Benefits of Benchmarking for Logistics Leaders
Vehnet has teamed up with Amercian supply chain consultancy AutoDiversity Management Inc. (ADMI), to highlight the benefits of benchmarking to delegates at the forthcoming Logistics Leaders Congress, being held this year at The Heritage Motor Centre in the heartlands of the UK automotive industry.
According to Marc Brazeau, founder and principal partner of ADMI, benchmarking enables an organisation to compare its performance to that of others in the marketplace, identifying whether it is a ‘leader’ or a ‘laggard’, and accurately pinpointing opportunities for efficiency improvements in the supply chain, thus creating a platform for the development of a long term strategic road map toward network optimisation.
Although benchmarking is nothing new, historically the process has been based on evaluation of static, high level information and arguably of limited value. However, by using Vehnet’s forward thinking technology to interrogate live systems and draw together disparate data for analysis, the Visibility tool on offer to OEMs and LSPs alike, offers an unrivalled opportunity for deep, detailed, real-time benchmarking of the supply chain.
“What is unique here is the combination of expert consultancy with industry leading technology,” explains Steve Jones, Group Managing Director at Vehnet. “Accurate benchmarking is the start of the process. We can measure how a company is performing against its peers, but it is identifying areas for improvement and implementing change that matters. Our Visibility tool can monitor performance against agreed KPIs on an ongoing basis, contributing towards a culture of continuous improvement in the supply chain, based on easily accessible and accurate information.”
Marc Brazeau adds, “Visibility and benchmarking go hand in hand. Shippers need to invest in, own and manage their visibility. More often than not, they depend on a variety of sources producing dissimilar data regarding the overall supply chain performance, resulting in ‘patchwork’ operational visibility where only chronic issues are reported and rectified. This ‘fire-fighting’ approach is the single biggest drain on management resources and marginalizes the time needed for organisations to promote strategic development of supply chain innovations.
Investment in benchmarking and visibility facilitates proper planning, rather than ‘fire-fighting’ in the operational network, promotes collaborative innovation and ultimately drives down costs in the supply chain and optimises performance.”
May 2009