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Benchmarking supply chain operations
Measuring logistics performance has traditionally focused on operational areas. For example in a warehouse pallets per hour is the typical measure for receiving and despatch; cartons per hour for picking, replenishment, put away and overall throughput; and service levels are calculated by dividing cartons requested by cartons shipped. A more sophisticated operation will generate additional measures, Agfa Geveart Ltd in Australia, for example, uses an array of measures under three categories – cost, throughput and productivity (Gilmour, 1993, pp. 339-42). These measures are collected for warehousing, transport and inventories (Ernst and Whinney, 1983; 1985).