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Try benchmarking.
Contributed by Mark Carragio, Dayton, Ohio
Two lost-time injuries on the same day! One of my team suffered
a badly sprained ankle when she tripped over some wires that were
temporarily stored on the floor, and a senior employee who should
have known better, badly mangled his hand when he leaned in to a
moving conveyor belt to adjust a part that had toppled over.
I was sure the injuries were caused through plain carelessness.
"How do I get people to work safely?" I asked our production
manager in exasperation.
"Take a look at Bill's department," he said.
Oh? Bill's department is a model of orderliness. All it consists
of are incoming plastic parts that must all be cut to size. What
could I learn there? Bill hasn't had an injury in years. No doubt,
I smirked, because there are no hazards in his department. Nonetheless,
the boss had suggested it, so I dropped by to see Bill later that
day.
What I found was that Bill was very serious about safety and guarded
his safety record carefully. He pointed out several hazardous operations
workers are exposed to, and explained the steps his team take to
protect themselves. He was accustomed to being asked for advice
about safety, and wanted me to do some homework. He wanted to know
what I could tell him about our accidents. He also wanted to know
exactly what I wanted to achieve. He wanted to know so much . .
.
What is "benchmarking"?
A "benchmark" is a mark cut in rock or other durable material
by surveyors, as a fixed reference point in a line of levels to
determine altitudes over the face of a country. It consists of a
broad arrow with a horizontal bar through its apex.
In recent years "benchmarking" has come to mean examining
someone's successful work procedures, with a view to learning the
process, copying its best features, and using it as a standard against
which to measure progress.
Many organizations follow the practice internally. Xerox Inc., for
instance, sends sales managers and sales representatives to their
most successful sales offices to learn how they operate. Kodak Inc.
sends service technicians from lagging service centers to more successful
centers. Benchmarking has helped many companies to improve safety
through examining the practices of other companies with excellent
safety records.
I was receiving an introduction to benchmarking.
To cut a long story short, my team and I did pick up some valuable
safety tips from Bill. We also learned a little about benchmarking.
To get results takes more than just looking over someone's shoulder.
Some organizations have developed benchmarking into a high art.
They take whole teams of people to look at a corresponding operation
in another company, or they spend significant sums of money working
through consultants. But we also discovered that you can do a whole
lot, just by observing a successful department, team leader or supervisor
within your own organization, or, if you are lucky, in a sister
operation. We learned that to achieve results from benchmarking,
you have to do your homework, know what you want to achieve, and
be prepared to give your mentor something in return.
My team and I learned that Bill's department is steeped in a culture
of safety awareness. Bill recognizes and commends
workers who help to preserve their near-perfect safety record daily.
Much of what we learned, we have been able to adapt successfully
to our section, and using Bill’s department as a standard
to strive for—a “benchmark”—our injury rate
has taken a dramatic turn for the better.
These are the rules I learned for successful
benchmarking
1) Don't try to go it alone! Who else
in your team has a stake in sought-for improvements? Include these
people in your planning and discussions. I made the initial mistake
of thinking I could find out all I needed to know and pass it on
to team members. I quickly found that if I wanted them to buy in
to the changes we were going to have to make, I needed their active
participation.
2) Decide what you want to learn. Find
out where you are now, and where you want to go. For instance, do
you want to improve work flow, reduce defective work, or improve
your safety record? My team and I eventually formulated a request
that read, "Please tell us how you achieve your safety goals
while adding to, or at least not hampering, productivity?"
3) Do your homework. Check your figures
now—be they for productivity, waste factors, injury rate or
whatever. Are they above or below industry standards? How do they
compare with similar operations in other parts of your company?
Establish a definite figure and decide on realistic goals and time
frames.
4) Choose your benchmarking partner carefully.
You can learn something from everyone—even a department that
does something badly. But it stands to reason you will learn more
by talking with someone who does it well.
5) Offer something in return. Doesn't
have to be much—recognition and appreciation are what people
want most. Bill
and I used this as an opportunity to jointly explore better ways
for our departments to interact, and we ended up helping each other
to smooth out occasional bottlenecks in production. Benefits flowed
both ways.
6) Make a list of specific recommendations.
Remember, the objective is to use your partner as a standard—a
benchmark— to strive for.
7) Have a game plan for using the results.
As they say, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him
drink.
Over a period of two weeks we generated a list of seven different
steps we could take to advance our safety goals. We then discussed
all the recommendations and decided to adopt four of them. The other
three, we felt, did not apply to our department, or we could not
see how they would have a positive impact on safety performance.
Finally, we set ourselves a timetable for implementing the recommendations
together with follow-up dates.
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