IW Best Plants

The goal of IW's Best Plants award program is to recognize plants, located in North America, that are on the leading edge of efforts to increase competitiveness, enhance customer satisfaction and create stimulating and rewarding work environments.

Download a 2009 IW Best Plants Application.

2008 IW Best Plants Winners: Winning Ways
IndustryWeek's 2008 Best Plants winners make excellence an everyday event.

These days, while tales of U.S. manufacturing's woes are well documented, less so are its stories of excellence. The 2008 IndustryWeek Best Plants winners provide some of those stories, and they do so in myriad ways.

At Greatbatch in Alden, N.Y., there is a strong focus on lean manufacturing, including the creation of standard work. The standard work is not simply for production associates, however, as it also extends to the leadership team. For example, among the standard work for J. Michael Druding, operations director-Alden, is a weekly report card to a customer addressing shipments for the week. On Tuesdays, he attends the weekly engineering meeting

Read on to see the 2008 winners.

IW Best Plants Articles & News

Autoliv Posts $64 Million Loss

Decline comes after company cuts 4,000 workers during quarter

4/21/2009

The Big Picture: Leadership Insights from the IW Best Plants -- DJO Aims to Never Stop Getting Better

Benchmarking helps DJO improve customer service while maintaining a competitive advantage over its competition.

4/1/2009

Grabbing the A3 Tool from the Toolbox

Use it to help you understand and change the thinking of the organization.

3/10/2009

Value Stream Mapping: Making It Work

VSM activities should guide improvement efforts, not simply document processes.

3/3/2009

The Big Picture: Leadership Insights from the IW Best Plants -- Don't Check Your Brain At The Door... You'll Need It

Staying mentally tuned-in is critical to General Cable's accomplishments and future success.

3/1/2009

Bailouts Could Dampen Growth in Aerospace Industry

Federal spending in other areas expected to impact aerospace and defense budget

2/6/2009

OEE: The Heart of the Matter

Measuring overall equipment effectiveness can help a plant do more of what it does best: making products.

2/1/2009

The Big Picture: Leadership Insights from the IW Best Plants -- Thomas & Betts Discovers the 'Voice of the Customer'

By focusing on what the customer wants, T&B has built strong, mutually beneficial relationships with its suppliers.

2/1/2009

2008 IW Best Plants Winners: Winning Ways

IndustryWeek's 2008 Best Plants winners make excellence an everyday event.

1/1/2009

Baldor Electric Co./Weaverville Plant: IW Best Plants Profile 2008

Spreading Its Winning Ways: Baldor's Weaverville, N.C., plant is pushing lean/Six Sigma to its suppliers.

1/1/2009

More From This Section...

IW Best Plants Winners

Scan records for all winners, from 1990-2008 or view a complete list of all IW Best Plants winners.

2009 IW Best Plants Competition

Competition Guidelines
View general information about North America's Best Plants program, such as eligibility requirements, the competition timetable and the selection process.

2009 IW Best Plants Program
Download your 2009 IW Best Plants application here. For additional information, contact Jill Jusko at jjusko@industryweek.com or (216) 931-9311.

2009 IW Best Plants Conference

Find out what makes IW Best Plants winners the 10 best manufacturing plants in North America. Their award-winning strategies are the focus of IndustryWeek's Best Plants Conference at the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, Tenn., on April 27-29, 2009. Please see the IW Best Plants Conference site for more information and a review of the 2008 conference.

Plant tour registration is first-come, first-served, so register today to get your choice of plant tours, including Nissan, Jack Daniel's, Batesville Casket, Singer Medical and Philips.

Best Plants Videos

How and Why to be an IW Best Plants Winner: All about the IW Best Plants Program
IndustryWeek Best Plants awards coordinator Jill Jusko, discusses the benefits of being an IW Best Plant and walks you through the IW Best Plants application.

Best Plants Winners Interviews -- Cargill Corn Milling-Team Wahpeton
Ron Fiala, Total Quality Manager and Red Geurts, General Manager/Assistant Vice President, from 2007 IW Best Plants winner Cargill Corn Milling-Team Wahpeton.

Best Plants Winners Interviews -- Rieter Automotive Canadian Carpet
Tim Quinlan, Manufacturing Manager, from 2007 IW Best Plants winner Rieter Automotive Canadian Carpet.

Best Plants Winners Interviews -- Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control at Orlando
Mel Schubert and Matthew McCloud from 2007 IW Best Plants winner Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control at Orlando.

Lockheed Martin MFC Orlando Fire Control Factory Reconfiguration Video
Defense contractor does double-time reconfiguration of factory floor (time-lapse video).

See more videos, including presentation sessions from the IW Best Plants Conference

Best Practices from IndustryWeek's Best Plants

Continuous Improvement E-Newsletter
Pick up pointers from the top manufacturers in North America, and identify action steps that can make your facility shine. The Continuous Improvement e-newsletter will give you previously unpublished best practices, benchmarking charts, and lessons learned -- straight from the winners and finalists of IndustryWeek's annual Best Plants competition.

Subscribe today.

Events

The Need for Speed: Breaking Barriers with 3D Technology

7/21/2009

Manufacturing Competitiveness online conference

5/19/2009

The New Manufacturing Ultimatum: Cut Costs by 50% in Five Years

6/25/2009

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