In search of Best-of-Best Practices
By Ken Stork -- Purchasing, 2/11/1999
There are many definitions of benchmarking but how well you do it is much more important that what you call it. For example, employees at the Borg-Warner Automotive plant in Frankfort, Ill., actively search for BOBs or Best of Best Practices. Their success in uncovering BOBs and using them appropriately to generate significant improvements resulted in their recent recognition and award for being one of America's Best Plants.Benchmarking should be used to effectively gauge where you compare or rank against others in important areas. Frequently, this is referred to as a baseline. Best practices also need to be uncovered and used to generate specific changes that result in faster progress and more favorable future comparisons against other organizations.
One of the best BOBs I ever discovered came from Don Kasperek twenty years ago. He was then a senior operations executive with a large, diversified corporation. I met Don and learned of his BOB on a visit that today is called benchmarking. I will share the story as I believe Don's good advice is still relevant today.
I had just joined a large corporation in a corporate staff position, a new one for the company and myself. In my prior position our president measured me on how quickly I evicted corporate staff from his 40 plants in 10 countries. Needless to say, I had seen corporate staff as what I now call "reverse benchmarks."
Don's advice or BOB was counter-intuitive in that he advised against developing and publishing a long-term strategy or functional plan. In his experience, he said, the timing was always wrong--his report was read, considered, but not acted upon by senior management. Later, when a business cycle dip would occur, Don would submit his earlier recommendations, but they would invariably be rejected as old ideas. Fresh, new ideas were demanded.
I generally followed Don's advice, which included drafting long-range strategies, but keeping them locked up for frequent reference in case the timing might be right for some or much of the private plan.
It worked quite well. The vice-chairman once asked for a white paper on a subject of great interest to him. I volunteered and rather easily and quickly provided the paper from materials I had been accumulating in anticipation of a future need. I presented it to the board, it was approved and broadly supported, and a great many benefits were gained for the shareholders.
Later on, however, I violated Don's BOB and wrote another white paper before I was asked. The subject was so important, I thought it could not wait. I wasted a lot of time and energy as the timing wasn't right. To date, I've never made that mistake again.
Lots of BOBs are available from people like Don Kasperek who kindly share their wisdom with those just starting on the same path. In this age of tremendous change and new technology, one should take care to hear the common sense advice of those with relevant experiences worth sharing.
Stork is president of Ken Stork & Associates Inc. in Naperville, Ill., (630) 851-5445 or e-mail: ken@kstork.com. Formerly Motorola's corporate director of materials and purchasing, and a member of Purchasing's editorial advisory board, Stork's consulting practice focuses on consulting and custom educational programs in strategic sourcing and supply base management.
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