One of the classic tenets of value analysis is to “search for alternatives” that will meet your customers’ functional requirements reliably at a lower total cost than you have previously experienced. If this tenet is adhered to religiously, substantial savings and quality gains will be generated in 75% of your value analysis studies. But substantial gains aren’t good enough in the marketplace today, so how can you move from substantial savings to dramatic savings and quality gains? The answer to this question is that dramatic savings and quality gains can only be experienced if you start to utilize EXTREME BENCHMARKING as a tool in the “Speculation Phase” of your value analysis process!

The meaning of EXTREME BENCHMARKING in my lexicon is going “beyond the ordinary or average benchmarking methodology that most organizations have been employing (generally looking at what their peers are doing) as opposed to searching for breakthrough concepts and advanced management techniques in far-flung corners of the world.”

From our vantage point, most organizations are performing conventional internal or external benchmarking within their own world or reference centers that only help them to moderately improve their performance. If you are looking for breakthrough performance from your value analysis team(s) you need to think outside your own world and seek out new ideas in the unlikeliest places.

It was reported in Business Week that General Mills has been “thinking outside the cereal box” by borrowing efficiencies and breakthrough ideas from stealth bomber pilots and their maintenance crews that cut General Mills’ production cost by 25%. By observing pit crews that change tires at race tracks they were able to reduce their turnaround time from 4.5 hours to 12 minutes at their Betty Crocker factory line to swap from one product to another. General Mills is now planning to meet with blind mountaineer, Erik Weihenmayer, to learn how he assembles successful expedition teams with the goal of learning more about leadership and teamwork from Erik.

These examples of EXTREME BENCHMARKING are on the cutting-edge of modern benchmarking expertise; this means going beyond the ordinary or average benchmarking strategies and tactics to new heights of superior competency in this proven management technique by thinking outside your own world.

You don’t need to fly a stealth bomber, change race car tires, or even climb a mountain with a blind mountaineer to get started with your own EXTREME BENCHMARKING. What you do need to do is have your value analysis team(s) start thinking outside your own world to find breakthrough ideas to generate dramatic value analysis savings and quality gains. Here are a few ideas for starters:

• Spend a day with your food purveyor to see how they receive, store, pick, pack, and distribute millions of dollars in food products a day.
• Visit with your local supermarket manager to find out how he/she turns their inventory 52 times a year.
• Make a trip to your local police department to see how they use statistics, trends, and patterns to focus in on high crime areas in your town or city.
• Visit your reference lab to observe how they process thousands of lab tests daily without breaking a sweat.

EXTREME BENCHMARKING can be a fun and exciting new way to energize your value analysis team(s) and raise their performance to new levels they never dreamed possible. So if you want to put new life into your value analysis program, borrow from the best in far-flung corners of the world so you can dramatically improve your value analysis outcomes.