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Benchmarking Supply Chain & Logistics
Our Benchmark Services

 

All your Benchmarking and Supply Chain Improvement needs are right here. 

Through our Benchmarking Division, Benchmarking Success, we are able to provide a full range of Benchmarking and performance improvement services.  Let our range of proven Benchmarking and Business Improvement techniques drive improved performance and bottom line impact in your business!

Do you really know your Business Performance and Potential?

 

The Benefits of Supply Chain Benchmarking

There is a saying that "what you cannot measure you cannot manage and cannot improve".  This is true of all aspects of business, but probably none more so that the Supply Chain.  Consider these questions:

1. Do you know how your end to end Supply Chain performs against major competitors?
   
2. Do you know how key 'components' of your Supply Chain perform against competitors?
   
3. Do you know what Supply Chain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you should be using to drive improved performance?
   
4. For your Supply Chain Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), do you know what the realistic and stretch targets should be?
   
5. Have you ever spent quality time with senior Executives with similar Supply Chain challenges, learning how they have improved their businesses?

If you answer No to any of these questions, you are missing out on real business improvement opportunities.

Our Broad Range of Benchmarking Services includes:

1. Supply Chain Performance Audits
2. KPI Development
3. Benchmarking Peer Groups
4. Online Benchmarking
5. Online KPIs

Supply Chain Audit Report                                       Benchmarking Video

The Supply Chain Audit Report is an end to end detailed benchmark review of your Supply Chain and measures key aspects of your cost and performance against benchmarks of relevant companies within a database of over 800

Our consultants will guide your staff on the compilation of your performance data that will then be compared against companies with similar Supply Chain characteristics.  Whilst you will not have access to other companies data, you will know which companies are within the group you are being Benchmarked against.

Your comprehensive Benchmarking Report will include:

1. A summary of the key business opportunity areas.
   
2. Cost and Service trade off comparisons with others in your industry.  This clearly highlights cost and service performance issues.
   
3. Cost and Service 'best practice' comparisons by each major Supply Chain function.
   
4. Your Supply Chain KPIs compared to the Best, Average and Worst performers in your industry.
   
5. Supply Chain costs as a % of sales for key functional areas.
   
6. Supply Chain service performance compared to 'best practice'.
   
7. Your Delivery In Full On Time (DIFOT) performance, quantifying the specific areas for improvement.
   
8. A review of your Sales & Operations Planning process and its impact on performance.

All of this will be provided in an environment to ensure your key staff understand the report fully and appreciate where and how the business performance can be improved.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Development             KPI Video

Our specialist team can work with you to develop specific Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to match the needs of your business.

Typically we are asked to:

• Develop Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that are aligned with your Company Corporate KPIs, and which support your Company's commercial Supply Chain objectives, and help deliver business performance & improvement.

This type of assignment will involve our team working very closely with yours, to understand and interpret KPI requirements from a pragmatic viewpoint.   This will usually involve these outcomes:

1. Develop a set of supply chain KPIs tailored to the needs of the business.
2. Plan the implementation approach, include identification of any constraints of any reporting systems.
3. Develop reporting templates & determine timing of measurement (i.e. daily, weekly, etc).
4. Agree measurements & targets that cascade down from 'Company', to 'Site' and 'Process' level.

Benchmarking Peer Groups                                             Peer Group Video

Why not join one of our Supply Chain Peer Groups with up to 10 non competing companies to participate in the exchange of best practice benchmark information and ideas?

Over 250 companies from a broad range of industries have participated in our Benchmarking Peer Groups.  Some have been members for over 10 years!  Yes, it's that good. Peer Group members enjoy the following benefits:

1. Regular face to face meetings with the Group.  4 times per year.
2. The exchange of best practice information and ideas.
3. A complimentary Supply Chain Audit Report on first joining.
4. Facilitated discussions as well as external 'expert' speakers.

 

For large companies, we also provide internal Peer Groups to encourage business improvement across Divisions and Countries.   Enquire about our Peer Groups now, directly with those that manage them. 

On Line Benchmarking Subscription

Benchmarking Success now also provide an On Line Benchmarking service to help you drive business improvement with appropriate Benchmarks. 

This subscription based Supply Chain and Logistics Service is designed to provide you with an annual strategic snapshot of your supply chain performance. Supply chains have the power to support and help drive company growth. Understanding the elements required to ensure your supply chain fulfils that role is enhanced through external benchmark comparisons.

This service is part of a range of Benchmarking Success services focused on assisting organisations on the supply chain improvement path towards world class.

After subscribing you will receive fact-based data comparing your supply chain against performance data from our database, with KPI data that is industry and supply chain specific.

This data includes:

1. Supply chain and logistics costs.
2. Cash to cash cycle time.
3. Delivery in full and on time (DIFOT) as actually delivered to your customers.
4. Probability of a perfect order in your Supply Chain. This highlights key improvement opportunities.
5. Stock turn over.

Within this Supply Chain Assessment you will receive information that strategically compares your supply chain and logistics performance with a like industry and supply chain type. You will be able to assess the gap between your current performance and world class supply chain performers. CEO’s and senior executives love this output as it is clear where the organisation needs to go.

On Line Benchmarking Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

We also provide via Benchmarking Success, specific Supply Chain KPIs on line.  A full range of cost and performance benchmark KPIs are available.   A vast range of detailed KPIs are available covering aspects such as:

1. Total Supply Chain
2. Procurement & Supplier Management
3. Inventory Management & Forecasting
4. Warehouse / Distribution Centre
5. Transport
6. Customer Service
7. Production

All you need to do is pick the KPIs you want, the industry you want and see how others perform!  Are you up there with the best?

