customer needs. What does “As Soon As Possible” mean? For the customer it may be within one week,
for the customer desk it means one day.

Case 3: In another reputable multinational company, customer service is king. In this case, the measure is the
Perfect Order, including product quantity, delivery date, paperwork, etcetera. The company’s measure looks good,
and everyone follows the letter of the law. Unfortunately, bad behavior still flourishes. If a plant or warehouse cannot
meet the order completely, then it will be a miss. So they go to work on orders they can meet successfully. What
about the missed order? It may hang around for weeks or even months. Ouch!

In reality, there is no silver bullet to have an effective customer order measure. But in practice, some things are quite
clear. The measure must have checks and balances, so that accountable teams cannot distort the results. Also, the
measure cannot be so rigid as to miss the realities of performance versus need. Most importantly, companies should
keep in mind that the customer is at the heart of customer service. If one can cross-check a service measure against
customer satisfaction, then success should follow.

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