Benchmarking in its simplest form is a process in which one company compares itself against one or more other organizations. Most companies use the process to help in highlighting gaps and as a basis for allocating resources to pursue improvement. With ever mounting pressure to achieve world class status and a need to enhance productivity and/or profitability, Benchmarking can be the tool to help gain the necessary insight to achieve that higher level of performance.

Benchmarking can be completed at many levels:

• Strategic - Where are we headed as compared to the rest of the world?

• Tactical - How are we getting to where we are headed?

• Operational - What do we do to make the ride less bumpy?

Usually, Benchmarking is conducted on the Tactical or Operational level as this is where the rubber meets the road. Strategic Benchmarking is uncommon in that most companies do not want others , not even non-competitors learning these details. Most would agree that Tactical and Operational factors do enhance profitability, but Strategic factors define the essence of a company’s being, and that information needs to remain proprietary.

So now that we know what Benchmarking is, how do we get it done? First off you need to know yourself. To do that you need to map your own operation.

• Develop metrics or measurements for everything you do.

• Hard numbers - Volumes (How Much), Rates (How Fast) and Costs.

• Soft numbers - Complaints, Compliments and Anecdotes.

• Critical review of each operating step or function to insure that you understand why it is necessary and how it adds value, either to your operation or your customer.