Benchmarking techniques. Contribution to the IFIP WG5.7 Workshop on Benchmarcking - Theory and Practice. Short message statement

Soon it was recognized that is was not enough to examine only products as explanation for the different types of costs of the company, but that a fundamental knowledge of the single activities within the aded value chain is a necessary assumption. For this purpose methods and tools are needed. Benchmarking is the device which turns the unstructured process of a permanent improvement into an objective action plan. Benchmarking starts when problems are identified and concentrates on detecting kernel problems to improve the current practice