The Dairy UK guide to sourcing
the finance, equipment, products, training and knowledge
for innovation
The Dairy UK guide to sourcing
the finance, equipment, products, training and knowledge
for innovation
Dairy UK provides business improvement advice to its processor members under the Dairy UK Manufacturing Excellence Programme (DMEP).
The programme, which started in July 2006 and runs for 3 years, consists of 30 diagnostic benchmarking exercises delivered by Comparison International under the Dairy PROBE banner and 12 Masterclasses provided by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders Industry Forum.
Dairy PROBE is designed to measure key practices and to show how, by improving
these key practices, it will help to improve business performance.
www.dairyuk.org/secure/busbriefs2006attach/330_DairyPROBE.pdf
A Masterclass is a business improvement tool focused on maximising processing efficiency. After an initial visit, the current state of the competitiveness of the company is then established and areas where improvements can be made are established and targets set. An interactive workshop is then held and progress made is judged against the initial targets that were set. Finally, a tailored follow-up programme is carried out to ensure that improvements are sustained.
www.dairyuk.org/secure/busbriefs2006attach/330_masterclass_Brochure.pdf
The programme is co-ordinated at Dairy
UK by the Policy Director, Peter Dawson - any Dairy UK members
who are interested in participating in DMEP can contact him as follows:
Direct Line: 020 7467 2632
E-mail:pdawson@dairyUK.org
The Milk Development Council has the UK 's only fully independent, confidential, and impartial online computer dairy benchmarking system. Comparing or benchmarking financial and physical information against other similar dairy enterprises using Milkbench will enable you to see where potential savings could be made, and how profitability could be increased on your farm.
http://www.milkbench.org.uk/NDBS/Public/content.aspx
Envirowise has
produced an Information Leaflet (ET270), entitled "Intra-Company
Benchmarking in the Food and Drink Industry - Its Benefits and Challenges",
which summarises the current status of benchmarking environmental performance
within the food and drink industry.
www.envirowise.gov.uk
The Leaflet reviews the methods, benefits and challenges of benchmarking. It also provides signposting to a range of publications that will help food and drink companies to compare their environmental performance, not just internally and against stated goals, but with other sites. (You must be registered and logged in to the Envirowise site to order this publication)
Envirowise also prouduces a number of Benchmarking Guides on the following topics.
The English Farming and Food Partnership (EFFP) can provide advice and practical business solutions and tools to help FCBs manage and measure future performance. Development of Balanced Scorecards, which take into account the efficiency of internal management processes, learning and development strategies, relationships with customers and members, as well as traditional financial metrics, is something that EFFP has added to its portfolio of products and services.
E-mail:dave.oglethorpe@effp.com
Phone: Dr Dave Oglethorpe, EFFP Associate Director, Economics
& Research, on 020 7213 0435
www.effp.com
The DTI offers two self-assessment tools:
Innovation Self Assessment
The DTI has devised a very simple self-assessment questionnaire comprising 30 statements to which you agree, agree strongly, disagree
or disagree strongly.When you have answered with your perceptions of your company
performance against these statements, you will receive a bar chart of your
performance against an 'ideal' performance model generated from research
undertaken by DTI. This tool is particularly useful to help conversations within the organisation about how to be better at innovation. So
it helps if people at various levels within the organisation complete the
assessment and the results are shared.
www.innovation.gov.uk/self_assessment
Innovation Exchange
Are you innovation proactive, neutral or agnostic? Your attitude to, and proficiency in, managing innovation is key to your success. A
recent analysis of over 2000 companies shows that some UK companies are
more proactive than others, but that all companies can benefit from focused
help and guidance.
This simple and short assessment is particularly useful in
guiding you to references and content that might help you to be more innovative and to grow your business. If you register, your scores will be saved and can be
used again as a benchmark when you return to the site in the future.
www.innovation.gov.uk/innovation_exchange