The order progress diagram: A supportive tool for diagnosing delivery reliability performance in make-to-order companies

This paper describes the development of a new tool for facilitating the diagnosis of logistic improvement opportunities in make-to-order (MTO) companies. Competitiveness of these companies increasingly imposes needs upon delivery reliability. In order to achieve high delivery reliability, both the average lateness and the variance of lateness of orders need to be controlled. A good diagnosis tool should make a link between performance on these two aspects and production planning and control (PPC) decisions. PPC decisions can relate to input control (order acceptance/delivery date promising, order release and priority dispatching) or output control (adjusting capacities). For a diagnosis related to the average lateness, a well-developed supportive tool is available: the throughput diagram. By using industrial data we show that the throughput diagram can help to gain insight into the consequences of input and output control decisions across time. Tools for facilitating the diagnosis of the variance of lateness in a similar way have not been published in literature. In order to fill this gap, the order progress diagram has been developed in this research. It helps to relate the variance of lateness to disturbances in order to progress and to uneven flow patterns. The diagram indicates the difference between the progress of an individual order and the average progress pattern of orders for different stages of the process. Thus it shows where due date deviations emerge. Similar to the throughput diagram, it links performance to the input and output control decisions mentioned. Its added value is illustrated by industrial data. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.