Increasing dynamic adaptability through the application of benchmarking in operational navigation

Manufacturing companies are found increasingly under international competitive pressure. In order to achieve long-term success, companies must have the ability to adapt dynamically, both by leaps and bounds through innovation as well as through continuous improvement processes. Because companies structured according to the principles of Taylorism do not have the necessary dynamics, IPA has designed the concept of the "fractal factory" for their restructuring. As an instrument for the transformation of the conceptual rudiments of the fractal factory, operational navigation was developed for the company and its staff. Operational navigation aims at the initiation, control and coordination of a continuous improvement process in its entirety. A satisfactory result with the continuous improvement process can only be achieved if it sets the right goals for the staff. Benchmarking supplies the strategic goal standards for navigation. Benchmarking and operational navigation are two parallel pr ocesses which correlate closely through a constant exchange of information.