M.Ing. (Engineering Management) / Most new generation organisations have management models and organisational performance measurement systems in place. All these new kinds of models and systems will not be enough in the race for survival. Organisations needs a clear point of view of where they are going -a vision about tomorrow and what they should do to overcome the gap, from their current situation in order to get there successfully. It is also important for organisations to have a solid foundation to base such a visioning process on. Reengineering, continuous renewal, total quality management, lean production, downsizing - these all have proven vital to survival. But getting better at what we do is just about keeping ourselves in the race - it's not about winning the race. To win, we will have to know what the strategic intent and business priorities of the competition are (where are they going), in order to make sure we get there first. Charles Handy said about the winners of the race, "... it will be those who invent the world, not those who respond to it." Benchmarking is a means to ensure the above, where one basically have to say, "Let's look honestly at ourselves and determine what we do well and what we do badly. And where we do things badly, let's figure out what the world standards are, and then find some way to commit ourselves to reaching those standards." The purpose of this study was therefore to ensure a means for an organisation to get ahead in the race. It is important to note that performance measurement plays an integral role in management and benchmarking, because no process or action can be managed if it can be measured. Organisations are also not solely based on actual detail processes. There are other more strategic as well as "softer" issues of an organisation that will become much more important in the future, than concrete processes. These factors are the visioning processes within an organisation and their impact on change, as well as the creation and mobilisation of certain knowledge for certain purposes. The end-result of the study was therefore a scientific analysis of an engineering business environment, in order to create a means/methodology to do benchmarking, whilst ensuring a balance between the strategic, operational and knowledge aspects.

No description available.

One of the more frequently heard criticisms of local government is that it is not delivering the required services or it is not delivering an efficient standard of service. Performance management for local government contributes to creating a performance culture in the public service at municipal level. Performance management is a mechanism that is used to ensure that the municipality is doing its work and delivering on its mandate. The SALGA HRD Policy Conference held in March 2003 endorsed the spirit of the relevant legislation on performance management in municipalities. As the employee body and the only recognized voice of municipalities in the country, SALGA has been of the view that the legislative imperative placed on municipalities to be developmental and performance orientated cannot be overly emphasized. Concomitant with the legislative imperative has been the political will or unwavering political commitment to ensure that municipal administrations are accountable to their respective councils, and by extension, the communities they serve. The successful implementation of the Performance Management System at all municipalities will certainly serve as a yardstick in objectively measuring the performance of municipal and provincial local government officials. It is believed that the ongoing measurement of performance will inevitably lead to better delivery of services to our people. The Constitution of South Africa places a developmental mandate on local governments, with the express purpose of them providing effective and efficient services to their communities and to promote local social and economic development. Further to this, the Municipal Systems Act of 2000 provides a legislative framework for municipalities to embark on integrated development planning. Thus all municipalities require an Integrated Development Plan (lDP) to be in place in order to fully realize their objectives as set out in Section 152 of the Constitution. In the interpretation of the legislation, it is clear that the Council (the political body of the municipality) is held responsible to ensure that its municipality has an lDP and PMS in place. Thus both the political principal and the leadership of a municipality are, by law, required to fulfil their obligations in implementing the PMS, while the provincial local government department is charged with the obligation to ensure that such objectives by municipalities are realized by way of providing financial and human capital assistance. Since the lDP and PMS have been legislated in such a manner, it thus becomes legally imperative that municipalities comply with the legislation. The Auditor General is thus required to audit a municipality within this context. Failure to comply may entail certain legal repercussions. Generally, there has been a drive to inculcate improved performance in all three spheres of government. However, it becomes integral that municipalities are performance oriented, especially since it is the sphere of government closest to the grass-roots levels where the real impact of service delivery is experienced. There is undoubtedly a link between lDP and PM. However, it has been observed that both in municipalities and provincial local government there is no synergy between these two components and they tend to operate in isolation of each other. Logically, the scorecards of the organisation and individuals should be derived from the municipality's IDP; however this is not always the case. It is also evident that both the municipality and provincial local government approaches the two issues as different disciplines. Having said this, it is important for SALGA and Provincial Local Government to encourage and ensure better alignment of lDP and PMS in both the province and municipalities.

Diplomová práce zpracovává teoretické poznatky odborné literatury na vývoj logistiky, její význam pro podniky 21. století a její integraci do logistických řetězců. Pojednává o outsourcingu, jeho provádění, výhodách a nevýhodách a formách spolupráce, které se pokouší nedostatky outsourcingu odstranit. Práce popisuje faktory spolupráce s externími poskytovateli a zmiňuje hodnocení kriterií volby poskytovatelů. Pozornost je věnována požadavkům na optimalizaci výběru přepravních služeb a je uveden benchmarking jako model řízení kvality. Druhý oddíl práce se zabývá praktickým provedením analýzy přepravního zajištění logistického řetězce společnosti Schwan Cosmetics CR, s.r.o.

