If you’re a healthcare shipper — whether you’re shipping medical devices to hospitals or prescription drugs to pharmacies — you know how important it is to stay on top of your transportation data.
In fact, according to our latest original research study, 88% of healthcare shippers agree that KPIs are an essential part of sound logistics management.
In the study, we worked with an independent market research firm to survey 1,000 shippers and carriers. Our goal was to create a resource that shippers of all kinds could use to better understand how their peers are setting and managing their logistics KPIs.
But what about the research insights for healthcare shippers, specifically?
Below, you’ll find a breakdown of the results looking at the healthcare shippers only (50, to be exact). Get their top logistics trends and the industry standards they use for setting KPIs.
6 Data-Backed Logistics Trends for Healthcare Shippers
1. Healthcare shippers are all in on logistics KPIs.
88% of healthcare shippers thought KPIs were an essential part of logistics management, and when asked how they’d rate their ability to take track KPIs, 58% said they were advanced, 14% above the average and the highest of any industry.
2. Execution is the biggest challenge, followed by changing supply chain strategy.
When asked about their biggest challenges, executing against KPIs was the top overall choice for healthcare shippers, with 50% of respondents believing it to be a top challenge.
In second was changing strategy based on KPI results, with 48% believing it to be a top challenge.
3. Healthcare shippers are most likely to want a standard.
94% of healthcare shippers agreed that there should be set industry standards for logistics KPIs that all shippers and carriers could agree on.
This was 7% above the average and the highest of any industry.
4. Healthcare shippers are most likely to give carriers some grace.
When asked how increasing consumer demands have impacted their KPI standards for freight providers, 48% of healthcare shippers said they have become more demanding — the lowest of any industry and 12% below the average.
38% said they had become more lenient, the highest of any industry and 9% above the average.
5. Scheduling compliance is really important.
All KPIs are important — the K stands for “key” after all — but when asked to rate every core transportation metric by level of importance, appointment scheduling compliance stood at the top, with 50% of healthcare shippers saying it was very important (tied for first with sustainability KPIs).
Furthermore, 88% of healthcare shippers are using third-party platforms for appointment scheduling — the most of any industry and 14% above the average.
6. Healthcare shippers tend to be more service oriented (but slightly lags other industries).
Both cost and service are important in freight shipping, but we asked respondents which was most important to their organization.
For healthcare shippers, 62% said their organization prioritizes performance and service over cost. While a solid majority, this figure was 3% below the average and the second lowest of any industry.
Logistics KPI Standards, According to Healthcare Shippers
We’ve covered the trends, now let’s look at what healthcare shippers think are acceptable performance standards for the most common logistics KPIs.
On-time delivery performance
We asked healthcare shippers what they consider to be acceptable on-time delivery performance from their carriers. Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: 95% on-time delivery performance
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: 96% on-time delivery performance
- Healthcare vs. the rest: More demanding on freight providers
What is “on-time”?
We asked healthcare shippers what they consider as an “on-time delivery” from their carriers. Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: On-time to an appointment with a 30-minute buffer
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: On-time to an appointment with a 30-minute buffer
- Healthcare vs. the rest: In-line
Shipment lead time
We asked healthcare shippers how much lead time they think they should give to their carriers for truckload and LTL shipments. Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: 2 days of lead time
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: 2 days of lead time
- Healthcare vs. the rest: In-line
Primary tender acceptance
We asked healthcare shippers what they consider to be a reasonable primary tender acceptance rate from their carriers. Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: 85% acceptance rate
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: 90% acceptance rate
- Healthcare vs. the rest: More demanding on freight providers
Demand forecasting accuracy
We asked healthcare shippers what they consider to be an acceptable level of variance from their shipment forecast (in terms of load volume). Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: Within 10% of forecasted volume
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: Within 10% of forecasted volume
- Healthcare vs. the rest: In-line
Payment terms
We asked healthcare shippers what they consider to be acceptable payment terms to their carriers. Here’s what they had to say, and how it compares to average across all industries in the study.
- Performance standard across all industries: Payment within one week
- Healthcare shippers’ standard: Payment within one week
- Healthcare vs. the rest: In-line
Keep Learning About Logistics KPIs
Want more interesting data from our logistics KPI research?
Read the full research study, an overall industry breakdown, or checkout out individual industry profiles: