KPIs for Customs Broker Service Provider Bottleneck

Bottlenecks exist in any business. The case study below suggests an approach for dealing with the performance bottlenecks from the viewpoint of the performance and Key Performance Indicators.

Process map for Customs Broker Service Provider Bottleneck

Source: View Customs Broker KPIs online in BSC Designer Customs Broker KPIs.

Case study details

Company background: Customs Broker Service Provider receives merchandise in the warehouse, inspects the merchandise, does the classification process, prepares the customs paperwork, pays duties, and sends it to the border crossing.

Goal of measurement: measure the time frame for each part of the process and generate KPIs, so the company can improve the total transit time.

Required measure: the time needed to process documents for customs clearance.

Suggested solution

1. Let’s assume that there is a “bottleneck” part in the process. E.g. the part where business is limited in resources or where the productivity of the unit is limited. In this particular case, it might be something related to bureaucracy rather that to the company’s own business.

2. The total performance of the system will depend on the performance of the “bottleneck,” e.g. the business cannot perform better than the bottleneck part is performing.

3. A tricky situation here is that the business should keep the performance of the parts before the bottleneck low (!), e.g. the part before the bottleneck should create results according to the speed that the bottleneck part can process these results, not faster. Otherwise, the business will face additional fees because of over-production.

Bottleneck Balanced Scorecard

Source: View Customs Broker KPIs online in BSC Designer Customs Broker KPIs.

4. The business needs to improve total transit time, which, in this case, will depend a lot on the bottleneck element. It doesn’t make sense to improve the performance of the other parts unless your bottleneck element is performing badly.

I would suggest starting with 1-2 KPIs for the bottleneck only!

Suggested KPIs

Some typical KPIs that one can start with are:

  • On-time delivery, %
  • Total transit time
  • Total costs
  • Custom documentation acceptance rate, %

4 KPIs for customs broker service

Source: View Customs Broker KPIs online in BSC Designer Customs Broker KPIs.

How to find the bottleneck in the business

Draw the model of the business or business process by dividing it into linked blocks.

The bottleneck might be:

  • The most time consuming part (if your goal is to reduce time); or
  • The part with fixed performance (government officials)

Try playing with the job amount, try simulating the situation as if the business would need to process 100 clients, not 10. What will prevent you from doing this? Answering these questions will help you to find the bottleneck.

How can BSC Designer help?

With BSC Designer software, it is possible to visualize business processes (including those related to the bottlenecks) as well as introduce required KPIs and align them with the visualized process.

What's next?

Stay informed about updates from BSC Designer:

By submitting the data via this form, you give your consent for the processing of your personal data including your email for the purpose of sending your email newsletter. Your consent can be withdrawn at any time.

More About Strategic Planning

Strategic Planning Process:
BSC Designer software will support your team on all steps of strategic planning.
Examples of the Balanced Scorecard:
Examples of the Balanced Scorecard with KPIs
Strategy Maps:
8 Steps to Create a Strategy Map By BSC Designer
Cite as: BSC Designer, "KPIs for Customs Broker Service Provider Bottleneck," BSC Designer, April 24, 2013, https://bscdesigner.com/customs-broker-kpis.htm.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.