Visit the Benchmarking Success website to learn more about our On Line KPIs.

Our Benchmarking Credentials

Benchmarking Success is a recognised industry Leader in the support of business improvement through Benchmarking and is an operating division of Logistics Bureau a leading management consulting group spanning the Asia Pacific region.

Benchmarking Success has provided Benchmarking services since 1993, and now has over 800 companies on its Supply Chain Benchmarking database.  These companies represent a broad range of industries and geographic locations.  We doubt there is a major industry that we cannot provide Benchmarks for!  Give us a try.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Benchmarking

1. What if you don't have any companies in my industry sector in your database?  That is highly unlikely.  But in the event it is true, we can still create very valuable Benchmarks using companies in the data base that have similar Supply Chain characteristics.  Furthermore, the Benchmarking of specific functions within the Supply Chain, is also valuable against other industries, as this can indicate the size of the prize if industry paradigms are challenged.
   
   
2. Will my company data be secure?  Absolutely!  The Benchmarking database is only accessible by senior members of the Benchmarking team (not even our Managing Director has access) and has multiple levels of security.  There is no chance that competitors can access your data.  And if your data is part of a comparative data set for another company, only the best, average and worst in that group are shown anonymously.
   
   
3. How can I be assured that the Benchmarking data is up to date?  our database is constantly being added to and updated from a broad range of sources.  Only up to date and relevant data is used.
   
   
4. My business is unique, how can you Benchmark it?   Many businesses think they are unique, but usually they are not.   In the rae cases that they are quite unique, valuable Benchmarks can still be gained from a range of alternative industries, that may have specific Supply Chain functions that are similar. 
   
   
5. Are there discounts available if we Benchmark multiple Locations or Divisions of our Business?  Yes indeed there are. If undertaken at the same time considerable effort can be reduced and this will be reflected in the cost.
   
   
6. If you do not operate in our Country, can you provide Benchmarking services remotely?  Yes we can.  The full range of Benchmarking services has been recently enhanced so that we can provide a full service remotely.  Even guiding your staff through the data collection on line.

Contact a Benchmarking Specialist Now

Feel free to contact one of our senior Benchmarking Specialists directly about these benchmarking services.

Sydney - Artie Leslie Tel: +61 408 120 758 Email	Melbourne - Stephen Hanman Tel +61 419 597 744 Email
SE Asia - Colin Airdrie Tel: +66 819 464 490 Email	Perth - Simon Jessamine Tel: +61 411 726 767 Email

Benchmarking Related Articles

CASE STUDY: USING BENCHMARKING TO ACHIEVE SUPPLY CHAIN IMPROVEMENT

Published in MHD SUPPLY CHAIN SOLUTIONS — NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2008.

(Note: Benchmarking Success is part of the Logistics Bureau Group)

Ingram Micro in Australia is part of the world's largest technology distributor and a leading technology sales, marketing and logistics company. As a vital link in the technology value chain, Ingram Micro creates sales and profitability opportunities for vendors and resellers through unique marketing programs, logistics services, technical support, financial services and product aggregation and distribution.

Since its beginnings in 1979, Ingram Micro has connected technology solution providers with vendors worldwide, identifying markets and technologies that shape the IT industry. The business in Australia services over 7,000 customers with a range of nearly 15,000 SKU’s and annual
revenue of AUD2.5billion.

In May 2006 Ingram Micro undertook to better understand its supply chain performance in meeting customer service expectations in its Australian business. In order to facilitate this project and to understand what best in class supply chain performance metrics were for similar
supply chains, Ingram commissioned a supply chain benchmarking review utilising the services of Benchmarking Success (BMS). The primary tool for undertaking this comparative study was the SCAR supply chain performance measurement tool.

The results from the completion of this survey questionnaire and extensive report back from BMS revealed that from the entire database, a selection of 135 companies was extracted to form the benchmarking group on the basis that these companies exhibited the primary characteristics of the supply chain that most closely matched that of Ingram Micro. Paramount amongst these were:

• Large number of SKU's.
• Very high incidence of split case picks.
• Large customer base.
• Very high service level expectations.
• Relatively small order size.
• Very high transactional levels.

The comparative data was able to demonstrate, both holistically and at a detailed level, how the Ingram Micro supply chain was performing against the benchmark group and, very importantly, was able to highlight what the best in class performance metrics were that Ingram sought to achieve.

Led by the newly appointed director of supply chain, Steven Thacker, this formed the basis of developing a supply chain strategy based on gap analysis of performance and cost at that time to the sought after best in class targets. Indeed, this was the primary building block in being
able to develop and articulate the three-year supply chain strategy with quantifiable targets and milestones.

Like any strategy implementation it takes time to implement. However, just over two years into the program, many of the recommendations have been, or are being, implemented and there has been significant improvement. There is better visibility across the extended supply chain and customer service is more predictable in meeting their promises.

Ingram Micro is an example of how the BMS SCAR process can identify the opportunities and facilitate the improvement of supply chain performance by understanding your performance and how it compares with organisations operating similar supply chains. Furthermore the understanding of the processes that best-in-class organisations use can assist in moving your business closer to this goal.

Steven Thacker, is the director of supply chain for Ingram Micro. Artie Leslie is a managing partner in BMS, along with the founder Stephen Hanman. BMS has assisted over 300 companies through this process to date.

 

 

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