Learning objective

This module will introduce you to the process of continuously comparing and measuring your products, services or processes against other organisations, i.e. using benchmarking.
After reading the component you will be aware of:

  • what benchmarking is
  • how can benchmarking assist and help your own company
    types of benchmarking
  • processes, developed by companies that had benchmarked
  • a case study.

The estimated time to go through this module will be about 30 minutes.

Introduction

Benchmarking can be traced back to the Egyptians who used a rod of metal that was balanced on a wedge of stone to provide a “level” (reference mark) from which other areas of a construction could be measured.

Through the ages military intelligence had been used to assess the strength and tactics of enemies. Cleopatra, for example, sent spies to spy on the Romans. In industry there has been a tradition of encouraging employees to study not only their own work and how to improve it but the work of other companies. In a competitive environment companies need to be informed about new technologies, processes, and strategies. However, they may not have the resources to either investigate or implement these changes. Benchmarking is the tool to measure your own developments against competitors or market leaders.

Download module as PDF

5_3_Benchmarking_process.pdf

Icons to be used in the module

learning objective at the beginning

 

hint/tip/advise

background information

 

problem/question

definition

 

task/To-do

important to know

 

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memorize/to keep in mind

 

summary at the end

 Icons to be used outside the module

link to the WWW

related articles

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