Benchmarking

AIM: Explain Benchmarking, Compare 4 vehicles, and find out the best car for Mr. D.S. Pughazhyendhii under 8-10 lakhs.

SOLUTION:

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.

Process benchmarking of this kind can operate at several levels:

• Between similar processes in the same factory or service branch
• Between different factories or service branches
• Between different competing organizations
• Between different sectors using the same process

STEP-BY-STEP BENCHMARKING:
Benchmarking is a simple, but detailed, five-step process:
1. Choose a product, service, or internal department to benchmark.
2. Determine which best-in-class companies you should benchmark against, which organizations you’ll compare your business to.
3. Gather information on their internal performance, or metrics.
4. Compare the data from both organizations to identify gaps in your company’s performance.
5. 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:
1. Improving employee understanding of cost structures and internal processes
2. Encouraging team-building and cooperation in the interests of becoming more competitive
3. 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.

The vehicle benchmarking program considers 10 main attributes scoring up to 815 single criteria. The 10 main attributes are as follows:
- Performance
- Driveability
- Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS)
- Sound / NVH
- RDE: CO2 / Real life fuel consumption
- Pollutant emissions
- Friction
- Thermal, energy management
- Vehicle dynamics, handling
- Ride Comfort

SUGGESTIBLE CARS:

1. TATA NEXON xe.(base model)
2. MAHINDRA XUV 300. (base model)
3. RENAULT KIGER.(base model)
4. HYUNDAI VENUE.(base model)

Basic characteristics of cars:

1. good seating arrangement.
2. Safety.
3. BS6 Engine used.
4. Good Mileage.
5. Good Interiors.
6. Lightweight Car body.
7. Specifications of cars.

MODEL & SPECIFICATIONS: TATA NEXON xe

Pros:
1. Best in the class safety package
2. Powerful engines (petrol & diesel)
3. Ride and feels like a big vehicle
Cons:
1. Quality of plastic inside the cabin
2. Sluggish infotainment
3. Slightly hard ride
SPECS:
ARAI Mileage- 21.5 km
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 -5 star

MODEL & SPECIFICATIONS: MAHINDRA XUV 300.

Pros:

1. Best in the class safety package

2. Powerful engines (petrol & diesel)

3. Ride and feels like a big vehicle

Cons:

1. Not much boot space

2. No petrol Automatic

3. No rear Ac vents

SPECS:

ARAI Mileage- 20 km
Engine Displacement (cc)- 1497
Max Torque (nm@rpm)- 300Nm@1500-2500rpm
Transmission Type- Automatic
Fuel Tank Capacity- 42
Max Power (bhp@rpm)-115bhp@3750rpm
Seating Capacity- 5
Boot Space (Litres)- 257
Body Type- SUV
Safety -5 star

MODEL & SPECIFICATIONS: RENAULT KIGER

Pros:

1. Stylish design.

2. Turbo power.

3. Very easy to drive in town.

4. Multiple affordability price-points.

5. Automatic convenience.

Cons:

1. Cost-cutting evident at places.

2. Limited shoulder room in the second row.

SPECS:

ARAI Mileage- 18.24 kmpl
Engine Displacement (cc)- 999
Max Torque (nm@rpm)- 152Nm@2200-4400rpm
Transmission Type- Automatic
Fuel Tank Capacity- 40
Max Power (bhp@rpm)- 98.63bhp@5000rpm
Seating Capacity- 5
Boot Space (Litres)- 405
Body Type- SUV
Safety -4 star

MODEL & SPECIFICATIONS: HYUNDAI VENUE

Pros:

1. Ease of driving on offer.
2. Three different engine options.
3. Feature loaded.

Cons:

1. Isn't as big as rivals.
2. No diesel automatic on offer.
3. 1.2 petrol is weak on punch.

SPECS:

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

5. Conclusion:

I would suggest TATA NEXON xe for sure. Because of the Five Star G-NCAP safety rating. And also, for the design of the car, a compact SUV looks like. BS6 compliant powertrain. Comfortable ride quality. Quality interiors coupled with long features list.