Measuring performance is a critical
element of reducing supply chain costs
– but it’s an area that South African
companies appear to be neglecting.
“During research for my doctorate
I found that more than 80% of
companies contacted could not provide
me with a performance measure,”
said Dr Leila Goedhals-Gerber, head
of the maritime studies division in
the department of logistics at the
University of Stellenbosch. “It really
is a select few in the country that are
aware of the importance of measuring
your performance – but what is more
worrying is that most of the companies
were not aware they could even measure
their supply chain performance.”
Also concerning, she said, was the
very real fear of many South African
businesses about sharing information
along the supply chain. “This is a major
problem that we need to address if we
want to look at the cost of our supply
chains and the state of logistics in the
country.”
According to Dr Goedhals-Gerber, a
culture of not sharing information had
resulted in many businesses not sharing
costs along the supply chain or even just
sharing lessons learnt.
“We will only begin to address
the high cost factors when we are in
a position to share best practice and
knowledge freely and at the same
time are measuring our performance,”
she said.
CAPTION
Dr Leila Goedhals-Gerber … ‘Performance
measurement a critical element.