The literature related to benchmarking since the year 1986 is examined, classified, and analyzed. A total of 415 articles, abstracts, and books are considered for this investigation. The status of benchmarking processes, activities, practices, and developments is examined for the manufacturing, service, and public sectors, while conclusions related to the state of benchmarking are drawn, gaps are identified, and recommendations are made. Particular emphasis is placed on the role of benchmarking in the public sector, with both an example that illustrates the utility of applying benchmarking to the public sector and a set of conceptual frameworks provided.

Clusters of seemingly homogeneous compute nodes are increasingly heterogeneous within each node due to replication and distribution of node-level subsystems. This intra-node heterogeneity can adversely affect program execution performance by inflicting additional data-access performance penalties when accessing non-local data. In many modern NUMA architectures, both memory and I/O controllers are distributed within a node and CPU cores are logically divided into “local” and “remote” data-accesses within the system. In this thesis a method for analyzing main memory and PCIe data-access characteristics of modern AMD and Intel NUMA architectures is presented. Also presented here is the synthesis of data-access performance models designed to quantify the effects of these architectural characteristics on data-access bandwidth. Such performance models provide an analytical tool for determining the performance impact of remote data-accesses for a program or access pattern running in a given system. Data-access performance models also provide a means for comparing the data-access bandwidth and attributes of NUMA architectures, for improving application performance when running on these architectures, and for improving process/thread mapping onto CPU cores in these architectures. Preliminary examples of how programs respond to these data-access bandwidth characteristics are also presented as motivation for future work. / Master of Science

Titel: Benchmarking - Den nya budgeten Bakgrund: Budget är ett mycket utbrett styrverktyg som under senare år kommit att kritiseras. Kritiken menar på att en budget är för stelbent i en värld som snabbt förändras och att styrverktyg krävs som passar in i dagen förutsättningar. Flera företag har med detta valt att tillämpa en budgetlös styrmodell då de anser att budgeten inte kan möta den osäkerhet som marknaden idag besitter. Ett populärt verktyg som bättre kan möta de krav som företag ställs inför idag är benchmarking. Genom att jämföra och lära inom organisationen såväl som att utbyta kunskaper externt med andra företag strävar företagen efter att nå ”best practice”. Syfte: Syftet med denna studie är att ta fram ett teoretiskt ramverk för hur benchmarking kan ersätta budgetens syften. I nästa steg beskrivs och jämförs hur tvåbudgetlösa företag arbetar med intern benchmarking på huvudkontorsnivå och kontor/butiksnivå. Studien bidrar med material till hur benchmarking används som substitut till budget i företag och syftar till att belysa hur olika nivåer uppfattar begreppet inom företaget. Teoretisk referensram: Den teoretiska referensramen i vår studie utgör en presentation av budgetering, budgetlös styrning samt olika styrsätt för att ersätta budgetens syften. Ett stort fokus har lagts på benchmarking där delar som syfte, processen, benchlearning, intern och extern benchmarking samt för- och nackdelar belyses för att få en tydlig bild över begreppet som en del i ett styrsystem. Benchmarking tillsammans med olika styrsätt beskrivs för att jämföra dessa med budgetens syften. Metod: Vi har utfört en jämförelsestudie på två budgetlösa företag. Företagen är Handelsbanken AB och Ahlsell AB. I vår studie har ett kvalitativt angreppssätt tillämpats för att samla in och analysera det empiriska materialet. Resultat: Studien visade att enligt teorin kan benchmarking ersätta alla budgetenssyften utom två. Dessa två syften, planering och resursallokering, kan ersättas genom att använda komplementet rullande prognoser. Benchmarking kan av denna anledning inte ersätta budget helt utan är i behov av komplement för att utgöra ett komplett substitut. Detta är också något som bekräftas av det empiriska materialet som samlats in om företagen Ahlsell och Handelsbanken. I jämförelse mellan olika nivåer på de två fallföretagen konstateras i studien att i kontrast till forskning som menar på att benchmarking ofta görs för generellt eller på en för central nivå i företagen, har det av denna studie visats att så inte är fallet. Benchmarking används på olika nivåer av fallföretagen och liknar till stor del ledningens syn på styrverktyget. / Titel: Benchmarking - The new budget Background: Budget is a widely used management tool which has been criticized during recent years. The critique implies that a budget is too rigid in a world with swift changes and that management tools are needed which meet the playing conditions of today. Several companies have chosen to implement a model that goes beyond budgeting. This is a consequence of the fact that they believe a budget cannot face the uncertainty that the market possesses. A popular tool which is able to meet the struggles that companies face is benchmarking. By comparing and learning within the organization as well as exchanging knowledge with other companies, these actors are trying to reach best practice. Purpose: The purpose with our study is to create a theoretical framework of how benchmarking can substitute the purpose of budgeting. The next step is to use the framework to compare internal benchmarking within different levels in two companies. Our study has the aim to contribute with knowledge of how benchmarking can substitute budgeting. This study also aims to address how different levels, top and ground level, interpret benchmarking within the company. Theoretical framework: This study’s theoretical framework consists of budgeting, beyond budgeting and management tools with the aim of finding a substitute for budget.The focus is on benchmarking and consists of the purpose, the process, benchlearning, internal and external benchmarking as well as advantages and disadvantages to create a broad understanding of the concept. Method: We conduct a comparison study of two companies practicing beyond budgeting. The companies are, Handelsbanken AB and Ahlsell AB. In our study, we have applied a qualitative approach to collect and analyse the empirical material. Findings: The study shows that according to theory, benchmarking is able to substitute all the purposes of budget except for two. These two purposes, planning and resource allocation, could be substituted by the complement rolling forecasts. Benchmarking could, for this reason, not on its own substitute the budget, but needs to be complemented in order to form a complete substitute for budget. This theory is confirmed by the empirical material gathered from two companies, Ahlsell and Handelsbanken. In comparison between the different levels within the companies, a conclusion is made that in contrast to earlier suggestions, benchmarking is not implemented too generally or only on a centralized basis. It is used on different levels within the companies and the view of benchmarking is more or less uniform between these levels.

