KPI Basics

A plain English guide to OEE

By Bernie Smith | April 30, 2012

OEE stands for Overall Equipment Effectiveness. It is a very commonly used efficiency measure. Put simply, it answers the question “How much did we make, compared with how much we could have made?” OEE splits our efficiency down into three categories. The idea here is that we can get some understanding of which types of…

Razor burn and pseudoscience

By Bernie Smith | September 7, 2011

I tend to get sore skin if I shave with the wrong type of shaving gel. I’ve finally found a shaving gel that works (Nivea for Men, Sensitive, in case you are asking). What the hell has this got to do with KPIs? Well you can buy at least a dozen different brands of shaving…

Let’s stop kidding ourselves

By Bernie Smith | December 6, 2010

New research shows that we can be tricked into assuming there’s a link between activity and outcomes. Is blind optimism leading your business down a dead end?

How to measure the “unmeasurable”

By Bernie Smith | November 30, 2010

I’m often told that some things are impossible to measure. It’s true that some things are much less obvious, but there are some pretty ingenious ways around this. If you can’t measure something directly then you can look for “coincident” events or activities. What am I gibbering on about? Let me give you an example:…