ISRI Ops Forum Oct 09

Niccolo Machiavelli, in around 1500 AD, wrote a book called, "The Prince". It was dedicated to Prince Medici of the ruling Medici family. This book included advice about how to run a kingdom, it states that it is important to observe what it is that really works and to build on that. The book is a compilation of events in history, up to that time, with lessons as to what did really work.

I believe that it will be useful to study what really worked and what really did not work. This means to look at the company as if nothing is sacred and to ask questions about how the company should proceed. For our purposes today, we want to measure our shredding operations and to determine what really is happening, not what we wish were happening or what we want to happen but what is really happening. It means to measure and to compare those measurements to Benchmarks, which represent the World’s Best Practice.

Machiavelli's book was written at a time, that we today call the High Renaissance, a time when humans discovered and embraced the idea that it is possible to improve on what is being done. Western Civilization embarked on a time of self discovery, and found many new inventions, new ways of doing things, discovery of new worlds with previously unknown civilizations and from all of this came the concept that it is possible and desirable to make continual progress.
World’s Best Practice Shredding Plant Operation

The first item on a one page philosophy of life, that was written by me 40 years ago, is the statement that it is important to see things as they really are, not how they should be, ought to be, or could be, but as they really are, and that it is important to deal with them as they are.

The human spirit that wants to make continual progress has brought the world to the civilization of today. A world that is not perfect, but one that provides a better standard of living for more people than any civilization up to this time. As progressive shredder plant operators, we want to make continuous improvement and that requires measurements so we can understand where we are and so that we can understand when we make progress. Another name for those measurements is Benchmarks.
ISRI Operations Forum
Pittsburgh, Pa.
பைடு நூலகம்
October 2009
The Shredder Company, LLC.
The World’s Best
Scott Newell Chairman
Benchmarking for Shredder Plants
We
Essentially,
benchmarking provides a snapshot of the performance of your business and helps you understand where you are in relation to a particular standard.

In order to build on our past successes and failures, we need to look at what has been done and to understand what really worked and what really did not work. Sometimes, however, it is possible to get 'bogged down' in analysis and that makes it very difficult to understand what to do next.
result is often a business case for making changes in order to make improvements.
The
Why is Benchmarking important?

Benchmarking as a business tool has been used since the late 1980’s but has become more popular during the past few years. The idea of setting standards and then measuring performance against those standards has developed out of modern management theory and practice. This type of measurement is being used as a tool to implement constant improvement, zero defect philosophy and it is used for motivation.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Benchmarking
in today’s world is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard benchmark or best practice.
Items to Benchmark
What
are the benchmarks that are presently being used in your company?
Benchmarks



ROI for plant Tons of production per hour, scheduled hour and completed hours. Density of shredded steel scrap Man hours per ton KWh per ton at main motor KWh per ton for plant Pounds of wear parts per ton Casting costs per ton Life of hammers, liners and grates expressed in tons or output shredded steel scrap

History has taught that there is only one constant and that one constant is change. Things are always changing. This is as true in business as it is everywhere else. History is full of countries and companies that burst onto the historical scene, prospered for a while and then faded. History also records both countries and companies that faded for awhile and that then experienced a renaissance.