O presente trabalho busca contribuir com empresas desenvolvedoras de produtos de bens de consumo, através da proposição de um protótipo de sistema de informação de benchmarking (SIB). O programa tem por base um conjunto de indicadores de inovação, competitividade e design que estão distribuídos em cinco categorias: resposta ao consumidor, eficiência, inovação, qualidade e resultado. O SIB apresenta um indicador composto, denominado ICD-UFRGS, calculado a partir dos resultados de desempenho obtidos por uma determinada empresa em cada categoria. Dessa forma, as companhias poderão verificar sua performance, se comparar com outras do mesmo setor e confrontar seu desempenho com os dados advindos da média dos resultados de todas as demais empresas usuárias do sistema proposto. O programa foi resultado do trabalho de uma equipe de desenvolvimento com diferentes habilidades. Utilizou-se como estratégia de atuação a realização de apresentações periódicas, por parte dos programadores, para os demais integrantes da equipe de desenvolvimento, sobre a operação do software. Assim, a equipe tinha condições de refletir sobre a adequação da funcionalidade do sistema com os objetivos do trabalho e sugerir melhorias ao processo. O protótipo de alta fidelidade, em seu formato final, foi testado, inicialmente, com dados fictícios e, posteriormente, com dados reais de uma empresa, com o intuito de identificar problemas na programação. Em seguida, o software passou por três diferentes validações: em uma empresa desenvolvedora de produtos de bens de consumo; em uma agência governamental ligada ao setor industrial brasileiro; e por pesquisadores e professores do Institute of Design do Illinois Institute of Technology, de Chicago/EUA. As validações tiveram o intuito de identificar oportunidades de melhorias, por meio da percepção de possíveis usuários do software, a serem implementadas no protótipo, antes de sua disseminação no mercado. O estudo permitiu verificar que o sistema tem potencial de uso no Brasil. Além disso, percebeu-se que a funcionalidade de integração com outros softwares e possibilidades de apresentação de dados em smartphones podem contribuir na implementação em empresas. / The present study seeks to contribute with product development companies by proposing a prototype of a benchmarking information system (BIS). The software is based on a set of indicators of innovation, competitiveness and design that are distributed into five categories: consumer response, efficiency, innovation, quality and outcome. BIS has a composite indicator, called ICD-UFRGS, which is calculated with the performance results achieved by a particular company in each category. In this way, companies will be able to check their performance if they compare it with the achievement of other companies in the same sector and compare their performance with the data from the average of the results of all other companies that use the proposed system. The software resulted from the work of a development team with different skills. The operating strategy consisted of regular presentations by the developers to the other members of the development team about the operation of the software. Thus, the team had to reflect on the adequacy of the system functionality to the objectives of the work and suggest improvements to the process. The final format of the high-fidelity prototype was tested with fictitious data at first, and later with real data of a company, in order to identify problems in programming. Then, the software went through three different validations: in a product development company; in a government agency linked to the Brazilian industrial sector; and by researchers and professors of the Institute of Design of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago/USA. The purpose of the validations was to identify improvement opportunities, through the perception of possible users of the software to be implemented in the prototype, prior to its dissemination in the market. The study showed that the system has potential for use in Brazil. In addition, it was realized that the functionality of integration with other software and the possibility to present data on smartphones can favor its implementation in companies.

