Volvo Construction Equipment in Skyland, NC was awarded the Silver Prize by the North Carolina Shingo prize for Manufacturing Excellence. The Silver Shingo Prize is given to organizations that have positive improvement trends in the business functions with many examples of improvement projects focusing beyond the daily issues.
The NC Shingo Prize program provides assessments of organizations based on North American Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing criteria. Trained examiners evaluate and score applications and provide feedback to the participants.
“Volvo Construction Equipment is an outstanding example of how a manufacturing vision and strategy can be defined clearly and deployed in a way that everyone can embrace it, said NC Shingo Program Director Wayne Tindle. “Their deployed vision “a plant with a future” has produced a lean manufacturing environment with organizational improvements of their targets for excellence”.
The company will be recognized at the NC Conference for Excellence at the Embassy Suites in Cary, North Carolina during a special awards luncheon on October 24th, 2007.
Volvo Construction Equipment is a business area of AB Volvo, and the Asheville Plant is the manufacturing hub of North America, currently manufacturing five models of wheel loaders. The plant has been building construction equipment since the mid 70s. The entire facility operates in natural work groups or cross-functional teams with a common strategic focus. They began their improvement journey in 2000 with the introduction of Lean manufacturing and the Juran Institute’s problem solving methodologies and quality tools to the workforce. Their commitment to continuous improvement and cost reduction has resulted in being awarded the manufacturing of additional products within Volvo that will double the workforce over the next five years.
About NC Shingo Prize and IES
The Mission of the NC Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing program is to 1) increase awareness of world-class manufacturing practices and techniques that enhances a company’s competitive position in the marketplace and 2) foster an understanding and sharing of successful core manufacturing and business improvement methodologies. The Prize is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo Shingo who helped create many aspects of the revolutionary manufacturing practices of the Toyota Production System. The program was initially licensed to the Industrial Extension Service of North Carolina State University in 2003 to administer the Shingo Prize criteria and to disseminate the lean message to the state level.