Operations Management: An Integrated Approach, 5th Edition

PROCESS PERFORMANCE METRICS

Process performance metrics

Measurements of different process characteristics that tell how a process is performing.

An important way of ensuring that a process is functioning properly is to regularly measure its performance. Process performance metrics are measurements of different process characteristics that tell us how a process is performing. Just as accountants and finance managers use financial metrics, operations managers use process performance metrics to determine how a process is performing and how it is changing over time. There are many process performance metrics that focus on different aspects of the process. In this section we will look at some common metrics used by operations managers. These are summarized in Table 3-3 (see page 76).

FIGURE 3-9 Process flowchart of customer flow at Antonio's Pizzeria

A basic process performance metric is throughput time, which is the average amount of time it takes a product to move through the system. This includes the time someone is working on the product as well as the waiting time. A lower throughput time means that more products can move through the system. One goal of process improvement is to reduce throughput time. For example, think about the time spent at your last doctor's appointment. The ...