Contents:

Foreword xv 1 Applied Benchmarking for Competitiveness 2 The Diagnosis – Qualitative & Quantitative Benchmarking 3 The Medicine – A World Class Business Toolkit LEVEL 1 4 First Steps 5 War on Waste – The First Skirmish 6 People & Teams LEVEL 2 7 The Work Continues 8 Lead-Time Reduction 9 Production Control Systems 10 Saving Time 11 Maintenance 12 Practical Quality 13 Teams & Team-Building – Employee Involvement 14 World Class Sales 15 Financial Management 16 Supply Chain & Logistics 17 Innovation & Design 18 ABC & Strategy – Bringing It All Together 19 Implementation LEVEL 3 20 "To Infinity & Beyond" 21 Process Benchmarking 22 The Five Ss 23 Total Productive Maintenance 24 Overall Equipment Efficiency 25 Six Sigma 26 Business Excellence 27 Value Management, Analysis & Engineering 28 Lean Production 29 Target Cost Management 30 The Big Picture Appendix I: Self Assessment Questionnaire Appendix II: Facilitated Assessment & Comparison Tools Appendix III: Sources of Further Information Index Figures CHAPTER 2 1: Determining The True Score 2: Identifying Where Improvements Should Be Made 3: Types of Benchmarking CHAPTER 3 4: World Class House 5: Spiral of Performance CHAPTER 5 6: Physical Flow Diagram - Joinery 7: Process Flow - Joinery 8: Developed Process Flow - Joinery 9: Change-over Time 10: Administration Check Sheet 11: Sample Check Sheet 12: Analysis of Check Sheet Data 1 13: Analysis of Check Sheet Data 2 14: Miles Per Gallon - Table 15: Miles Per Gallon - Run Chart 1 16: Miles Per Gallon - Run Chart 2 CHAPTER 6 17: Skills Register 18: Interpretation of Skills Register CHAPTER 8 19: Batch vs Single Item Production 20: Batch vs Single Item Production 2 21: Theoretical Order Entry Process 22: Actual Order Entry Process 23: Order Entry Process Paper Flow 24: Administration - Traditional 25: Administration – World Class Business 26: Assembly 1 – Physical Flow 27: Assembly 1 – Process Flow 28: Assembly 2 – Physical Flow 29: Assembly 2 – Process Flow 30: Assembly 3 – Physical Flow 31: Assembly 3 – Process Flow CHAPTER 9 32: Production Systems 33: Life Cycle & Choice of Manufacturing Systems CHAPTER 10 34: Toolbox vs Shadow Board 35: Early Warning Systems 1 - Light 36: Early Warning Systems 2 - Hopper 37: Early Warning Systems 3 - Tank 38: Coiler - Before 39: Coiler - After CHAPTER 11 40: Probability of Failure CHAPTER 12 41: Measles Diagram 42: Sales of Trucks - Data 43: Sales of Trucks - Histogram 44: Length of Parts After Machining - Data 45: Length of Parts After Machining - Histogram 46: Pre-production Control Sheet 47: Run Chart 48: Sample Analysis Report 49: Scrap/Reject Report 50: Output Report 1 51: Output Report 2 52: Output Report 3 53: Output Chart 54: Output Chart Annotated 55: Output Chart showing Potential 56: Control Chart CHAPTER 13 57: Value System 58: Organisation Structure 59: Placing an Order 60: Organisation Structure - Revised CHAPTER 14 61: Sales Strategy 62: Company Profile 63: Product List 64: Customer List 65: Customer Profile 66: Profile Analysis 67: Competitive Analysis 68: Market Worth 69: Sales Targets 70: Forecast Accuracy CHAPTER 16 71: Supply Chain 72: Supply Chain 1 73: Supply Chain 2 74: Data Links along the Supply Chain 75: Purchasing Patterns CHAPTER 17 76: PDCA Cycle 77: Departmental Walls 78: Multi-functional Teams 79: Design Perceptual Maps 80: Design Process Phases CHAPTER 18 81: Strategy 82: SWOT 83: Product-Market Matrix CHAPTER 19 84: High Intensity World Class In-Company Implementation Model 85: World Class Network In- Company Implementation Model 86: World Class Network Implementation Model – Company Level CHAPTER 21 87: Process Benchmarking Cycle CHAPTER 23 88: TPM - 8 Pillars CHAPTER 26 89: EFQM Business Excellence Model CHAPTER 30 90: The Growth of the Irish Economy 91: Irish Competitiveness Ranking 92: Irish Productivity Ranking within Europe 93: Irish Industrial Companies by Size 94: Industrial Companies by Size in Other Countries 95: Percentage of Companies in Each Microscope Classification Case Studies Burnside Autocyl Ltd Killala Precision Components Ltd C & C Springs Ltd Dingle Lamps ColourBooks Ltd International Meat Ingredients Tanco Engineering Ltd Burnside Autocyl Ltd 2 Medentech Ltd Richard Keenan & Co Ltd PB Machine Tech Ltd Erin Foods Neesons De Bruin Iasc Teoranta Kent Stainless

