Recommendations
The conclusions that are drawn showed that both objectives are achieved. However, some point
of attention are written down as recommendations. These recommendations are divided into two
types of recommendations: for the dashboard and for DHL Express NL. The main
recommendations for DHL Express NL are listed below.
1. Remain aware of the relation between the utilization of resources on the one hand and
the productivity and service performance on the other hand
It is already stated in the introduction that optimising the resource utilization and
flexibility is not the final objective of the company. The dashboard must raise the right
questions in order to find the problems in the company that cause the opposing forces for
the final goal: profit maximisation. Furthermore, optimising the resource utilization mayprobably also contradict with the service level performance. The position of resource
utilization must be clear to use the dashboard properly.
2. Remain critical on the key performance indicators’ composition, definitions and norm
values
One of the conclusions stated that clarity about the definitions of the terms utilization
and flexibility and of the key performance indicators are of great importance for the value of
the dashboard. A recommendation that may be added is that the composition, definitions
and norm values of the key performance indicators must be judged frequently in order to
determine if they are still relevant to measure, monitor and manage.
3. Keep the logbook up to date
One of the conclusions endorses the importance of the logbook function as the final step
of the embedding process. The recommendation to DHL Express NL therefore is to keep this
logbook up to date and benefit from this function in order to manage the resource utilization
and flexibility.
4. Mobilise commitment of the Sales department to the dashboard results
The underlying factors of the profit margin are explained in the introduction. The utilization
of resources mainly depends on the amount of volume that is offered by the customers. The
responsible department for acquiring volume is the Sales department. A better cooperation
between Sales and Operations makes it possible to align the volume acquisition and the
operational capacity.