ONLINE EXCLUSIVE: Benchmarking Top Benefit for AME Award Recipients
By Ed Hiscock
Benchmarking was the watchword from recipients of AME’s 2011 Manufacturing Excellence Awards, presented during the AME Excellence Inside Conference Oct. 25 in Dallas.
Each of the seven company representatives who accepted the award took time to applaud the award’s application process (and resulting achievement report) and on-site evaluation as valuable methods of benchmarking their firm’s efforts at continuous improvement, best practices, creativity, and innovation against other manufacturers.
Michael Bremer, vice president of the AME Manufacturing Excellence Award Process and host of the award presentation in Dallas, pointed to new judging criteria this year that allowed each applying company’s achievement report to be reviewed by the AME Award Evaluation Team. Firms passing the initial review received day-and-a-half to two-day visits by volunteer assessors. Of the 16 companies submitting applications for this year’s award, Bremer said 12 received site visits on the way to determining the final seven award recipients.
Universally, the recipients agreed that the suggestions and feedback they received from the assessors will help them raise the bar at their companies.
Jeff Schlarbaum, IEC president, said he appreciated and was grateful for the “thoughtful and careful evaluation.” The valuable feedback from the process validated current improvements and allowed Acumed’s team to dig deeper to uncover practices to further enhance performance. Lauren Blanchard, Acumed’s manufacturing manager, said having fresh eyes looking at his companies processes resulted in suggestions that will help advance his organization further.
This year’s AME Manufacturing Excellence Award recipients are:
- Acumed LLC, Cornelius Pass facility, Hillsboro, OR
- Aera Energy LLC, Bakersfield, CA
- Autoliv Inflators, Brigham City, UT
- IEC Electronics, Newark, NY
- Medtronic Spinal & Biologics, Warsaw, IN
- Milliken & Company, Johnston, SC, plant
- Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems, Advanced Product Center, Dallas, TX area
Watch for full award coverage in the Winter 2012 issue of Target.
If you would like to obtain additional information about the Excellence Awards, check the AME website or contact Susan Chandler at SChandler@ame.org.
