For the past few years, over-taxed supply chain professionals have been mired in short-term problem solving and fire fighting. But now it’s time to get back to strategic, value-building activities such as benchmarking.
Supply chain leaders across all sorts of industries are telling me that their focus on day-to-day tactical issues have left them with an information void on their performance relative to competitors. So nothing makes more sense right now than getting back in touch with how you are performing and where your greatest opportunities for improvement lie in the coming year.
Use benchmarking to:
- Understand how your supply chains are performing relative to companies “like you”;
- Develop a clear picture of the processes now being used in leading high performance supply chains;
- Receive key inputs for the development of strategic and tactical improvement plans;
- Get fact-based analysis from supply chain experts and peers; and
- Network with companies and individuals who are leading their industries with innovative new approaches
To jump start your return to benchmarking, I suggest participating in the Supply Chain Consortium’s LinkedIn Group (www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1966314&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr). With more than 2,000 members from around the world, this group allows you to network with supply chain leaders and start benefiting from benchmarking right away.
Here’s to a successful return to benchmarking in 2013.
More Resources
LSP Relationships: Satisfying Customers & Building Loyalty
Commodity Cost & Volatility Mitigation Executive Briefing
Managing Risks with Global Supply Chains
Picture: Martin Pettitt
I would agree Jim, benchmarking should not be on anyone’s back burner. It can be a fairly easy process that can lead to “strategic improvements”. As mentioned in CSCMP Explores’ Deriving Strategic Advantage from Truckload Procurement, “There are two basic methodologies for truckload benchmarking: corridor-based and model-based.” If a shipper does not want to share rates with their direct competitor or has lower volume lanes they probably should look at corridor-based benchmarking. Here’s a link to the report that discusses these two different options: http://bit.ly/CSCMPExplores.