PQM – Reports, KPI, Costs and Margins
PQM – Reports, KPI, Costs and Margins
PQM reports turn daily production activity into business insight. They help track task volume, workload, on-time performance, costs, margins, loss tasks and department efficiency.
Why reports matter
Without reports, a company sees only the current production queue. With reports, managers can identify profitable jobs, loss-making jobs, overloaded departments, recurring delays and weak points in the workflow.
Key indicators
| Metric | Meaning | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Total tasks | Number of created or tracked tasks. | Shows production volume. |
| In progress | Open active tasks. | Shows current workload. |
| Completed | Closed jobs. | Shows output. |
| Average lead time | Typical task completion time. | Helps detect delays. |
| On-time performance | Percentage of tasks completed on time. | Important quality and process metric. |
| Margin | Difference between revenue and costs. | Shows profitability. |
| Loss tasks | Tasks below minimum margin or negative result. | Require investigation. |
Task costs
Reliable reports require reliable cost data. A task may include labor cost, material cost, department cost, subcontractor cost, packing, shipping and other direct costs.
Common cost elements
- operator time,
- hourly rate or department rate,
- material cost,
- subcontractor cost,
- packing cost,
- shipping cost,
- other direct task costs.
Minimum and critical margin
PQM Pro can use margin thresholds to identify jobs that are not profitable enough. A minimum margin warns that a task is below expectations. A critical margin may indicate that a task is close to loss or already loss-making.
| Level | Meaning | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Good margin | The job is profitable. | No special action required. |
| Below minimum | Profitability is too low. | Review cost or pricing. |
| Critical | The task may be loss-making. | Analyze the cause. |
| Loss | Costs exceed revenue. | Review pricing, errors, rework or complaint handling. |
Loss task report
The loss task report is one of the most important reports for business owners. It shows jobs that generate low profit or loss. Not every loss task means a mistake, but every loss task should have an explanation.
Common reasons for loss
- incorrect pricing,
- too many corrections,
- complaint or rework,
- wrong material,
- underestimated production time,
- missing packing or shipping cost,
- operator error,
- subcontractor cost not included in pricing.
KPI dashboard
The KPI dashboard provides a quick overview of production health. It should help managers notice workload, delays, task trends and completion performance at a glance.
Useful KPI examples
- created tasks in selected period,
- tasks in progress,
- completed tasks,
- average lead time,
- on-time percentage,
- complaint count,
- cancelled task count,
- low-margin tasks.
Department analysis
Departments help identify bottlenecks. If many tasks stay in one department for too long, that department may be overloaded, under-resourced or blocked by missing information or materials.
How to use reports in management
- Check overdue and blocked tasks daily.
- Check low-margin and loss tasks weekly.
- Review department workload weekly.
- Analyze margins, complaints and lead time monthly.
- Use the data to improve workflow, pricing and procedures.
Reports are not just for finding mistakes. Their real value is identifying repeatable process problems: weak pricing, overloaded departments, missing customer information, quality issues or poor planning.
A good report leads to a decision: change pricing, improve workflow, train staff, buy equipment or change customer communication.