Benchmarking is potentially the most powerful weapon in the corporate armoury. It is the technique that enabled Cummins Engine Company to slash delivery time from eight months to eight weeks, Lucas to reduce the number of shopfloor grades at one of its sites from 17 to four, and British Rail to cut cleaning time for a 660-seat train to just eight minutes. In other companies, order processing time has been brought down from weeks to days, engineering drawings output doubled and inventory cut by two-thirds. Yet, in spite of the articles, seminars and conferences, many managers continue to ask "What is benchmarking?" and "How do we do it?" This book aims to answer these questions. Through a series of case histories and references, it shares the experiences and knowledge acquired by benchmarking companies across a wide range of industries. It also provides a step-by-step guide to the entire process, including a complete set of planning worksheets. The case studies include: Siemens Plessey, Volkswagen, British Rail, Lucas Industries, Shell, Rover and Hewlett Packard.