Better than Average

A lot of time is spent trying to measure yield, when it comes to natural products understanding what inputs generated how much output is key to improving performance.

At the highest level we can take the total output and divide by the total inputs. As long as both are in the same unit of measure e.g. kgs or meters we end up with a percentage or yield. Happy days.

Often when dealing with natural products we want to know more than just the average, typically there is some sort of grading, classing, or sizing that goes on along with rejection of inferior product. Typically, more than one of these things is happening at once.

This problem is known as disaggregation. When it comes to sales and planning (S&OP) having an understanding of the disaggregation is key to success. This is where Power BI starts to shine, what starts as a simple question about yield quickly extends to size distributions and grade splits. Visualising these characteristics is far more engaging and meaningful that a spreadsheet full of numbers. Users can spot trends and anomalies easily before deciding if plans need to change.

The other challenge is that we don’t always have the luxury of common units of measure. Raw products turn up in bins, hanks, crates, barrels and buckets. Finished products go out in nets, trays, shippers, pallets, cartons and cases. How we convert these different units is beyond this blog and specific to each industry or business. The caution here is that if we use averages too much, we lose the yield accuracy.

If we want continuous improvement, we need accuracy, we need detail. Because improvement isn’t about the average, its about making more of the good stuff and less of the bad. The average just sits somewhere between the two.

If you want to learn more about how your inputs are yielding, get in touch