Supply Chain Benchmarking Gets Easier

Dec. 20, 2006
The Supply-Chain Council (SCC), the organization responsible for the development and maintenance of the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model,

The Supply-Chain Council (SCC), the organization responsible for the development and maintenance of the Supply-Chain Operations Reference (SCOR) Model, formed an alliance with APQC, a group that promotes best practices and benchmarking, to make it easier for companies to compare supply chain performance metrics. Beginning in 2007, organizations implementing the SCOR Model will have access to a no-cost benchmarking portal on SCOR-Model metrics. The effort is supported by the Open Standards Benchmarking Collaborative, formed by APQC, IBM and other firms that support open standards for performance metrics.

APQC will serve as a confidential, third-party repository for SCC members and will collect, validate and report benchmarking data, as well as provide analysis, insight and best practices information. Members will receive a benchmarking report that will align their performance improvement plans as they move through a SCOR implementation, begin a new Lean or Six Sigma project, or conduct annual assessments of company performance.

"Benchmarking is key for supply-chain performance improvement," said SCC Board Chair Thomas Phelps. "By teaming up with APQC and IBM, our members can set corporate strategy and accurately analyze performance gaps more efficiently and more cost effectively."

Participants will be able to select the metrics most critical to their organizations, such as reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, and cost or asset management. Companies can ascertain what their target performance is in any given area, and quickly see the gap between where they are and where they seek to be.

"SCC members will have access to data and information that has traditionally cost tens of thousands of dollars. With the easy-to-use online portal, organizations are able to dramatically shorten the benchmarking cycle time by weeks so that they have the information in hand to begin improving their performance," said Lisa Higgins, chief operating officer for APQC.