Philips Professional Luminaires, Sparta, Tenn.
Employees: 235, union
Total Square Footage: 300,000
Primary Product/market: Lighting fixtures
Start-up: 1963
Achievements: 60% improvement on cost of quality as percentage of standard value production from 2004 to 2008; 95% decrease in defective parts per million from 2004 to 2008; 60% decrease in distribution costs from 2004 to 2008;
IndustryWeek Best Plants finalist 2007 and 2008
It doesn't take more than a few minutes inside Philips Professional Luminaires' plant in Sparta, Tenn., before the deep, distant rumble of its massive stamping presses resonate in one's ears and bones. The facility features two presses, each partially embedded 20 feet below the surface, which push with 600 tons of downward force. As Dave Uhrik, Philips Sparta's plant manager, jokes, that rumbling is the sweet sound of money being printed.
It's also an audible reminder that Philips Sparta is processing 14,000 lighting units per day, even in the face of a global recession which has seen the lighting industry's demand drop by nearly 30%.
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