Process re-engineering for effective performance measurement

Unipart DCM (Demand Chain Management) is a division of the Unipart Group of Companies. It is the provider of turnkey logistics solutions, under contract, for a number of major clients in the automotive industry. The author describes how, during August 1991, Unipart DCM embarked upon an activity based management programme aimed at delivering three objectives: (1) an improved understanding of the profitability for each of their client accounts; (2) the development of alternative pricing structures for their services based on "rate cards" or menu based pricing; and (3) the development of a process based understanding of the business leading to a business process re-engineering programme.