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Do's & Don'ts of BenchMarking

Guest post by: Devang Jhaveri

Article Overview: Benchmarking is usually part of a larger effort, usually a Process Re-engineering or Quality Improvement initiative. Most of the early work in the area of benchmarking was done in manufacturing. Now benchmarking is a management tool that is being applied almost anywhere.

Do's & Don'ts of BenchMarking

Benchmarking is the process of determining who is the very best, who sets the standard, and what that standard is. Benchmarking is usually part of a larger effort, usually a Process Re-engineering or Quality Improvement initiative. Most of the early work in the area of benchmarking was done in manufacturing. Now benchmarking is a management tool that is being applied almost anywhere. Following are some important Do's and Don'ts of the Benchmarking Process.

Do's of Benchmarking

• Get management commitment before starting a benchmarking study
• Use research to learn about the companies you plan to contact
• Know your own process thoroughly before contacting other companies to benchmark
• Identify and involve everyone who might be affected by your study
• Keep communication flowing during the study, especially with team members and the process owner
• Identify important metrics relating to the process being studied
• Implement improvements identified by your study
• Identify savings
• Benchmark to learn. You can learn something from everyone!

Don'ts of Benchmarking

• Benchmark for the sake of benchmarking
• Start a benchmarking study without management support
• Plan a benchmarking study unless you thoroughly understand your current process and have flowcharted it
• Confuse industrial tourism with benchmarking (industrial tourists claim to be benchmarking, while actually they are just sightseeing at another's place of business)
• Ask for information you would not be willing to share
• Forget to research public-domain information
• Delay a debrief more than 3 days after a site visit
• Benchmark to prove that you are better than they are
• Forget the primary reason for benchmarking: Implementing best practices to improve your process and to gain competitive advantage.

Some key guidelines:

Benchmarking alone will not tell you what customers actually want. If your product or service is obsolete, no amount of improvements in production processes will make it competitive. -Benchmarking is only of benefit if the improvement actions are implemented. -Always seek to find out "how" a company has improved its performance; this normally comes from the people not the management (who will tell you "how much" performance has improved but not necessarily "how"). -Always clearly identify your specific key areas of interest and stay focused on them.

Plan thoroughly in advance - prepare detailed questionnaires to ensure that none of the key elements are missed. -Be prepared to give a benchmarking partner more information than you receive. -Remember improvements are continuous and benchmarks go out-of-date quickly. Your competitors' performance will probable continue to improve in advance of you own. -Always remain honest and thoroughly professional - and you will be welcome to return for more information in the future.

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Article Tags: benchmarking processs, benchmarking study, benchmarking techniques, dos donts of benchmarking, implementing best practices, quakity improvement



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