Kennedy Space Center, AmericaÕs gateway to the universe, leads the world in preparing and launching missions from earth to the frontiers of space. NASAÕs mission is to advance and communicate scientific knowledge and understanding; explore, use, and develop space; and research, develop, and transfer aerospace technologies. Like any private or public organization, NASA and its contractors are faced with the challenge of performing work better, faster, and cheaper, while maintaining world-class levels of safety and quality. To meet this challenge, the KSC team is using benchmarking as one tool to achieve the goal of improving the bottom-line.
Benchmarking is a disciplined approach for comparing and measuring work processes against best-in-class organizations. One outcome of performing a benchmarking study is the identification of best practices that enable superior performance. These best practices can then be adapted and incorporated to achieve improvements in cost, quality, schedule, and cycle time
