Five years ago, we said a COO with good instincts and a detailed spreadsheet was enough. Today we know that was an illusion. Not for lack of willingness — for lack of speed. A Portuguese CEO who decides with yesterday's information cannot compete with one who decides with information from right now.

The problem is not measuring too little. It's measuring everything and not knowing what it means.

The KPI nobody wants to hear about

At a textile factory in the Vale do Ave with 80 employees, the operations director knew daily production, absenteeism and energy cost. He slept well. Until a sustainability audit from a European customer arrived and asked: what is the OEE of your dyeing line?

Silence.

OEE — Overall Equipment Effectiveness — is the metric that measures how much of a machine's available time is actually efficient production. Availability × Performance × Quality. Simple in formula, brutal in the truth it reveals. That line which "ran well" had 54% OEE. The Portuguese textile sector sits around 65-70%. They were losing 16 percentage points to silent inefficiency — idle machines, slow cycles, unaccounted scrap.

This was not the COO's fault. It was the fault of having no real-time visibility of what was happening on the shop floor.

We see this repeat itself: companies that measure revenue, labour cost, and nothing more. Then they're astonished when the margin falls. Revenue didn't fall. Efficiency and quality fell — and nobody was watching. According to 2025 data from the INE, only 53.7% of companies in Portugal used an ERP — without an integrated core, the COO works on scattered data and decisions based on fragments.

The three pillars that really matter

A COO should monitor no more than 12 KPIs daily. Above that, the screen becomes noise. Below 6, they're pretending to be in control.

First: production and operational efficiency. Line OEE (or MES — Manufacturing Execution System — if you have fine-grained planning), actual vs. planned cycle time, scrap rate, unscheduled downtime hours. In a garment maker with 200 machines, an unplanned 2-hour stoppage across five machines is a loss of 10 machine-hours. Multiply by wages plus energy and you see the cost. If you don't see it in real time, the COO is deciding blind. This is especially critical in the Vale do Ave, Guimarães and Barcelos, where garment makers work on margins of 8-14% — an invisible stoppage is lost margin that doesn't come back.

Second: revenue and operational gross margin. Sales volume for the day/week vs. budget, margin per customer, margin per SKU. A distribution chain with 30 stores may be selling well by volume but losing on mix — if 60% of the volume comes from items with a 12% margin and 40% from items with 28%, the average margin falls. Without visibility by SKU, the CEO thinks everything is fine. In footwear and clothing, where you have 500-1200 active references, this is the difference between profit and loss.

Third: working capital and cash flow. Days sales outstanding, days of stock (in rotation), days payable to suppliers. This is the company's breathing — if inhaling takes 60 days and exhaling takes 45, you're 15 days short of cash. In an SME with €5M in annual turnover, a 15-day cash gap is ~€20k at permanent risk. A COO who doesn't see this daily is risking solvency.

There are other KPIs (compliance quality, on-time delivery rate, HR turnover, customer acquisition cost). But these three are what separate those who are in control from those who wait for quarterly results.

Why most companies still don't do this

It's not technology. A dashboard in Qlik Sense fed by an integrated ERP costs less today than a good Excel with macros cost 10 years ago. The problem is organisational.

First: scattered data. A company with an ERP in accounting, a spreadsheet in production, and another in the warehouse cannot link OEE to gross margin in real time. There's an architectural disconnect. This is common in SMEs that grew by acquisition or that have subsidiaries — each with its own system. When INFOS implements Multi Connect, the first shock is always the same: "we didn't know we had so much data in different places".

Second: fear of the number. A COO who sees 54% OEE may be afraid of showing it to the CEO. They prefer to carry on with "all fine". This is human, but it's lethal. The truth always comes out. Better it comes out in the early hours on the COO's screen than out in the market as a competitiveness failure. The director who hides a 54% figure is betting nobody finds out — until a European customer asks, or a competitor offers a better lead time, or the margin falls without explanation.

