This information can then be used to identify gaps in an organization’s processes in order to achieve a competitive advantage. Thus it is important for Six Sigma practitioners to: ...
Benchmarking is a process for obtaining a measure – a benchmark. Simply stated, benchmarks are the “what,” and benchmarking is the “how.”. But benchmarking is not a quick or simple process tool. Before undertaking a benchmarking opportunity, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the company’s guidelines.
Six Sigma often uses Hoshin to ensure that all employees are knowledgeable about the strategic direction for the company. Within a company’s Hoshin plan, goals are established relative to benchmarks set by world-class organizations. Often, these benchmarks are obtained from outside industries.
These steps should be tailored based on company policies, resource availability and the project or process one is dealing with: 1. Understand the company’s current process performance gaps. This will help decide what needs benchmarking. 2. Obtain support and approval from the executive leadership team.
Although there are many forms of benchmarking, they can be classified into three categories – internal, competitive and strategic.
Internal benchmarking is used when a company already has established and proven best practices and they simply need to share them. Again, depending on the size of the company, it may be large enough to represent a broad range of performance (i.e., cycle time for opening new accounts in branches coast to coast).
While there may be a fee associated with obtaining this information, the fee can easily be offset by the savings in time and resources that come from not having to gather the benchmarking information needed to meet agreed-upon objectives. Here are some available sources: