BEST

Spain
The BEST moment

There is no doubt that benchmarking is in its BEST moment in Spain. Public and private companies are realising that this powerful tool has a huge importance to achieve their particular objectives, and that they shouldn’t waste time and resources reinventing the wheel.

The recent creation (the third annual assembly were celebrated this year) of the AiB (Asociación para la implantación del benchmarking; "Spanish association for the introduction of benchmarking") can prove that we are in the right culture medium.

Nowadays, every study where any decision is based on, must contain an important benchmarking analysis; it doesn’t mind if the decision is about an internal question of a little private company or about a Ministry’s strategy.

Benchmarking of the services linked to the infrastructures is now considered as a competitiveness improvement tool for the economic system as a whole.

The possibility of collecting data from the Internet has definitely helped to the introduction of benchmarking as an important tool for every day.

Who uses it?

Although public institutions are showing more and more interest in benchmarking, it is used primarily by Spanish management consultancy companies, the aim of which is to promote economic development and improvement of company competitiveness. Slogans as "...the best way to know your competitors and their performances..." or "...better, not just harder...", has become common expressions in Spanish business.

The benchmarking services offered by these companies cover a wide and homogeneous range of areas, starting from those related to the establishment of regional development plans and policies to the implementation of improvements in all kinds of companies. Public Administrations, as organisations which are responsible for the design and carrying out of development policies in a determined geographic location (local, regional or supra-regional) represent an especially significant group.

Markets

Finally, benchmarking is beginning to be used in very diverse sectors and activities, such as the automotive, information technologies, telecommunications, equipment goods, food, distribution, transport, banking industries, environment, ...

Benchmarking is now used in re-engineering processes, trying to go beyond simple comparative analysis, developing reference studies with more objectives and results.

Examples

There are lots of recent examples of benchmarking applications to the industry and the environment. The interest shown from the European Commission has been a decisive element for private companies to focus on this kind of studies. Spanish participation on the European Benchmarking Forum, Pilot Projects and Framework Programmes is more numerous and significant every day. Interest from public institutions to participate as "case studies" in this kind of projects is a fact which speaks for itself.

For example, benchmarking techniques are being applied to environmental management in several Spanish Regions, promoting Environmentally Friendly Manufacturing and Management in Industry. By comparing the common environmental indicators and identifying the best practices in specific areas, it is hoped to exchange experiences and implement successful and efficiently proved environmental improvement measures. In this way, validating the use of benchmarking as an efficient tool in environmental management will be achieved soon, and it will probably result in a frequent use of benchmarking at a national level.

In the field of transport, the Ministry in charge of this area (Ministerio de Fomento) is planning to introduce benchmarking from the beginning, developing methodological studies focused on every mode of transport. For example, inside the PNIA project (Aeronautical Infrastructures National Plan), there’s a separate study analysing the evaluation methodologies applied to planning & design of airports and air navigation systems. Benchmarking has been considered as the more effective taking into account several factors. The results of this study will feed in all the general planning forecasted on this field in Spain for the next 5-10 years.

Conference: III ASSEMBLY OF THE AiB

The III Assembly of the Association for the Introduction of Benchmarking (AiB) was held last 5th June in Valladolid. This year the meeting was held in the company FASA RENAULT who presented their focus and practical experience in benchmarking. The people who attended were able to visit the car plant and the Automotive Research Centre, Cidaut which is located in the Technology Park of Boecillo . The meeting was closed by the Vice-Chairman of the Regional Government of Castilla y León, Mr Tomás Villanueva, and the Chairman of the Association, Mr José María Vázquez Eguskiza.

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	Spain The BEST moment There is no doubt that benchmarking is in its BEST moment in Spain. Public and private companies are realising that this powerful tool has a huge importance to achieve their particular objectives, and that they shouldn’t waste time and resources reinventing the wheel. The recent creation (the third annual assembly were celebrated this year) of the AiB (Asociación para la implantación del benchmarking; "Spanish association for the introduction of benchmarking") can prove that we are in the right culture medium. Nowadays, every study where any decision is based on, must contain an important benchmarking analysis; it doesn’t mind if the decision is about an internal question of a little private company or about a Ministry’s strategy. Benchmarking of the services linked to the infrastructures is now considered as a competitiveness improvement tool for the economic system as a whole. The possibility of collecting data from the Internet has definitely helped to the introduction of benchmarking as an important tool for every day. Who uses it? Although public institutions are showing more and more interest in benchmarking, it is used primarily by Spanish management consultancy companies, the aim of which is to promote economic development and improvement of company competitiveness. Slogans as "...the best way to know your competitors and their performances..." or "...better, not just harder...", has become common expressions in Spanish business. The benchmarking services offered by these companies cover a wide and homogeneous range of areas, starting from those related to the establishment of regional development plans and policies to the implementation of improvements in all kinds of companies. Public Administrations, as organisations which are responsible for the design and carrying out of development policies in a determined geographic location (local, regional or supra-regional) represent an especially significant group. Markets Finally, benchmarking is beginning to be used in very diverse sectors and activities, such as the automotive, information technologies, telecommunications, equipment goods, food, distribution, transport, banking industries, environment, ... Benchmarking is now used in re-engineering processes, trying to go beyond simple comparative analysis, developing reference studies with more objectives and results. Examples There are lots of recent examples of benchmarking applications to the industry and the environment. The interest shown from the European Commission has been a decisive element for private companies to focus on this kind of studies. Spanish participation on the European Benchmarking Forum, Pilot Projects and Framework Programmes is more numerous and significant every day. Interest from public institutions to participate as "case studies" in this kind of projects is a fact which speaks for itself. For example, benchmarking techniques are being applied to environmental management in several Spanish Regions, promoting Environmentally Friendly Manufacturing and Management in Industry. By comparing the common environmental indicators and identifying the best practices in specific areas, it is hoped to exchange experiences and implement successful and efficiently proved environmental improvement measures. In this way, validating the use of benchmarking as an efficient tool in environmental management will be achieved soon, and it will probably result in a frequent use of benchmarking at a national level. In the field of transport, the Ministry in charge of this area (Ministerio de Fomento) is planning to introduce benchmarking from the beginning, developing methodological studies focused on every mode of transport. For example, inside the PNIA project (Aeronautical Infrastructures National Plan), there’s a separate study analysing the evaluation methodologies applied to planning & design of airports and air navigation systems. Benchmarking has been considered as the more effective taking into account several factors. The results of this study will feed in all the general planning forecasted on this field in Spain for the next 5-10 years. Conference: III ASSEMBLY OF THE AiB The III Assembly of the Association for the Introduction of Benchmarking (AiB) was held last 5th June in Valladolid. This year the meeting was held in the company FASA RENAULT who presented their focus and practical experience in benchmarking. The people who attended were able to visit the car plant and the Automotive Research Centre, Cidaut which is located in the Technology Park of Boecillo . The meeting was closed by the Vice-Chairman of the Regional Government of Castilla y León, Mr Tomás Villanueva, and the Chairman of the Association, Mr José María Vázquez Eguskiza.

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