5 KPIs Every Supply Chain Head Must Track in 2025
OTIF, inventory accuracy, and three more metrics that directly predict your logistics cost trajectory.
Most supply chains drown in dashboards but starve for decisions. The fix is not more metrics — it's the right handful, tracked consistently and tied to action. These five KPIs give a supply chain head an honest read on service, cost, and working capital.
1. On-Time In-Full (OTIF)
OTIF is the percentage of orders delivered both on schedule and complete. It is the single best proxy for whether your network is actually serving customers. Best-in-class operations run 95–98%; anything below 90% signals real service issues and, in retail or B2B, potential penalties.
2. Inventory accuracy
If your system says 100 units and the shelf has 94, every downstream plan is wrong. High inventory accuracy — sustained through disciplined cycle counting — reduces stock-outs, lowers carrying cost, and makes inbound receiving and order processing far more reliable.
3. Perfect order rate
The perfect order rate combines on-time, in-full, damage-free, and correctly documented. It is stricter than OTIF and exposes problems in picking, packing, and paperwork that single metrics hide. Treat it as the customer-experience benchmark.
4. Inventory turnover and carrying cost
Turnover shows how quickly stock moves; carrying cost quantifies the working capital tied up in it (storage, insurance, shrinkage, obsolescence). Read together, they reveal whether inventory is productive or quietly eroding margin.
5. Cash-to-cash cycle
This measures the days between paying suppliers and collecting from customers. It connects logistics performance directly to the balance sheet — shorter cycles mean leaner working capital and a more resilient business.
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Put these ideas to work
Talk to a Vistar logistics expert about applying this to your operations.