Posted by Tarun Satiya on December 04, 2001 at 05:06:22:

In Reply to: Best practice as a damned conundrum posted by Riva Gianluca on December 01, 2001 at 05:59:22:

If we take a restricted view of following "best practices" as imitating certain practices of our competitors or "peer group" industries, I am sure we will never be a leader.

However, what do you say to these:

- A major steel manufacturer is able to bring about drastic improvements and cost-efficiencies in its product distribution set-up by studying the "best practices" of a local pizza delivery company by adapting certain fundamental (and common sensical too) principles of the pizza delivery system in its own delivery system.

- Ford Motor Company’s first assembly line in 1912 at its Ford Highland Park plant had its genesis in Henry Ford watching men cut meat in a Chicago slaughterhouse! The carcasses were hanging on a monorail. After each man performed his job, he would push the carcass to the next station. The idea revolutionised the modern manufacturing and automotive history.

- It is believed that Toyota’s, now legendry, just-in-time and total-quality-program had inputs from Eliji Toyoda’s study visits to some of the American supermarkets. He was impressed by the speed and precision with which grocers restocked their shelves at night so that the supplies were replenished in time for the customers to shop during the daytime hours. It is another ironical fact that two decades later western manufacturers were studying Toyota’s systems!

- A rifle manufacturing company, unable to resolve a technical snag in its process to make the rifle shells shinier, had to seek help from a cosmetics manufacturer, who was making shiny lipstick cartridges. After all the lipsticks cases were not much different in size and shape from rifle shells.

I wouldn't call these as blindly aping your competition or peer group. I agree that these examples stand out as exceptions in the common worldview on benchmarking best practices. However, I do see value in studying and adapting (not blindly "adopting") best practices of successful companies, and these need not be from your own competitors or industry. One can always look out, into unrelated areas, and pick innovative thoughts and ideas and apply them "sensibly" (the operative word!) in one's own context.

Regards

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Value in Best Practices ... if you "adapt" them, and not "adopt"!! Riva Gianluca 08:52:10 12/04/01 (0)

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