This document provides information about benchmarking for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from the Fraunhofer Institute. It describes the goals of benchmarking as taking a holistic view of quality and evaluating productivity versus quality. The benchmarking method integrates management methods to continuously improve through comparing key figures in areas like profitability, growth, customer satisfaction, and more. SMEs provide key figures, receive an anonymous report comparing their strengths and weaknesses to similar companies, and create an action plan to improve based on the results.

1. Lessons from:
Fraunhofer Institute for
Production Systems and
Design Technology
About:
Benchmarking for Small
and Medium-Sized
Enterprises

2. Goals
• A holistic view on quality becomes increasingly
important for SME’s.
• Product and enterprise evaluations have shown
that quality and productivity are not necessarily
contradicting enterprise goals.
• Experienced SME’s already know that
competition is not only reflected in product
comparison.
• Increasingly competitive capacity is financially
influenced by process aspects.

3. Goals (cont.
• Optimising products or parts of the work
process is no longer sufficient, the
consideration and analysis of the whole
enterprise is required.
• The benchmarking method integrates
existing management methods to achieve
the preset goal through continuous
implementation of the BenchmarkIndex.

4. Procedure
• The benchmark method for SME’s is based on a
branch-intern database key figure comparison.
• The key figure comparison is based on a
databank, which was built in the UK in 1996, and
currently comprises 15 000 enterprises.
• The database allows a national as well as
international comparison of enterprises (beyond
Europe).
• Financial key figures, management key figures
and business excellence figures are part of the
comparison.

5. Procedure (cont
• The companies enter relevant key figures into a
questionnaire and send them to the Information
Centre Benchmarking.
• The validated key figures are then put
anonymously into an online database.
• Subsequently the companies for the comparison
are selected from the database according to
benchmark criteria:
– Turnover/year
– Number of employees, and
– SIC -code

6. Procedure (cont
• In a short period of time a report of
enterprises’ strength and weakness profile
is being generated.
• The report include classical key figures on
profitability, finance and growth rate as
well as key figures on supplier, customer
satisfaction and employee satisfaction.

7. Procedure (cont
• Drawn from the results of the report, the
interpretation of relevant strengths and open
potential in each compared area is discussed
with the company.
• The benchmarking results allow further
conclusions on the evaluation of the company’s
management practice.
• As the result of the discussion with the
management, an action plan will be generated,
through which the preset goals will be achieved.

8. Procedure (cont
• After the implementation of the action
plan, the BenchmarkIndex should be
carried out anew in the next year as a
control mechanism.

9. 5-Phases Concept of
Benchmarking
REALISA
TION
COMPARISON
INTERNA L
ANALYSI S
CONCEPT
TARGETS

10. Achievements and Experiences
• Our experiences in the application of our
benchmarking method for SME’s has
revealed that the need for benchmarking
is urged by the demand to get or renew
certain certifications.
• The first search for a better solution then
initiates the motivation to execute a
benchmarking project.

11. Achievements and Experiences
(cont
• Further motivation for implementing a
benchmarking project for SME are the
requirements for DIN ISO 9000:2000 / VDA 6.01
/ QS 9000 certification, which demand
benchmarking, i.e. continuous improvement
process.
• On the other hand, many companies consider
implementation of a benchmarking as a “pre-
stage” of rating according to Base II (new
requirements for credit rating systems for SME).

12. Achievements and Experiences
(cont
• This method offers a more comprehensive
enterprise comparison option, through
branch comparison and the comparison of
key figures, which go beyond financial
figures, e.g. management key figures.

13. Our Offer for SME
• There are opportunities for medium-sized enterprises to
implement a benchmarking comparison.
• The offer is aimed at medium-sized enterprises in all
branches with a maximum of 500 employees and no
more than 100 million Euro annual turnover.
• The service contains a comparison of financial and
management data, as well as business excellence
figures of the company within the branch.
• As a result, the enterprise receives a benchmarking
report, in which relevant key figures are reflected and
compared with other companies.

14. Established Key Figure Areas
• Profitability
• Financial Management
• Productivity
• Investment
• Growth
• Customer Satisfaction
• Innovation Management
• Supplier Management
• Personnel Management
• Employee Satisfaction Evaluation
• Business Excellence Key Figures

15. END!