In an EMS environment built on controlled chaos, dashboards help program managers catch problems early and keep accounts on track.
The electronics manufacturing services (EMS) industry is controlled chaos by design. The basic EMS value proposition is that outsourcing relieves original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of manufacturing challenges. The EMS provider covers fixed costs during manufacturing and carries the associated inventory costs on its balance sheet. Market slowing down? Revise your EMS provider’s forecast.
Market improving? Tell your EMS provider to pull some production in. Engineering challenges? Send your EMS provider a set of engineering change orders (ECOs) as the team determines what needs to change. The OEM side of the equation has the chaos part of the business model down. Even when things are running smoothly, the number of unplanned emails and calls in keeping projects on track is a significant part of the program management team’s daily activities. When more of the day gets consumed than planned, activities designed to control the chaos may not get done.
This underscores the importance of having a control system that makes sense for managing that chaos. Walk a production floor, and you’ll see control limits established for critical processes such as solder paste deposition and reflow. If a process exceeds those limits, either the monitoring software in that equipment or the inspection equipment immediately following that process tells the operator a problem has developed so that the operator can identify the root cause and bring it back within control limits before significant amounts of defective products are built. Program managers need to create control systems that provide that intelligence as well. A dashboard is an effective way to highlight developing issues when they are small.
The basics of a good dashboard include:
- It educates. You can’t expect customers to change behavior if you can’t show them why that behavior is costing them unnecessary money. Dashboards need to be data-driven, and those data need to be able to support the program manager’s business case.
- It needs to highlight exceptions. We have the power to automate more real-time data than we can comprehend, especially in a chaotic environment. Consequently, the dashboard’s control system must prioritize data requiring immediate attention.
- It provides automated snapshots of critical account metrics. The right dashboard template may vary by business size or even by business type, but typically it includes quality and on-time delivery metrics, contribution margin or some other form of profitability measurement, sales to forecast, inventory trends, PPV trends and accounts receivable status. For accounts involving dedicated lines, utilization metrics may also be included.
- It is graphical, so trends are easy to see. We have become a very visual society, and program management time is at a premium. A bar graph is far more meaningful than a report in showing trends. Consequently, dashboards should be visual enough that metrics can be evaluated almost immediately.
That said, a dashboard is just part of a program manager’s toolkit. EMS providers don’t build superior quality products by just inspecting quality in. They develop efficient processes, define inspection points within those processes where issues may be likely to occur, and adjust the process if defect opportunities or inefficiencies are developing. Program managers should envision account strategy before the dashboard and underlying control system is designed, and over time, existing dashboards should be evaluated for relevancy. What common problems are occurring in accounts? What customer behaviors are creating unnecessary costs? What issues tend to slip under the radar until they create big problems? What goals are being set for the account by either the customer or the EMS provider? How will dashboard metrics be used in changing that dynamic? How frequently do those metrics need to be measured? Which timeline view is most effective for understanding trends in each metric? In short, design the tool with the end-users in mind. Automate the data collection process so it occurs at an appropriate frequency and then use the data to drive actions within the account.
As we begin a new year, take the time to evaluate whether the dashboard currently used or the lack of a dashboard is making it difficult to control chaos. Technology improves daily. AI adds significant options for fast trends analysis and exception reporting. Most importantly, consider whether account control activities are based on an issues-driven, reactive approach or on a clear strategy to help the customer understand the elements of an optimal relationship. The time invested in developing a partnership strategy for each account, along with the tools needed to track when the relationship is trending out of control, pays for itself in less chaos.
Susan Mucha is president of Powell-Mucha Consulting Inc. (powell-muchaconsulting.com), a consulting firm providing strategic planning, training and market positioning support to EMS companies and author of Find It. Book It. Grow It. A Robust Process for Account Acquisition in Electronics Manufacturing Services. She can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
