Benchmarking in Supply Chain Operations

Logistics consulting services are one of the best ways to improve your warehouse operations and supply chain efficiency. Typical services include throughput management, warehouse operations, international logistics & transportation, and the development of new procurement systems. One key tool in the effective implementation of these services is benchmarking. Benchmarking allows logistics consultants to compare a business’ operations to some of the top performers in the industry in an effort to glean insights and information about how to operate more efficiently. 

Benchmarking allows an analyst to find out whether operations are “on-track” to meet future expectations. Additionally, benchmarking is a tool that can be used to constantly measure progress against clearly outlined target performance metrics. This type of system also lays the framework for the implementation of other improvement studies such as gap, SWOT, and stakeholder analyses. Overall, benchmarking is a fantastic tool to help companies define future business improvements. 

How to implement benchmarking in supply chain management operations? 

1. Analyze your own business and identify specific operations or processes that you are looking to improve. By targeting specific trains of your operations, you can focus your benchmarking studies and therefore your process improvement tasks. If there is one particularly troublesome process, it is possible to do an entire benchmarking study within that process. It is advisable to hire logistics consulting services for this type of work. Using a consultant from the start of a change management program is more effective than implementing mid-way through.
2. Recognize the key performance indicators (KPIs) for selected processes. Examples of KPIs include: cost, time, efficiency, and quality.
3. Document existing operations. Without having a baseline of your operations and your key performance metrics, it is impossible to measure improvement.
4. Identify competitors or your target for improvement. Targets can vary based on the type of improvement that your business is considering. In some cases, benchmarks can be used for reference and future state operations will approach your target. In other cases, your future state may match the target or even surpass, or breakthrough, the benchmark. 

Specifically, with regard to supply chain operations, the top 10% of companies typically spend 5% less on logistics and supply chain operations than their competitors. While 5% may not sound like much, when you are spending millions of dollars on logistics costs, it adds up. Experienced consultants who have witnessed these types of best practices and operations can be major keys to your business’ success.

Benefits of Logistics Consulting Services for Your Business

Supply chain consultants and logistics consultants can provide a range of logistics and transportation solutions to help your business sustain growth. These consultants’ expertise consists of everything from purchasing systems to international shipping and warehousing solutions. Despite typically vast experience in different types of industries their functional skill-set is universal and can help develop sustainable logistics models that can account for the ever-changing business environment. 

Recommendations and solutions provided via logistics consulting services can be useful for a wide range of different business models, industries, and product types. Logistics consultants are experienced in all aspects of the supply chain including services such as: 

• Inventory Planning 
• Supplier Management
• Strategic Sourcing
• Supply Network Design
• Warehousing & Transport Operations

Provision of inventory means offering training to the staff to achieve the best service and inventory results across a company to get maximum profits and client satisfaction. Transportation operations are very important when coordinating a transport bid for a number of different production sites owned by one organization. 

Logistics consulting services also offer services with regard to inventory management, including Kanban management and Just-In-Time (JIT) delivery, benchmarking, logistics modeling and routing, and warehouse design. For example, new types of warehouse design services are developing across industry in order to improve the efficiency of storage systems and eliminate the need for massive inventory levels. These types of enhancements on traditional warehousing can help automate ordering systems, ultimately saving time, space, and improving cash flow. 

Experienced logistics consultants can also help companies to build better relations with their consumers and their suppliers. With improved logistics performance and business efficiency, product delivery is hassle free. Delivery is more reliable and sustainable over the course of business relationships. Additionally, it helps organizations gain competitive advantage through reduced transportation costs, better buying power, and reliable customer service. 

The investment in a strong consultant ultimately helps a business save money through cost reductions in operations and capital costs. With reductions in inventory, comes an increase in risk. A strong consultant will also look to mitigate and transfer risk out of your operations in accordance with improved business efficiency. Ultimately, logistics consulting services can offer a variety of solutions to enhance business efficiencies and reduce costs. Although many recommendations can be standardized across multiple industries, there are also benefits to using niche services for your business market.