June 1997, Volume 14, No. 6 NAM Recognizes Excellence in Manufacturing

That spirit of innovation is also the driving force behind the Shingo Prize, a manufacturing excellence award program for North American companies administered by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) trade association and Utah State University's College of Business. The awards were presented at a ceremony held last month in Detroit.


Following are brief descriptions of the award-winning manufacturing sites:

Johnson Controls' Georgetown, Ken., metals and trim plant produces frames and complete seats for automobiles. The plant has increased employee team involvement by 350% in three years, leading to employee improvements of $3.5 million. The plant has achieved cost improvement targets by reducing consignment inventory by $400,000 annually, and has improved quality by mistake-proofing all manufacturing weld cells to eliminate defects. Inventory turns have increased from 240 to 346 turns.

The Johnson Controls seating plant in Jefferson City, Mo., produces vehicle seat foam and pads for automotive vehicles. The facility maintains world-class scrap levels, lowered volatile organic compound emissions by 27% while increasing production by 8%. It has reduced raw material repair costs by 60% by improving first-time capability by 28% during the past five years.

TEAMLINDEN (Linden, Tenn.), a Johnson Controls plant, produces seat recliners, adjusters, latches and other mechanisms. The plant has increased productivity by 20%, reduced inventory levels by 44% through theory of constraints manufacturing practices and reduced the customer rejection rate from 545 parts per million (PPM) to its current level of 84 PPM. The plant also achieved a recordable case rate six times the industry average and a lost time rate 18 times the industry average.

The Johnson Controls Pulaski, Tenn., foam plant produces polyurethane foam for automotive seat systems. The plant has decreased customer returns by 96%, improved overall quality, improved productivity by 10%, reduced premium freight cost by 61% and reduced plant scrap by 60% in three years.

Cut and sew manufacturer TechnoTrim (Livonia, Mich.) has improved inventory turnaround by 24% per year, improved labor productivity by 7% per year and improved its safety index by 32% per year.

Perfecseal's Philadelphia, Pa., plant, which manufactures packaging for use in the medical industry, has reduced its quality performance index from 2.7% to 0.9%, reduced overall set-up time by 56%, increased the number of set-ups by 23% and improved cycle time by 50%. Other accomplishments include reducing company lead time by 75%, improving sales per teammate per day by 47% and improving the up time percentage by 34%. The plant also improved its safety incidence rate by 61%.

Champion International's Sartell (Minn.) Mill , a producer of publication papers, increased production by 17% since 1990, reduced energy costs by 12% since 1990 and reduced rejected paper costs by 92% since 1991. Work designs have reduced costs by an average of $2.9 million per year, and improved salable trim by 2% through improvements in sheet characteristics. Employee grievances have gone from 87 in 1990, to one in 1996.

Mexico's Policyd Altamira Plant, a Grupo Cydsa plastics manufacturing plant, produces and commercializes PVC resins. Its products are used in piping extrusion and rigid profiles, and in sanitary and hydraulic connections, containers, films, wire and cable coatings. Policyd is dedicated to the elimination of waste, changeover time reduction (58% in the past three years) and programmed plant shutdowns elimination (75% over the past four years). The plant has also increased plant productivity by 11% in the last seven years and increased annual production by 21% since 1991.

CYDSA's ICB plant in Veracruz, Mexico, which manufactures products used in the shoe, automotive and cleaning products industries, is a joint venture of CYDSA and Bayer A.G., a major player in the polyurethane industry. The plant has achieved a 90% reduction in total suspended solids in residual water, a 243% increase in personnel tons productivity in seven years, an 11% (best-in-class) improvement in unitary coke consumption in the past five years; a 76% reduction in corrective maintenance and a 100% improvement in quality at first try.