Hello Halm

KPIs are needed, they help to understand where we stand and whether we are making progress. But I am sure you are well aware of their risks : managing by KPIs instead of being on the gemba, focusing on one aspect because of a given KPI (for example sales) while forgetting to track another vital aspect (quality).
Nevertheless, you may want to explore the following paths :
– customer claims : few customers will actually complain, most will move to another brand unless they need you to solve the problem. Nurture the claims you receive and investigate them thoroughly, you will learn plenty about your products and services.
– A to D defect segmentation : Sam Nomura explains it, in his great book The Toyota Way of Dantotsu Radical Quality Improvement. D are defects detected by the customers, C, by final inspection, B by the downstream process, A, by the operator himself. The whole point is to bring defects back from D to A and to learn from each defect analysis.

The above is more than just counting numbers : it requires investigation with the purpose of improving and learning. Another interesting approach is the Life Cycle Analysis of your products or services : by far the best way to initiate a thorough cradle-to-cradle approach.

And, I forgot, if you think of sustainability in production, you will need KPIs pertaining to carbon emissions, water consumption, unrecycled wastes…

As a future supply chain engineer, I now understand how these principles could be applied in business. However, I wonder how companies in general can measure and assess the real impact of their sustainable Lean initiatives. Are there specific KPIs you recommend?