Robert C. Camp is Principal of the Best Practice Institute™, 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, Camp 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. Camp 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.

Camp 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—Benchmarking: The Search for Industry Best Practices that Lead to Superior Performance (1989), Business Process Benchmarking: Finding and Implementing Best Practices (1995), and Global Cases in Benchmarking: Best Practices from Organizations Around the World (1998)—and 37 articles. That first, and best-selling, benchmarking book has been translated into 14 languages. In 1995, a software solution suite, providing a proven methodology based on the books, courseware, and client engagements was created to make teams self-sufficient. In 2000, a web education video and slide-based e-learning Roadshow was developed from best practice benchmarking master class materials for Internet delivery. Camp is a contributing author of “Benchmarking For Superior Performance” in Juran’s Quality Handbook (Fifth Edition, 1999).

Camp has presented the Xerox benchmarking experience at major events in 29 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, and the Americas. As the Xerox representative, Camp 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. Camp 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 bachelors degree in civil engineering from Cornell University and a masters 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.

Dr Robin Mann is Founder and Head of the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research www.coer.org.nz, Massey University, New Zealand. COER is a Centre that undertakes research projects into business excellence and benchmarking. It operates a number of Doctorate Programmes.

• Founder and Commercial Director of BPIR.com Limited. The www.bpir.com is a leading internet resource for sharing best practice and benchmarking information. It has over 8,000 members worldwide.
• CEO of the Centre for Organisational Excellence Research Limited (COER). COER provides consultancy services and training in business excellence and benchmarking.
• Chairman of the Global Benchmarking Network www.globalbenchmarking.org.  The GBN is a membership based organisation for those organisations that promote and support benchmarking within their country. Currently over 25 countries are represented.
• Advisory Board member at the Hamden Bin Mohammed e-University, Dubai www.hbmeu.ae. The e-University aims to become the leading e-educator in the Arab world through innovative, affordable and accessible means that is focussed on e-technology.

Robin’s experience includes managing the UK’s Food and Drinks Industry Benchmarking and Self-assessment Initiative (1995-1998), New Zealand Benchmarking Club (2000-2004), the Sheikh SAQR Government Excellence Program, UAE (2005-2007) and leading TRADE benchmarking projects in Singapore (2007 onwards). Robin worked in Edinburgh (1992-1995) for Burton’s Biscuits as a process improvement manager and obtained his PhD in TQM at Liverpool University in 1992. Robin undertakes consultancy on business excellence and benchmarking all over the world.

Bruce Searles has been an Accredited Delivery Partner for Benchmarking with the Australian Quality Council (AQC) and is Director for Benchmarking Partnerships, who now own Australian Quality Council Benchmarking.

Bruce has also been a Benchmarking Resources Person for the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO), helping to design the APO benchmarking methodology and facilitating knowledge transfer across many countries. Bruce has delivered training, international presentations on benchmarking and benchmarking programs regarding a broad range of customer-driven topics in Australia, Singapore, Fiji, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Nepal, Seoul, amongst 20 Asian Countries, New Zealand, Vanuatu, Russia, Hungary, Dubai and Canada.

Bruce has qualifications including Bachelor of Engineering, Masters of Engineering Science and Certificate IV in Quality Management (AQC). He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia. He was previously Executive for International Best Practice for Australia’s largest general insurance, financial services and motoring services company (NRMA Limited), who were the first service organisation in Australia to win the Australian Quality Award. He led the NRMA’s International Best Practices Group and co-odinated considerable international benchmarking and study visits, resulting in large inporvements to the NRMA’s business results. He was instrumental in developing the Australian benchmarking programs through peak bodies like the Australian Quality Council and the Australian Institute of Project Management.

Bruce leads the strategic relationship and benchmarking projects with the Asian Productivity Organisation (peak body for 20 Asian countries), SAI Global (Australia), Australian Customer Service Association, Singapore Productivity Association, FTPI (Training and Productivity Institute) in Thailand, Development Academy of the Philippines, Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji (TPAF), National Productivity Corp. Malaysia,, Public Service Commission Vanuatu, National Quality Institute in Canada and the APQC in the USA.

Bruce is also a Board member of the Global Benchmarking Network (GBN) Community, a major springboard for international exchange of benchmarking methodologies and best practices.

Bruce has facilitated over 70 different benchmarking studies involving over 800 organisations in Australia and Asia. Topics have included Customer Service and Satisfaction, Customer Satisfaction Measurement, Service Centres, Innovation, Project Management, Risk Management, Senior Executive Leadership, Internal Communications, Leading and Managing Change, Telephone Call Centres, Supply Chain Management, Construction Industry, Food Risk Management and Safety, Knowledge Management, Corporate Services and Motor Vehicle Fleet Driver Safety.