O tema desta dissertação consiste no desenvolvimento de uma metodologia para comparar o desempenho de diferentes unidades industriais, abordados em usinas de um grupo siderúrgico. O objetivo principal deste trabalho é, utilizando indicadores que melhor avaliem o desempenho industrial, definir benchmarks entre as unidades, comparar as boas práticas existentes e direcionar ações para a gestão da rotina e da melhoria. Para tanto foram escolhidos os indicadores industriais mais representativos dentro do processo em estudo, e a partir deles desenvolveu-se uma ferramenta de comparação, baseada em conceitos estatísticos, calculou-se o desempenho comparativo entre diferentes unidades do grupo, indicando um procedimento de benchmarking interno. Conclui-se que há a possibilidade de avaliar a sustentabilidade do desempenho utilizando indicadores parametrizados, capazes de revelar quaisquer alterações no desempenho, além da aplicação do método estruturado de benchmarking para ajudar na priorização de investimentos, recursos para projetos e demais ações de rotina e de melhoria. / The subject of this work is the application of a methodology to compare the different industrial units performance, covered in mills of a steel group. The main objective of this work is, using indicators that best evaluates the industrial performance, define benchmarks between mills, and compare best practices and direct actions to routine and improvement management. Therefore, the most representative industrial indicators has been choose in the process in study, and based on this, a comparable tool has been deployed, and using statistics concepts, the performance between mills of the steel group has been calculated, using internal benchmarking. In conclusion is possible evaluate the sustainability of performance using parameterized indicators, revealing any change in the performance, beside the application of the methodology of benchmarking to help on prioritization of investments, resources for projects and others routine and improvement actions.

Persistence is one of the core criteria in chemical exposure and hazard assessment. It is often defined as the half-life for the removal of a chemical from a specified environment by transformation. Chemicals with long transformation half-lives may pose high risks for wildlife or humans and be subject to long-range transport to remote areas. It is challenging to measure persistence directly in the field in view of the complexity of the natural environment and spatial and temporal variability in environmental conditions that may affect degradation. The mass balance approach is the most commonly used method for field measurement of persistence. In this thesis an alternative to the traditional mass balance approach that uses benchmarking is proposed and evaluated using models and field application. The benchmarking approach compares the relative behavior of chemicals, rather than measuring the absolute value of a property. The unknown property (persistence in this thesis) of test chemicals can be estimated by comparison against another chemical for which this property is known. In Paper I, the potential of benchmarking to measure persistence in the field was evaluated by modeling. A framework for applying benchmarking to measure persistence in the field was developed. Lake systems with hydraulic residence times of the order of months were identified as appropriate field sites to measure the persistence of chemicals that are close to the regulatory thresholds, which are also on the scale of months. Field studies in two Swedish lakes were conducted. Both are shallow lakes, whereas Norra Bergundasjön (Paper II) has a longer residence time (four months) than Boren (one to two months; Paper III). In Paper II the benchmarking approach was tested to measure the persistence of a group of chemicals that were expected to stay in the water phase. Acesulfame K (artificial sweetener) without observable degradation in the lake was used as the benchmark chemical. The persistence of 9 pharmaceuticals and one X-ray contrast agent was measured to range from &lt;1-2 days (ketoprofen) to 580-5700 days (carbamazepine). The results obtained using the benchmarking approach agreed well with the mass balance approach, indicating that the benchmarking approach can be a valid and useful method to measure persistence in the field. In Paper III the seasonality in chemical persistence was investigated by benchmarking. The seasonal difference in chemical persistence was found to be largest between spring and autumn. The persistence of 5 chemicals in spring were lower than in autumn, mainly attributed to lower temperature and less sunlight in autumn. The spatial variation of the persistence of chemicals was observed by comparing the persistence of chemicals in spring in the two lakes. Thus benchmarking is a useful tool to study the temporal and spatial variation of persistence in the real environment.   Paper IV explores the potential of benchmarking thoroughly and the application of benchmarking in a regulatory context. Benchmarking could facilitate more field measurements of persistence, leading to a better understanding of the temporal and spatial variability of persistence in various environments and a basis for lab-to-field extrapolation. Besides quantitative estimation of persistence in the field, benchmarking can be applied to determine the relative magnitude of persistence, called threshold benchmarking which could be a valuable tool in regulatory processes. / <p>At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted. Paper 4: Manuscript.</p>