Project Experience

Operations and Process Benchmarking: Analysis of a Competitive Switching Manufacturing Facility vs. the Client's Own Operations

Client Situation
Our client, a manufacturer of telecommunications equipment, undertook a major re-examination of its manufacturing processes and costs. As part of this study, Fuld & Company was commissioned to research the operations of a plant manufacturer switching equipment for service providers. In addition, known to only a few key managers, Fuld & Company also examined the client's own operations to determine exactly how accurate the type of research could be.

Fuld Approach
Fuld & Company examined the products manufactured in both facilities, their capacities, R&D capabilities associated with the plant, process flows, inventory values, cycle times, materials acquisition philosophies, human resource structures, policies, procedures, and development, safety and community programs, ISO 9000 compliances, cost, yield and rate data, financial and productivity goals, forecasting, testing, process improvement activities, order processing and contract terms and conditions.

Benefits and Implications
This very detailed look at the operations of this facility enabled the client to assess with great accuracy how competitive its own facility was in terms of costs, policies and procedures. The value of the intelligence provided by Fuld & Company about the competitor was heightened by its new understanding of the accuracy of the information gathered through legal and ethical competitive intelligence techniques as shown by the information about its own plant. The client also saw that it needed to institute a program to guard its own information more carefully. For more information on operations and process benchmarking, please contactMark Chodnowsky at mchodnowsky@fuld.com