Metrics that matter to your business
You can’t manage what you can’t measure. That is one of the truisms of modern management. The trick, say the experts, is choosing the metrics that will improve your business and then communicating them to your employees. In the December Best Practices newsletter, we look at how to get the most from your metrics.

best practices articles of the month

• Crawl, walk and run to better facility performance
  The key to getting the most from your warehouse or DC metrics is to take benchmarking one step at a time.
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• 4 ways to use metrics to your advantage
  Reaching new levels of productivity is a matter of picking the right metrics to improve your processes and then following through on measuring and communicating them to your employees.
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• Tips for tough times
  In the current economy, companies are scrambling to cut costs, maintain service levels and increase productivity.
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other recommended items

• ProMat 2009 Show Preview: Path to productivity
  ProMat 2009, slated for January 12-15, will showcase more than 750 exhibits and include a comprehensive educational conference. The event, held at McCormick Place in Chicago, will offer an array of products to help improve productivity at your company
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• Newspaper publishing: Survival strategies
  Newspapers are struggling to stay alive in this era of online information resources. Many are finding new life through automation.
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• Equipment: Overhead handling basics
  Overhead handling systems can include elevated roller, belt, chain, power and free conveyors, and monorails. Here's a primer on how they work.
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• Ergonomics: Making light of steel
  With workers lifting thousands of pounds a day, Power Curbers found a better way to transfer steel--in a conveyor system with adjustable lift tables.
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blogs

• Environment: Is green sustainable or moldy?
  Takeaways by Tom Andel, Editor-In-Chief, Modern Materials Handling
  The sustainability bandwagon is still rolling but the real story about this movement is who’s driving it and why.
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• Mesh networking update: Empowering the mobile worker
  Company Briefings by Bob Trebilcock, Editor at Large, Modern Materials Handling
  When it comes to working wirelessly, infrastructure is the big buck. In the scheme of things, wireless devices are relatively inexpensive. Hard wiring the network devices and access points is the hard work and the major expense.
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• Waiting on racking
  On Your Worst Behavior by Frank
  My mom used to say "Good things come to those who wait." I take after my mom. She wasn’t too smart either.
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