Supplier Performance Management

  A Detailed Breakdown of What to Track and Why It Matters If you’re working with suppliers, then you already know this truth: a weak link in your supply chain can affect your entire business. Late shipments, poor quality, non-compliance—they don’t just hurt your operations, they affect your customer experience and bottom line. That’s why supplier performance management is not a luxury—it’s a necessity. And the best way to manage anything is to measure it . So what exactly should you measure? In this article, we’ll break down the top 10 key metrics every small, medium, or large business should track to evaluate and improve supplier performance consistently. 1. On-Time Delivery Rate (OTD) Why it matters: Timely deliveries are critical to keeping production schedules, inventory levels, and customer commitments on track. How to measure it: (Number of On-Time Deliveries / Total Deliveries) × 100 Target benchmark: 95% or higher is often considered best-in-class. Tip: T...