Wash & Dry (WD) is a small manufacturing company with annual revenues for 2015 reaching $10 million. Located in Bellefonte, PA, WD produces various types of laundry and personal soaps as well as an array of paper products, such as paper towels and napkins. The unique nature of WD’s products has allowed it to grow from a start-up in 2010 with revenues of $1 million to where it is today. WD’s products are totally sustainable and command a higher price than competitors in the markets they serve. Their products are sold through both mass merchandisers as well as specialty retailers.

WD manufactures it products in two plants in Bellefonte: one dedicated to the soap line and one to paper products. From these two plants, finished products are transported to their distribution center located in Harrisburg, PA. From there, mixed shipments of soap and paper are sent to the retailer distribution centers where they are sorted and mixed with other products going to retail stores.

As a relatively small company, WD had a very unsophisticated set of key performance indicators (KPIs). At the plant, the KPI was “did we make what we were scheduled to make today.” At the DC, the KPI was “did we ship what we were supposed to ship today.” Although these two KPIs seemed to work in the past, WD’s growth and pressure from its retail cus-tomers for better service made it necessary for WD to consider developing a more compre-hensive set of KPIs.

Case Questions

1.If you were hired as a consultant to develop these KPIs for WD, how would you assess what KPIs they should be measuring? In general, what areas of service and cost would these KPIs address? Be sure to include both internal and customer KPIs.

2.What KPIs would you recommend for the manufacturing facility? Why?

3.What KPIs should be used at the distribution center? Why?

4.How would you measure the revenue and profit impacts of these new KPIs?”