He recently completed a Global best practices study of how organizations quickly implement and sustain large changes to their outcomes and how they cope with difficult times like the current recession for a very large UK based company. Bruce also co-ordinated and led a Roadshow of best practices in benchmarking including 5 international speakers in Toronto, Canada in conjunction with the National Quality Institute and the Global Benchmarking Network. He has organised and facilitated a number of international best practice study missions in Australia and Singapore.

Key clients include (HP) Hewlett Packard, BHP Billiton, Clayton Utz, Dept. of Emergency Services, Honeywell, Motor Accidents Authority, Toyota, Telstra, Country Energy, SMEs.

Bruce has assisted organisations to develop and implement one-page strategic plans, identify or rationalise and monitor their few vital and right Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and to manage organisational, individual and team performance. He has also assisted companies to develop, assess and deploy their own management system frameworks and maturity assessments to enable their improved and sustainable performance results. His emphasis has been focused across the entire value chain including external and internal suppliers to maximize deliverable and balanced outcomes for the full range of stakeholders.

Suresh Lulla established Qimpro Consultants Private Limited in 1987 as a focused quality management consultancy based on The Juran Trilogy: quality planning, quality control, and quality improvement. Sinceinception, Qimpro has saved Indian corporates over Rs 10,000 crores in terms of costs of poor quality, using theJuran methodologies. Currently, Qimpro is the exclusive Indian affiliate of David Hutchins International, UK;GOAL/QPC, USA; and Quality Council of Indiana, USA. Apart from India, Qimpro has conducted assignments inThailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sultanate of Oman, Iran and Kenya.

In 1992, Mr Lulla established Qimpro Convention as a culmination of a quality improvement competition for the QualTech Prize. A parallel competition to recognize innovative practices was added in 2005, for the BestPrax Compass.

In 1994, as Chairman of the IMC Quality Awards Committee, Mr Lulla instituted the IMC Ramkrishna Bajaj NationalQuality Award for business excellence; and the IMC Juran Quality Medal for a role model quality evangelist.In 2000, Mr Lulla established Qimpro Foundation to recognize quality-statesmen (Qimpro Platinum Standard)and Leaders (Qimpro Gold Standard) for individual excellence in business, education and healthcare.

In 2005, Mr Lulla established the BestPrax Club for sharing and growing ‘generic’ business practices. The Cluboffers a web-driven self-assessment tool, BestPrax Barometer, to measure the quality of governance practices;and a Knowledge Base of over 1,000,000 global management articles. Currently, BestPrax Club is the exclusiveIndian affiliate of BPIR, New Zealand and Global Benchmarking Network, Germany.

Areas of Specialization

• Executive Coach: Business Excellence
• Lean Six Sigma Implementation
• COPQ Assessments
• Benchmarking Best Practices
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Designing and Managing Recognition Processes
• Facilitating Creativity Lab

Author

Recognition

Professional Background

Board Membership

• Founder & Managing Director, Qimpro Consultants Private Limited
• Founder & Principal Trustee, Qimpro Foundation
• Trustee, Quantum Trustee Company Private Limited
• Founder & Director, BestPrax Club Private Limited

Dr. Holger Kohl is Head of the Department Business Excellence Methods as well as of the Information Centre Benchmarking (IZB) at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Systems and Design Technology (IPK), Berlin/Germany. He studied Business Engineering at the Technical University of Berlin and at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1998 Dr. Kohl joined the Division of Corporate Management at Fraunhofer IPK as a Senior Researcher. Since then he has initiated and conducted several national and international Benchmarking and Business Process Reengineering Projects and was responsible for their realisation. Beside projects all over Europe, Dr. Kohl managed Benchmarking projects in UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Vietnam, Serbia-Montenegro, Singapore, Malaysia, etc.

His primary research interests are in the area of Benchmarking, Total Quality Management and EFQM, in both the public and private sector as well as in the industry and service sector.

Navin Kapoor has a postgraduate degree from IIT, Kharagpur and IIM, Ahmadabad. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, London and one of the first few Indians to be designated Chartered Marketer. He has over 32 years of Industry experience as General Manager, Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director in different companies. He has worked in Jumbo Electronics, Apollo Studios and Crystal Gallery and is currently Managing Director of Xpertize United, Dubai.

Mr. Kapoor is a member of Academic Advisory Board of Al Maktoum Institute at Scotland, England. He is visiting faculty at IIMs in India and many colleges in UAE and India. He has served as Board member of Dubai Quality Group and Chairperson of Benchmarking Subgroup. He was invited to address the World Benchmarking congress in Toronto in 2008. He has also served as Secretary General in the outgoing IBPC Board. He is a board member of IBPC.