Third: lack of habit. A COO used to monthly PDF reports doesn't know how to act on real-time data. They need operational training, not just technical. This is an investment many don't want to make — but it's the investment that separates those who move forward from those who stand still.

The difference between a COO who is in control and one who is controlled is having real-time visibility of three numbers: operational efficiency, real margin, and cash flow. Everything else is detail.

What changes when you have this

When we implemented KORA Productivity (shop-floor data capture) at a plastic injection factory in Marinha Grande, the first week was uncomfortable. The production director saw that stoppages "lasting 15 minutes" actually lasted 45 minutes — nobody had counted the setup times. Week two, he started solving it: he reordered sequences, trained operators in quick mould changeover. Week three, OEE rose from 61% to 68%. In three weeks.

This is not an exception. It's the pattern: when the COO sees the number, they act. When they don't see it, they believe what they hear. A second example: at a regional food retail chain with 22 stores, the general manager thought the Braga stores had good margins. When he saw the data by store and by category, he discovered that sugar and flour (high volume, 8% margin) were 40% of revenue but 18% of profit — while drinks (22% margin) were 15% of revenue and 28% of profit. He reorganised the space, removed generic sugar SKUs, promoted premium drinks. Gross margin rose 2.3 percentage points in two months.

These are not marketing cases. They're what happens when information arrives fast and is reliable. The COO who sees this changes their behaviour — because the reality is undeniable.

The metric that costs more than it appears

There is a trap: the COO who monitors KPIs but doesn't link them to decision. They see 54% OEE, think "I need to improve", and then... nothing. Because improving OEE is not one decision — it's 50 small decisions: changing an operator, reordering the production sequence, scheduling preventive maintenance, training in quick setup. A good dashboard is not just numbers — it's numbers + context + action. If the screen shows "OEE 54%", it's useless. If it shows "OEE 54% because machine 3 had 8 stoppages of 12 minutes each this week, all due to lack of raw material", then there's action.

This requires data discipline — tagging of stoppages, capture of reasons, integration between MES and ERP. It's not complicated, but it is careful work. Many COOs say "we don't have time for this". The real cost is not having time to act when the problem is hidden. An invisible stoppage costs more than a visible one — because the invisible one repeats every week, and nobody solves it.

Monitoring without acting is worse than not monitoring — because it creates the illusion of control.

Frequency: daily, not hourly

There's another mistake: thinking that "real-time" means "looking every hour". A COO who looks at the dashboard hour by hour goes mad and can't do anything else. The correct cycle is: continuous data, daily analysis, weekly decision.

Daily: OEE, revenue vs. budget, days of stock, outstanding payments. This takes 10 minutes. If it doesn't fit in 10 minutes, you have too many KPIs. Weekly: trend analysis, comparison with the previous week, action decision (reorder production, adjust purchasing, conversation with a customer about a delay). Monthly: report to the CEO, deviation analysis, budget review. This rhythm works. Above that is obsession. Below that is negligence.

What you should not monitor daily

This is as important as what you should. Many COOs waste time on indicators that seem important but are noise. Daily absenteeism rate? No. Weekly, yes — because one day is normal variation. Supplier rejection rate per delivery? No. Monthly, yes. Number of emails replied to? Never. Cost per hour of each machine? Only if you're making an investment decision — otherwise it's a distraction. The rule: if the number doesn't change today's action, you don't look at it today.

How to start when you have nothing

If you're at a company with no integrated ERP or no BI, don't start by buying software. Start by answering these three questions.

One: can I calculate OEE (or an operational equivalent) of my production with the data I have now? If not, what's missing — sensors, capture software, or manual recording discipline? In a garment maker, this can be as simple as an operator recording the start and end time of each production order on a terminal. In plastic injection, it may require cycle sensors on the machine. But the point is: without real-time capture, there's no OEE.

Two: can I link production to revenue? That is: do I know what the real cost (material + labour + energy) was of each batch I sold, and therefore what the real margin was? If the answer is "roughly", you're working blind. This requires integration between MES (or production recording) and ERP — or at least a weekly reconciliation file linking batches to debit notes.

