First, find out where you're at
By Ken Stork -- Purchasing, 10/21/1999
If you don't know where you're at--how do you plan to get where you should be?A few months ago this column reviewed some great advice I received 20 years ago from Don Kasperek during a benchmarking visit to his company. Don is retired now, but he's still a great source of ideas. He suggested the title and focus of this piece.
All of us are in the middle of a sea full of changes. Conflicting tides are trying to pull us in many directions. The tides are options/solutions that are being marketed as the answer for our company. But, I just read yesterday about a famous candy company that forewarned Wall Street that their financial results will be disappointing this quarter. It seems the new supply chain systems aren't working as planned, and their order fulfillment is hampered, retailers have shortages of their products, and trick-or-treat time is rapidly approaching. Bad news for them, good news for their competitors.
Not all systems projects go bad, of course, but how do we accurately assess where we are in terms of our system needs, and then plan to successfully get to where our strategic plans lead us? Benchmarking is a process that should be employed so that we identify the critical success factors from successful projects and the pitfalls from unsuccessful projects. Regular readers of this column will recall that benchmarking entails looking at companies outside your industry. If you look at competitors, this is competitive analysis or reverse engineering, and you are highly likely to miss looking at companies that possess (for you) best practices.
Since we're using an example of supply chain systems as a benchmarking project, how do we start getting specific companies to approach?
Ask your customers to identify specific suppliers that possess effective supply chain systems. In this candy example, go to Wal-Mart and see who has the most shelf space and what brand seems to have empty shelves. What brand is noticeable by its absence?
Approach your suppliers with a detailed set of questions inquiring as to which of their suppliers have excellent supply chain systems.
Look for companies that are recent winners of prestigious awards that are relevant. Foremost would be Purchasing Magazine's annual Medal of Professional Excellence, awarded to a company for excellence in purchasing and supply management practices. Other places to look at are the winner of the Shingo Award ,and winners of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award.
Don't overlook the importance of accurately assessing where your company is at today. Too often people establish a baseline for today that is overly optimistic and overstates current capabilities. The danger then is you might underestimate how much improvement is really needed or worse yet, you fail to plan to improve.
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 focuses on consulting and custom educational programs in strategic sourcing and supply base management.
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