BENSENVILLE, ILASSEMBLY magazine is sponsoring its 2nd annual Assembly Plant of the Year award in 2005. Any assembly plant in the United States is eligible. Plant size or the type of industry is not important, as long as the facility is involved in joining discrete parts into finished products.
The goal of the Assembly Plant of the Year award is to identify a state-of-the-art facility that has applied world-class processes to reduce production cost, increase productivity, shorten time to market or improve product quality.
Anyone can nominate a plant-employees, suppliers and casual observers are all welcome to make submissions. Deadline for submissions is April 15. For an official nomination form, see page 47 of the January issue of ASSEMBLY. In addition, an online version is available at www.assemblymag.com.
All nominations will be evaluated by a group of outside experts and by ASSEMBLY's editorial staff, based on the following set of criteria:
- Have assembly processes been improved through the use of new technology?
- Has the plant improved its performance by making more effective use of existing technology?
- Has the plant taken steps to reduce production costs?
- Have new or improved assembly processes resulted in increased productivity?
- Has the plant used assembly improvements to reduce time to market?
- Has the plant boosted bottom-line profits and competitive advantage?
- Did operators play a role in the successful implementation of new assembly strategies?
- Has a product been effectively designed for efficient assembly?
- Has the plant attempted to protect the environment and conserve natural resources?
The 2005 Assembly Plant of the Year award will be announced at the Assembly Technology Expo in September. The winning plant will receive a crystal trophy and a commemorative banner.
Kenworth Truck Co.'s Renton, WA, plant received the 2004 Assembly Plant of the Year award. For more details, see page 38 of the November 2004 issue of ASSEMBLY or CLICK HERE.
