Comments on: Benchmarking for Success http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/ helping businesses navigate through challenges to reach their goals Wed, 28 Jul 2010 21:24:29 +0000 hourly 1 By: Richard Harshaw http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/comment-page-1/#comment-2030 Richard Harshaw Fri, 27 Nov 2009 13:44:03 +0000 http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/?p=79#comment-2030 Thanks, Bill. I know that both companies have solid benchmarks for their service operations, although I do not have copies of them. And I hear you when you bemoan lapses in attentiveness at times. This seems to be a growing issue in these unstable times. I was at Disney World in September, and although the magic is still there, signs of cutbacks in maintenance and staff were sadly evident. As for the exact nature of their benchmarks, I imagine they are different than the HVAC benchmarks I describe, as most manufacturer service arms are usually run at a much higher level of attention to detail and the collection of vital but more abstract measurements, like response time or materials to labor ratios, and the like. One of the great breakthroughs (to me, anyway) of the quality control movement was the discovery that TQM principles and methods could be applied to service industries with equally powerful results. Those who do stunning service usually do it at a six-sigma level! Richard Thanks, Bill. I know that both companies have solid benchmarks for their service operations, although I do not have copies of them. And I hear you when you bemoan lapses in attentiveness at times. This seems to be a growing issue in these unstable times. I was at Disney World in September, and although the magic is still there, signs of cutbacks in maintenance and staff were sadly evident.

As for the exact nature of their benchmarks, I imagine they are different than the HVAC benchmarks I describe, as most manufacturer service arms are usually run at a much higher level of attention to detail and the collection of vital but more abstract measurements, like response time or materials to labor ratios, and the like.

One of the great breakthroughs (to me, anyway) of the quality control movement was the discovery that TQM principles and methods could be applied to service industries with equally powerful results. Those who do stunning service usually do it at a six-sigma level!

Richard

]]> By: Bill Purcell http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/comment-page-1/#comment-2029 Bill Purcell Fri, 27 Nov 2009 04:21:20 +0000 http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/?p=79#comment-2029 Richard, Great stuff! I work for a school district in Corpus Christi and our controls provider, Johnson Controls,and chiller service company, Trane, probably use this type of benchmarking to justify their work force in our area. My only certain is if the present service team can effectively maintain a level of quality to their customer? I wonder what is their metric? I will probably need to email both corporate offices for their related equation, but I have seen a lapse in attentiveness (timely response)from both on occasion. I will also look at their processes internally as well. I imagine they may be on a different structure of measurement plateau? Thoughts? Bill Richard,
Great stuff! I work for a school district in Corpus Christi and our controls provider, Johnson Controls,and chiller service company, Trane, probably use this type of benchmarking to justify their work force in our area. My only certain is if the present service team can effectively maintain a level of quality to their customer? I wonder what is their metric? I will probably need to email both corporate offices for their related equation, but I have seen a lapse in attentiveness (timely response)from both on occasion. I will also look at their processes internally as well. I imagine they may be on a different structure of measurement plateau? Thoughts?
Bill

]]> By: Richard Harshaw http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Richard Harshaw Mon, 22 Sep 2008 17:25:19 +0000 http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/?p=79#comment-21 Excellent question, Tom. By "2 man crew", do you mean your company has two employees? Or do you mean that your company uses two men to a crew? Either way, the benchmarks do not change, but may be easier to determine. For instance, if you were just a two-man company, the benchmarks would still apply, but obviously the staff ratio would be meaningless to you at this time. As your business grew and acquired people, there would come a time when the staff ratio should be considered (say, 8 employees or so). Using communicating equipment and software for the trucks can be a good thing if it is used properly. A large service or installation company may find that it could reduce the inside headcount by one person (or more if it is a really BIG company) if a computerized tracking system using GPS was being used. But the cost of such a system would be more than what a small company might be able to justify. However, a communicating system (which could operate without GPS tracking capability) could definitely expedite invoicing on service calls and the like and thus reduce some of the in-office tasks normally assigned to a person, so in that light, a computerized communication system could pay dividends even for a small company by reducing internal work loads and thus the need for extra staff. The bottom line is this: if the internal paperwork is being done on time-- and by that I mean if invoicing is done daily, collections are on top of things (average age of accounts receivable is under 30 days), payroll is on time and accurate, accounts payable is current with all vendors-- then you have adequate internal staff and/or procedures. If not, you may need to add internal staff. But before you add staff, check your PROCEDURES to make sure that something you are doing is not causing a loss of efficiency. I have seen many cases where an internal procedure was so inefficient that it took two people to do a task that one should have been able to handle with a better procedural design. Excellent question, Tom. By “2 man crew”, do you mean your company has two employees? Or do you mean that your company uses two men to a crew? Either way, the benchmarks do not change, but may be easier to determine. For instance, if you were just a two-man company, the benchmarks would still apply, but obviously the staff ratio would be meaningless to you at this time. As your business grew and acquired people, there would come a time when the staff ratio should be considered (say, 8 employees or so).

Using communicating equipment and software for the trucks can be a good thing if it is used properly. A large service or installation company may find that it could reduce the inside headcount by one person (or more if it is a really BIG company) if a computerized tracking system using GPS was being used. But the cost of such a system would be more than what a small company might be able to justify.

However, a communicating system (which could operate without GPS tracking capability) could definitely expedite invoicing on service calls and the like and thus reduce some of the in-office tasks normally assigned to a person, so in that light, a computerized communication system could pay dividends even for a small company by reducing internal work loads and thus the need for extra staff.

The bottom line is this: if the internal paperwork is being done on time– and by that I mean if invoicing is done daily, collections are on top of things (average age of accounts receivable is under 30 days), payroll is on time and accurate, accounts payable is current with all vendors– then you have adequate internal staff and/or procedures. If not, you may need to add internal staff. But before you add staff, check your PROCEDURES to make sure that something you are doing is not causing a loss of efficiency. I have seen many cases where an internal procedure was so inefficient that it took two people to do a task that one should have been able to handle with a better procedural design.

]]> By: Tom http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/comment-page-1/#comment-20 Tom Mon, 22 Sep 2008 15:52:43 +0000 http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/?p=79#comment-20 Just curious, if the blend of your company is AOR & service and you are a 2 man crew, do the benchmarks change much or are just easier to determine? Also was wondering if "in truck computerization" utilizing communicative software with the office is benificial in a small business to reduce staffing benchmarks? Just curious, if the blend of your company is AOR & service and you are a 2 man crew, do the benchmarks change much or are just easier to determine? Also was wondering if “in truck computerization” utilizing communicative software with the office is benificial in a small business to reduce staffing benchmarks?

]]> By: joe http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/benchmarking-for-success/comment-page-1/#comment-11 joe Wed, 13 Aug 2008 21:10:52 +0000 http://www.lodestarconsultinginc.com/?p=79#comment-11 Interesting article. Nice to learn about something I didn't know much about (geocaching). I found the comparison to business interesting. And am always up to learning more on business techniques. Keep it comin. Interesting article. Nice to learn about something I didn’t know much about (geocaching). I found the comparison to business interesting. And am always up to learning more on business techniques. Keep it comin.

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