Occupancy rate, one of the most important KPIs in logistics - Boltrics 24/11/22, 7:38 pm

Blogs, Data, Data, Warehousing, Warehousing

Occupancy rate, one of

the most important
KPIs in logistics

By Date Reading time

Luc Ligtenbelt 16 August, 2018 ! 5min. reading time

In May this year, ABN AMRO already mentioned it: Business Intelligence will have the biggest
impact on the logistics sector. The bank even suspects that this technology will be deployed
on a large scale by logistics service providers in the short term.

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Occupancy rate, one of the most important KPIs in logistics - Boltrics 24/11/22, 7:38 pm

This is not surprising when we look at the growing complexity in the supply chain. Because
when it goes wrong in the chain somewhere, the margin quickly deteriorates
(/en/2018/11/20/blog-how-transporters-could-receive-return-again-in-the-future/). And that
can bring along major costs. Moreover, understanding data is not only useful for optimizing
your own business processes. The need for data also increases for your clients. For example,
what are their fast moving goods and how can they finetune their production process in a
better way? Can you not answer these questions for them? Then you are at risk of losing
customers and partners. Because of digitalization and technology, we are now in the so-
called “fourth industrial revolution”. And you know: revolution demands change.

(https://www.boltrics.com/en/) Branches

Key performance (https://www.boltrics.com/en/branc

indicators logistics
Alright, you are convinced: you want to integrate data analyzes into your activities. That is a
good start. But what now? Boltrics has conducted extensive research among its customers in
the past. From this research, the 6 most important KPIs for logistics service providers came
forward (/en/2021/01/27/the-6-most-important-kpis-for-logistics-service-providers/). So,
you already know which key performance indicators are important. But how do you interpret
them and what are good values? In this blog I will go deeper into the first of the six KPIs: the
occupancy rate.

Occupancy rate, what are

we talking about?
Just a short re-cap: what is it again? The occupancy rate is the percentage that indicates the
extent to which the available capacity is used. In other words: how many places are still
available in your warehouse and many are in use? The higher the occupancy rate, the more

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Occupancy rate, one of the most important KPIs in logistics - Boltrics 24/11/22, 7:38 pm

efficient you work. But on the other hand, an occupancy rate that is too high means that your
warehouse may be too small for your business. So what is the ideal occupancy rate?

The ideal occupancy rate

It is already a while ago, but Tompkins (1998) stated in his Warehouse Management Handbook
that an occupancy rate higher than 80% negatively affects your warehouse’s efficiency. From
that percentage, it takes more time to find a storage location and the slow movers will lie
between the fast movers. Order pickers (/en/2021/04/06/blog-do-not-make-wanderers-out-
of-your-order-pickers/) will be in each other’s way and the productivity of the warehouse gets
compromised. The maximum occupancy should be around 85 to 90%. This way, there is
always room for an unexpected urgent order. An occupancy rate below 80% means that more
than 20% of the warehouse is not in use. These unused places only cost money. But what
does a (pallet) place actually cost?

Calculating the costs of a

pallet place
The price of storage places differs, of course, per distribution center. The more efficient you
work, the lower the costs will be for you. And thus the higher the margins. Some variables are
required to calculate the costs of one pallet location. Above the line you see the total relevant
costs. SRE stands for storage and retrieval equipment. The number of used pallet places is
shown under the line.

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Occupancy rate, one of the most important KPIs in logistics - Boltrics 24/11/22, 7:38 pm

So, the costs for a pallet place depend on the moment. The more capacity is in use, the
cheaper the places are for you. With this formula you can also calculate the minimum
occupancy needed to cover the costs; the breakeven point. From there you can determine to
which occupancy rate you can still work productively within your warehouse.

What does this mean for

me?
By gaining (visual) insight into the occupancy rate, you know to what extent your warehouse is
efficient. Is a large part of your capacity unused? Then push a little bit harder to get extra
assignments. Or try to reduce your costs through automation. Is your maximum often
reached? Good job! Perhaps it is time to expand or organize the warehouse in another way.
Data can also help you to chart the seasonal influences, so you can anticipate on them. The
more knowledge you have, the more you can act substantiated.

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Occupancy rate, one of the most important KPIs in logistics - Boltrics 24/11/22, 7:38 pm

Microsoft Power BI
With Microsoft Power BI (/en/2017/10/26/convince-your-boss-power-bi-is-the-best-for-your-
business/), you have a suite of analytic tools available that deliver insight throughout your
organization. Because Boltrics delivers the branch standard with 3PL and Nekovri Dynamics,
you do not have to do anything yourself to get the most important insights. In addition to the
occupancy rate, you will gain insight into the other most important KPIs for logistics service
providers (/en/knowledge/whitepapers/whitepaper-the-most-important-kpis-for-your-
logistics-business/) and this dataset will continuously be expanded. For example, until a few
months ago, only the turnover rate and the stock per period were available as a standard
dataset. In the meantime, insights in the margin per storage type and/or transport are easily
accessible.

Fourth industrial
(r)evolution
As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog: revolution demands change. Those who do not
(want to) change, do not participate anymore after a while. A tough pill to swallow, but a reality
that has been proven each time throughout the history. Adaptability and behavioral change
are of vital importance here. Invest in data analysis (/en/solutions/erp-
integrations/management-reports/), implement this with all your processes and you will see
that you will boost your efficiency.

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Boltrics.
Always up-to-date.
Standard software for logistics service providers. Build with Microsoft technology. Go live
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