Robert C C.
Father Of Benchmarking - Inventor Of The Benchmarking Method
Professional Value
Robert C is a benchmarking expert who helps government agencies and large manufacturers adopt best‑practice processes through systematic benchmarking. He pioneered Xerox’s benchmarking programme, authored three benchmark texts translated into 14 languages and presented his methodology in 27 countries, delivering measurable performance gains across significant quality, cost and customer satisfaction.
Selected Clients
Executive Profile
Robert (Bob) is Principal of the Best Practice Institute (TM), an international research, education and consultation organization focused on the capture, exchange and adoption of best practices, worldwide, through benchmarking. He is based in Ithaca, New York, and works with government agencies, nonprofit organizations, educational institutions and many large domestic and international manufacturing and service firms.
Prior to retiring after 23 years, he was Manager, Benchmarking Competency, Quality Office, for Xerox Corporation's United States Customer Operations (USCO). He was appointed to this position in August 1990 and was responsible for expanding and intensifying benchmarking in all USCO units.
He joined Xerox as Manager, Planning, in the Logistics and Distribution (L&D) organization where he held several other management positions. Before Xerox, he worked for Mobil Oil and DuPont.
He was responsible for creating the benchmarking program for Xerox's L&D organization. He has been responsible for several large-scale benchmarking investigations of product delivery and business processes. He directed the internal network which ensured that customer satisfaction and business results improved through incorporation of best practices in products, services, and business processes.
He has written three books on Benchmarking:
- The Search for Industry Best Practices that Lead to Superior Performance (1989)
- Business Process Benchmarking: Finding and Implementing Best Practices (1995)
- Global Cases in Benchmarking: Best Practices from Organizations Around the World (1998)
He has presented the Xerox benchmarking experience at major events in 27 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Americas. As the Xerox representative, He helped establish the International Benchmarking Clearinghouse in Houston, Texas. He is President of the Global Benchmarking Network, an affiliation of 20 benchmarking competency centers around the world.
For eleven years, he served on the Executive Committee of the Council of Logistics Management and was President in 1993. He has over 30 years' experience in supply chain management. He has been recognized four times by Xerox for his leadership in benchmarking, and he is cited in The International Who's Who in Quality.
He holds a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from Cornell University and a master's degree in business administration from Cornell University's Johnson Graduate School of Management. He earned a doctorate in logistics and operations research from the Pennsylvania State University.
His Clients include:
United States of America (Partial)
- Alcon/Nestle
- American Airlines
- American Express
- Ameritech
- Armstrong
- Arthur Andersen
- AT&T
- Bausch & Lomb
- Boeing
- Chase Manhattan
- Citibank
- Crum & Forster
- EDS
- Exabyte
- GE Aircraft Engines
- General Mills
- Harris Bank
- Hewlett Packard
- IBM
- Johnon & Johnson
- KPMG Peat Marwick
- Lexmark/IBM
- Lockheed Martin
- Medtronic
- Michigan Consolidated Gas
- Motorola
- North American Van Lines
- Proctor & Gamble
- Picker International
- PPG
- Praxair
- Price Waterhouse
- Prizm/Ford
- PRTM
- Quaker Oats
- Real Decisions
- Ritz Carlton
- Sara Lee
- Sears Roebuck
- Sematech
- Shell International
- Smith Kline Beecham
- Steelcase
- Sun Microsystems
- Sunoco Products
- Texas Instruments
- Unisys
- Varian
- Weber Group
- Welch's
- Xerox
International (Partial)
- Air New Zealand
- Astra Graphia, Indonesia
- Australian Quality Council
- Australian Best Practices Program
- Benchmarking Centres, UK, Germany, South Africa
- Benchmarking Club, Italy
- Conference Board Canada
- Danish Technological Institute
- Deakin University, Australia
- Deutsche Bank, Germany
- DNV, Norway
- EFQM, Austria
- Electrolux, Sweden
- Enterprise Ireland
- Ericsson, Sweden
- Expo Management, Argentina
- Finnish Society for Quality
- Fuji Xerox, Japan
- GPT Payphone, UK
- Grupo IMSA, Mexico
- HSM, Brazil
- IBM,
Core Competencies
Benchmarking And Best Practices
Robert C has expertise in Benchmarking and Best Practices, providing objective understanding and insight into best practices across various industries and sectors.
He helps organizations achieve major performance improvement by focusing on key core cross-functional processes, and illustrates how benchmarking can be used for improvement.
His expertise spans both public and private sectors, and he emulates best practices to achieve significant improvements in process output, quality, customer satisfaction, and cost effectiveness.
Robert C supports organizations in establishing, sustaining, and expanding best practice projects and programs.