Three: can I see cash flow five days ahead? That is: do I know how much I'll receive this week, how much I'll pay, and what the likely cash balance is? If not, you're confusing revenue with cash — and that's like driving with your eyes closed. This can be done in a simple Excel, but it has to be updated daily.

If you can answer "yes" to these three, you have the foundations. Then comes the software — KORA Productivity for capture, ERP MULTI for integration, Qlik Sense for visualisation. But the software is the last step, not the first.

If you can't answer "yes", the software won't solve it. It will only make the problem more expensive and slower.

The real cost of not doing this

A COO without operational visibility is not a COO — they're a crisis manager. They spend their time putting out fires they could have prevented. An invisible 2-hour stoppage is 10 machine-hours lost. Times 50 weeks a year, that's 500 machine-hours. In a garment maker with a 10% margin, that's €50k of lost margin per machine per year. Times 10 machines, that's €500k. This is real. This happens.

And it's not just production. An invisible margin per SKU is revenue that doesn't come back. An invisible cash gap is insolvency risk. A customer lost because the lead time failed is revenue that doesn't come back. All of this is avoidable — if the COO sees the number in time.

Investment in BI and data capture is not a cost. It's operational insurance.

Frequently asked questions

What is OEE and why is it so important for an operations director?

OEE (Overall Equipment Effectiveness) measures the real efficiency of a machine: Availability × Performance × Quality. It reveals how much of the available time is actually efficient production. Companies that ignore this KPI lose to silent inefficiency — stoppages, slow cycles, scrap — without knowing. It's critical in sectors such as textiles and garment making, where margins of 8-14% don't tolerate invisible losses.

How many KPIs should a COO monitor daily?

Between 6 and 12 KPIs. Below 6, there's no real control. Above 12, the screen becomes noise and the COO loses focus. The ideal is to concentrate on three pillars: operational efficiency, revenue and gross margin, and working capital/cash flow.

What is the difference between monitoring sales volume and margin per SKU?

A company may sell a lot by volume but lose on profitability. If 60% of the volume comes from items with a 12% margin and 40% with 28%, the average margin falls. Without visibility by SKU, the CEO thinks everything is fine. In clothing and footwear with 500-1200 references, this is the difference between profit and loss.

How does working capital affect an SME's solvency?

Working capital is the company's breathing. If you receive in 60 days and pay in 45, there's a gap of 15 days of cash. In an SME with €5M in annual turnover, this represents ~€20k at permanent risk. A COO who doesn't monitor days of stock, outstanding payments and payments to suppliers is risking solvency.

Why do many companies still not have real-time dashboards?

It's not for lack of technology — dashboards in Qlik Sense cost less than Excel with macros cost 10 years ago. The problem is organisational: scattered data (ERP, spreadsheets, separate systems), fear of the number (a COO reluctant to show 54% OEE) and lack of habit in acting on real-time data instead of monthly reports.

What happens when a COO finally sees the data in real time?

They act immediately. Example: at a plastic injection factory, the director saw that "15-minute" stoppages lasted 45. He reordered sequences, trained operators. OEE rose from 61% to 68% in three weeks. When the COO sees the number, they solve it. When they don't see it, they believe what they hear.

How does scattered data in different systems harm the COO's decisions?

A company with an ERP in accounting, a spreadsheet in production and another in the warehouse cannot link OEE to gross margin in real time. There's an architectural disconnect. This is common in SMEs that grew by acquisition. Without integration, the COO works on fragments and incomplete decisions.

What is the impact of not monitoring scrap rate and unscheduled stoppages?

In a garment maker with 200 machines, an unplanned 2-hour stoppage across five machines is a loss of 10 machine-hours. Multiplied by wages and energy, it's a real cost. If it's not visible in real time, the COO decides blind. On margins of 8-14%, an invisible stoppage is lost margin that doesn't come back.