Benchmarking

BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is a process of measuring the performance of a company’s products, services, or processes against those of another business considered to be the best in the industry, “best in class.” The point of benchmarking is to identify internal opportunities for improvement. By studying companies with superior performance, breaking down what makes such superior performance possible, and then comparing those processes to how your business operates, you can implement changes that will yield significant improvements.

That might mean tweaking a product’s features to more closely match a competitor’s offering, or changing the scope of services you offer, or installing a new customer relationship management (CRM) system to enable more personalized communications with customers.

There are two basic kinds of improvement opportunities: continuous and dramatic. Continuous improvement is incremental, involving only small adjustments to reap sizeable advances. Dramatic improvement can only come about through reengineering the whole internal work process.

STEP-BY-STEP BENCHMARKING

Benchmarking is a simple, but detailed, five-step process:

Choose a product, service, or internal department to benchmark.
Determine which best-in-class companies you should benchmark against, which organizations you’ll compare your business to.
Gather information on their internal performance, or metrics.
Compare the data from both organizations to identify gaps in your company’s performance.
Adopt the processes and policies in place within the best-in-class performers.
Benchmarking will point out what changes will make the most difference, but it’s up to you to actually put them in place.

In order to benchmark anything, you need to have quantitative data available to study. That means breaking down internal processes to calculate performance metrics. Quantify everything, because only quantifiable information can be accurately compared.

BENEFITS

In addition to helping companies become more efficient and profitable, benchmarking has other benefits, too, such as:

Improving employee understanding of cost structures and internal processes
Encouraging team-building and cooperation in the interests of becoming more competitive
Enhancing familiarity with key performance metrics and opportunities for improvement company-wide
In essence, benchmarking helps employees understand how one small piece of a company’s processes or products can be the key to major success, just as one employee’s contributions can lead to a big win.

REQUIREMENT

Benchmark with presently available cars in the market for the following case.

Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii is a married man who lives in Bangalore which is a highly crowded city. His Family comprises five members including his wife, five-year-old boy, his father, and his mother. He visits his native place Madurai which is 500kms away from Bangalore once in a month. Also, he will be using his car to commute to his office. His budget falls between 8 to 10 lakhs on road. Please suggest to him with options so that he will buy a good car for his family.

Note: Pughazhyendhii is fond of big cars

In my view,

I would suggest Diesel Engine Vehicle, SUVs and Sedans is preferrable.

SUGGESTIBLE CARS

Tata Nexon,Hyundai Venue,Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza,Ford Eco Sport

TATA NEXON:

Pros:

Best in class safety package
Powerful engines (petrol & diesel)
Ride and feels like a big vehicle
Cons:

Quality of plastic inside the cabin
Sluggish infotainment
Slightly hard ride
MODELS /

SPECIFICATIONS

TATA NEXON

ARAI Mileage

21.5 kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)

1497
Max Torque (nm@rpm)

260Nm@1500-2750rpm
Transmission Type

Automatic
Fuel Tank Capacity

44
Max Power (bhp@rpm)

108.5bhp@4000rpm
Seating Capacity

5
Boot Space (Litres)

350
Body Type

SUV
Safety

16.06/17

HYUNDAI VENUE:

Pros:

Ease of driving on offer
Three different engine options
Feature loaded
Cons:

Isn't as big as rivals
No diesel automatic on offer
1.2 petrol is weak on punch
MODELS /

SPECIFICATIONS

HYUNDAI VENUE

ARAI Mileage

18.14kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)

998
Max Torque (nm@rpm)

171.6Nm@1500-4000rpm

Transmission Type

Automatic
Fuel Tank Capacity

45
Max Power (bhp@rpm)

118.35bhp@6000rpm
Seating Capacity

5
Boot Space (Litres)

350
Body Type

SUV
Safety

4 stars NCAP rating

MARUTI SUZUKI VITARA BREZZA:

Pros:

Peppy & efficient 1.5 petrol
Good value for money
Neutral ride, easy to drive
Cons:

No more diesel option
Rivals offer more space
Design isn�t attractive as before
MODELS /

SPECIFICATIONS

MARUTI SUZUKI VITARA BREZZA

ARAI Mileage

18.76kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)

1462
Max Torque (nm@rpm)

138Nm@4400rpm
Transmission Type

Automatic
Fuel Tank Capacity

48
Max Power (bhp@rpm)

103.26bhp@6000rpm
Seating Capacity

5
Boot Space (Litres)

328
Body Type

SUV
Safety

12.51/17

FORD ECO SPORT:

The Ford Ecosport is considered as one of the best sub-4m compact SUVs currently on sale in the Indian market. The car gets powerful and refined engines and also comes with an aggressive and appealing design language. If you in the market to buy a new compact SUV and wondering if the Ecosport is the best of all.

Pros:

Build Quality
Powerful and Responsive Engines
Looks
Driving Dynamics
Long List Of Safety Features
Cons:

Not So VFM
Feels Dated
Stiff Suspension Setup
Narrow Second Row
Thick A-Pillar Causes Blind Spot
MODELS /

SPECIFICATIONS

FORD ECO SPORT

ARAI Mileage

21.7kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)

1498
Max Torque (nm@rpm)

215Nm@1750-2500rpm
Transmission Type

Manual
Fuel Tank Capacity

52
Max Power (bhp@rpm)

98.63bhp@3750rpm
Seating Capacity

5
Boot Space (Litres)

352
Body Type

SUV
Safety

4 stars NCAP rating

COMPARISON

MODELS /

SPECIFICATIONS

TATA NEXON

HYUNDAI VENUE

MARUTI SUZUKI VITARA BREZZA

FORD ECO SPORT

ARAI Mileage

21.5 kmpl 18.14kmpl 18.76kmpl 21.7kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)

1497 998 1462 1498
Max Torque (nm@rpm)

260Nm@1500-2750rpm
171.6Nm@1500-4000rpm

138Nm@4400rpm 215Nm@1750-2500rpm
Transmission Type

Automatic Automatic Automatic Manual
Fuel Tank Capacity

44 45 48 52
Max Power (bhp@rpm)

108.5bhp@4000rpm 118.35bhp@6000rpm 103.26bhp@6000rpm 98.63bhp@3750rpm
Seating Capacity

5 5 5 5
Boot Space (Litres)

350 350 328 352
Body Type

SUV SUV SUV SUV
Safety

16.06/17 4 stars NCAP rating 12.51/17 4 stars NCAP rating

CONCLUSION:

I would suggest Tata Nexon for Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii family, Nexon is a excellent offering which is safest car in its segment. It is also value for money product with class leading features.