Analyze the quality issues facing supply chain operations (you are the Operations Manager for an industrial products manufacturer)

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1) Benchmarking
Your discussion may include some of the following elements: Against which companies will you benchmark? What parameters will you attempt to benchmark? How will you obtain information on those (competitor) companies? Will you rely on public reports and documents such as Annual Reports and SEC filings, or will you need to enlist the services of a consulting/business intelligence organization? Will you attempt to benchmark against only companies in your industry or look at world-class companies in other industries? If you look at companies in other industries, how will you adjust/account for the difference in industries?

Benchmarking is a process, which evaluate various aspects of their processes in relation to best practice, usually within their own sector. This then allows divisions/organizations to develop plans on how to adopt such best practice, usually with the aim of increasing some aspect of performance.
Benchmarking is simply about making comparisons with other organizations and then learning the lessons that those comparisons throw up".
Source: The European Benchmarking Code of Conduct
"Benchmarking is the continuous process of measuring products, services and practices against the toughest competitors or those companies recognized as industry leaders (best in class)".
Source: The Xerox Corporation
This division produces industrial products that are used in the construction, maintenance, transportation, and equipment manufacturing industries. Benchmarking will be primarily with the companies in the industry in which this division is operating. We will also consider world class companies in other industries which can suitably be applied to our situation. It will encompass the following:
Regularly comparing aspects of performance (functions or processes) with best practitioners;
Identifying gaps in performance;
Seeking fresh approaches to bring about improvements in performance;
Following through with implementing improvements; and
Following up by monitoring progress and reviewing the benefits.
In benchmarking with comparable others, an organization:

* Determines how leading organizations perform specific process(es)
* Compares their methods with its own
* Uses the information to improve upon or completely change its processes.

It is important when benchmarking with stellar organizations that you gain a clear understanding of the scope of their project, the methodology they used, the critical success factors they identified, the challenges and opportunities they faced in implementation, and the important lessons they learned.
The 'Gap Analysis'

When examining the best practices of others and drawing comparisons, an organization will often perform what is called a "gap analysis." This is a way to identify the performance or operational differences between your process and that of your benchmarking partners, and to understand why the differences exist. One way to identify these gaps is through a technique called "activity modeling," a useful method for understanding how a business process really works by first describing how things are ("as-is" modeling), and then by how you want them to be ("to-be" modeling). Key Actions in Benchmarking for Best Practices

Number of steps that are integral to an effective best practice review:

* Research to plan the review. Before selecting comparison organizations, research the organizations themselves as well as current industry trends and developments.
* Select appropriate organizations. Your research should yield a list of best practice organizations. Use this list to determine how many and which ...