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BY TIMOTHY SCHIPPER As companies strive to gain or maintain a competitive advantage, there is a weighty challenge with continuous improvement ef orts. Many companies dedicate signifi - cant resources toward benchmarking and facility cost modeling in the pursuit for continuous improvement. The intent and desired outcome is often misunderstood and can be as detrimental as a malfunc- tioning compass to a hiker in the woods or broken radar on an airplane. Quite often, the lowest cost is celebrated as "best in class" or "world class." However, benchmarking was never intended to be the starting gun for a race to the bottom. Many times, healthcare facility main- tenance ef orts seem to be focused on achieving the lowest cost per square foot. This type of thinking provides a some- what oversimplifi ed, one-dimensional view and use of data. When targets are set and all emphasis is placed on achiev- ing the lowest cost, behavior within an organization will be af ected. A common inadequate use of benchmarking data is the attempt to use industry standards without fi rst understanding current performance. In some cases, this is due to a lack of confi dence in the integrity of the data an organization possesses. It is dif cult to map out a journey without fi rst understanding the starting point. Mapping the Journey Organizations must take into account di- mensions such as quality and service and the desired impact they will have on the strategy and company brand. In the devel- opment and evaluation of benchmarking data, it is also important to understand the distribution and categorization of costs since most organizations vary in this area. It is not hard to imagine the myriad variations when defi ning capital and operational expenditures. Multiply these expenditures by the general ledger accounts feeding into each and it becomes apparent how a benchmark measure, such as cost per square foot or cost per unit, can vary drastically from one organization to the next just from categorization alone. One dimension to benchmarking mak- ing headway is the use of cost modeling Benchmarking not a race to the bottom line ACHIEVING 'BEST IN CLASS' Images courtesy of CBRE 50 Medical Construction & Design | M AY/ J U N E 2015 | MCDM AG.COM