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Europe is getting bigger and the world is getting smaller. Irish companies today are as likely to be competing for business with companies in Birmingham, Berlin or Bejing as they are with those in Ballyfermot, Galway or Limerick. The level of competition is rising all the time, with companies no longer able to rely on their island status or their physical closeness to customers. But just what is the level of competition and how can companies act to become more competitive? Major corporations on both sides of the Atlantic have been tackling these problems for a number of years. With the advent of the Global Economy, it has become very important for successful companies to be able to: - Identify what the true level of competition is - What key priorities lead to superior performance - Manage action programmes to improve effectiveness, efficiency and, ultimately, competitiveness. The multi-nationals have worked with, and developed responses in, the areas of benchmarking and best practice under the names of Just In Time, Total Quality Management, Lean Production, Value Analysis and Value Engineering, Quality Function Deployment, Six Sigma and a host of others. In Ireland, we have known these best practice techniques as World Class techniques – a rose by any other name! What works for the multi-nationals with all their resources, money, and structures certainly will not work for typical small and medium-sized companies, at least not without being adapted for their needs and resources. This book presents the proven results of such an adaptation process, where Irish small and medium-sized companies have used a combination of benchmarking and world class techniques to improve their businesses' profitability, their capabilities and their performance – using what can be called "Applied Benchmarking for Competitiveness – the ABC of company development". Is There A Problem? It seems strange to say that there is a problem with Irish companies. Surely, given the era of the Celtic Tiger, we must be one of the most competitive countries in the world? Like the curate's egg, the answer to this question is "in places"! Yes, at a national level, we do rank among the top EU countries in terms of productivity, a key element of competitiveness. Ireland ranks near or at the top of the European productivity ladder for companies employing over 50 people but, for companies employing less than 50 people, we are at or near the bottom of the European productivity ladder, we rank 15th out of 17 in Europe, including Norway and Switzerland. It is clear that there is definitely a problem. This problem is quite serious for a number of reasons: - We have a lot of SMEs – 98% of Irish companies employ less than 50 people - Our SMEs supply our larger companies – if our SMEs are not efficient, then our larger companies cannot be. - SMEs provide the backbone of our country, with most small and medium-sized companies doing business with a 50km radius. What makes the difference between the big and small/medium companies? It would be easy to say that the big companies have more money, resources and staff to improve their performance. They usually have. There are obvious differences, usually in terms of capital invested, product design and innovation, systems employed and general resources available to the big companies to tackle problems as they arise. But there are also obvious similarities – many rely on Irish staff to use their mental capacity to solve problems, and to improve operational performance. This key factor, the mental capacity of our people to solve problems and improve performance, is the key to sustained competitiveness. We need to maximise the potential of our people to deliver improved productivity using proven tools and techniques, if we are to rise from the position of 15th in European productivity. The opportunity to develop our competitiveness is available to us now. At the individual company level, we cannot affect the issues of taxation, education and infrastructure. We can hope to influence developments through representation and lobbying, of course, but the decision-making process is out of our hands. Enterprise Ireland's experience with Benchmarking and Best Practice, working with Irish companies, shows that this approach works and leads to improved competitiveness. Case studies are presented throughout this book, outlining the results achieved by Irish companies using the tools. The challenge is for more businesses to adopt these tools and make their own improvements. We can affect how we perform in our own businesses. We can change how we do things, we can change the things we have control over. This book will focus on just these things, on practical tools and techniques that you can learn about and adapt and adopt for your own company's circumstances, needs and resources. The basics of Applied Benchmarking for Competitiveness – the ABC of company development – will be explained in this book. Dr Brendan Finucane Director Technology Enterprise Ireland Authors Dr Richard Keegan is a senior specialist at Enterprise Ireland, in the areas of World Class Business and Benchmarking, and a staff member at University of Dublin, Trinity College. Eddie O'Kelly is Chairperson of EirGrid plc, and Emeritus Professor of Industrial Engineering, National University of Ireland, Galway.