What a Good Manufacturing Management Dashboard Should Answer

The operational problem

Dashboards are built to display data that is available rather than to answer questions that leadership actually asks.

Why it happens

The available data is the path of least resistance. Questions require agreeing on definitions, which is slower and less visible than building charts.

What leaders usually miss

A dashboard succeeds when it changes a meeting or a decision. If it does not, it is a reporting artefact.

What technology can and cannot solve

Technology can automate the assembly and delivery of the number. It cannot decide which number matters or fix a definition that three departments disagree on.

Example solution patterns

Example solution pattern - not a packaged YOTT product.

• A management view built around five recurring questions
• Exception-first dashboards that highlight deviations rather than everything
• Plan-versus-actual views with drill-down to the underlying transactions

Questions to ask internally

Start the dashboard from these questions, not from the data.

• What decision does this dashboard support?
• What do we do differently when a number is out of range?
• Who owns the definition of each metric?