The outstanding performances of nine North American manufacturing plants, including two plants in Mexico, have garnered each a prestigious international prize for industrial excel-lence.
The 1997 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing will be awarded May 15 in Detroit at the Fifth Annual Shingo Prize Conference and Awards Ceremony to manufacturers in the United States and Mexico. The conference theme is "Results: Faster, Higher, Better: World Class Tools, Techniques and Strategies."This year's recipients include Johnson Controls automotive systems group manufacturing plants in Georgetown, Ky.; Jefferson City, Mo; the TEAM-LIN-DEN plant in Linden, Tenn., and the company's Pulaski plant, also in Tennessee. Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls is a global market leader in automotive systems.
Other plants recognized include Perfecseal, a Bemis company based in Philadelphia that serves as a total packaging resource for the medical industry, and Champion International Corp.'s Sartell (Minn.) Mill. Champion is one of the world's leading producers of paper and forest products. Also, TechnoTrim, a manufacturer of automotive seat covers and other sewn products, headquartered in Livonia, Mich., will be honored.
TechnoTrim is a joint venture of Johnson Controls and Tokyo-based Tach-S Co.
The Mexican plants recognized are Policyd, a Grupo Cydsa plant in Altamira, Tamaulipas, which produces and markets polyvinyl chloride (PVC) resins, and Industrias Cydsa Bayer (ICB), a plant in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, that manufactures products used in the production of polyurethane flexible foam, elastomers, dyes, adhesives and lubricants, and in other chemical products. Cydsa is headquartered in Monterey, Mexico.
The Shingo Prize, established in 1988, recognizes companies throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico for outstanding achievements in manufacturing processes, especially lean, just-in-time processes. The prize is administered by the College of Business at Utah State University in partnership with the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). Jerry Jasinowski, NAM president, notes that the Shingo is one of the "Triple Crown" awards for industrial excellence along with the Baldrige Award and the Deming Prize.
"The Shingo Prize is the premier manufacturing excellence award program in North America," according to USU's Ross Robson, executive director of the Shingo Prize.