Jul 18 2005
Hearth & Home Technologies™ Inc., the world’s largest fireplace manufacturer, was recently recognized as one of fifteen winners of the 2005 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.
Dubbed the “Nobel prize of Manufacturing” by Business Week, the Shingo Prize is recognized as the premier manufacturing award and recognition program in North America.
Hearth & Home Technologies’ Lake City, Minn. manufacturing facility earned the award by creating a rapid continuous improvement environment that effectively implements lean and world-class manufacturing practices to improve business performance.
In 2004, the Lake City facility accomplished an average of 17 member-led process improvements per member—providing a total cost savings of more than $5 million.
“The recipients of the Shingo Prize demonstrate that lean enterprise leadership will truly weather economic uncertainty by not wasting precious manufacturing and business resources,” said Ross Robson, Shingo Prize Executive Director.
Rich Bodensteiner, Vice-President and General Manager, Hearth & Home Technologies added: “Each day our members commit to lean manufacturing processes and creating a continuous improvement culture. The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing is a direct result of their hard work.”
For 16 years, the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing has honored businesses and researchers in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The prize criteria focus on customer satisfaction, profitability, quality, cost, delivery, lean core operations, leadership and empowerment enablers. A board of examiners, consisting of more than 175 lean leaders throughout North America, conducts the rigorous process of evaluating manufacturers.
The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who distinguished himself as one of the world’s leading experts in improving manufacturing processes.
Described as an “engineering genius”, Dr. Shingo played a key role in creating and writing about many aspects of today’s revolutionary manufacturing practices.