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Virginia’s
version of the Shingo Prize
by Robert Burke
for Virginia Business
July 2005
A prestigious prize given annually
to top manufacturers in North America has taken on a
Virginia flavor. The Virginia Manufacturers Association
last year launched its own version of the Shingo Prize
for Excellence in Manufac-turing, which was created
in 1988 to recognize companies that excel in lean manufacturing
practices.
The Virginia Shingo Prize is the
first state-level program in the nation. Joseph Croce,
the VMA’s vice president, helped set up the program
in negotiations with Ross Robson, who has been director
of the Shingo Prize since its inception. The Shingo
program is managed by Utah State University’s
College of Business. “I think he wanted to do
[a state-level award] but no one ever made a proposal
to him that made sense,” Croce says. “So
we got lucky.”
Eleven other states have since followed
suit and launched their own state-level awards. The
prize is named for Japanese industrial engineer Shigeo
Shingo, an expert in manufacturing processes who helped
develop the landmark Toyota Production Sys-tem. The
first two recipients in Virginia were the HON Company’s
office furniture manufacturing facility in Chester and
power equipment manufacturer Stihl Inc. of Virginia
Beach. The winners of this year’s competition
will be announced in October. |
