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Strategic Benchmarking for Facility
Managers |
|
Benchmarking - Just another over-hyped business
concept or a real tool that cn help you to
improve? |
We believe it to be the latter - but only if done correctly. If
you benchmark, remember these rules:
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Understand how and why a partner organization uses the
established benchmark
-
Not all benchmarks are applicable for your
organization
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If you benchmark, full disclosure is the rule.
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When benchmarking, compare apples to apples, not apples to
oranges.
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Don’t benchmark dollars, benchmark processes (the dollars
will follow)
What can be benchmarked? Just about anything you wish to
improve including:
When examining the business of facility management the
following benchmark comparisons are commonly analyzed:
• Operating costs
• Utility costs
• Percentage of workorders closed on time
• Planned maintenance versus reactive maintenance
• Janitorial costs
• Cubicle size per employee (title / function)
• Utilization rates
• Occupancy cost / square foot (or by employee)
One of the great advantageous of benchmarking is its ability to
challenge traditional approaches and structures in an
organization. As a consulting firm, we often devise new
processes that are met with resistance from the client. To
erase the resistance (or fear?) we use examples of best in
class organizations that have implemented the process we are
discussing. It amazing how quickly the resistance fades once a
client realizes that others are using this process with success
and may even have a competitive edge because of it!
One way resistance manifest’s itself is through excuses.
Sometimes these excuses are legitimate. For instance, most
people (and as a result, organizations) attempt to justify poor
performance through variables that deviate from the benchmark
case study. For instance, if a gap analysis identifies a
potential 27% cost savings in janitorial, but the client
resists the data because they have correctly identified a
variable. Their facility is comprised of 12,000 square feet
more vinyl flooring than the subject facility. Of course, vinyl
flooring is more expensive to maintain and a legitimate
variable has been discovered. This variable caused a “false
positive” that should have been accounted for and removed so
the objection can be minimized.
The key: Compare apples to apples, not apples to oranges. When
you have established a baseline (your costs) and you find a
best in class target, find out what they do, how they do it and
who helps them do it. You now have a means to copy the best in
the business and reap the rewards without all the hard
work.
Why is benchmarking so important?
It’s been said that if you can’t measure it you can’t improve
it. If you don’t know where you’re at, you won’t know if you’re
going in the right direction. If you don’t know where you’re
headed, any destination looks as good as the other. A
benchmarking analysis will provide you with a baseline of where
you are at and a goal for achieving best in class performance.
Without benchmarking you cannot truly move towards a culture of
continuous improvement.
How do you Benchmark
A lot of work goes into a benchmarking study, but to summarize
the sequence of events, follow these seven steps:
1. Decide what you want to measure
2. Figure out where you are right now. This is your
baseline
3. Locate compatible benchmarking partners
4. Perform a gap analysis (difference between your baseline
& theirs)
5. Develop a plan for improving your practice based on the best
practices of your benchmark partner
6. Manage the implementation
7. Start over at step 1 with another benchmarking
partner
February 2009
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