The Association for Manufacturing Excellence named Ventana Medical Systems’ plant in Tucson, Ariz., the overall winner of the third annual Award for Manufacturing Excellence at its recent conference in Chicago.
In this award program, AME evaluates nominated facilities against a wide variety of criteria, including quality, continuous improvement, productivity, company performance, safety and employee relations. The past winners of the award are Webster Plastics’ plant in Fairport, N.Y. (2005), and Batesville Casket Company’s plant in Manchester, Tenn. (2006).
“Five years ago, we started working toward a goal of becoming one of the leaders in implementing lean manufacturing within the biological manufacturing environment and creating an organization that thrives on productivity and creativity,” said Kendall Hendrick, senior vice president of manufacturing operations. “We are thrilled to receive this national recognition from AME, which represents the realization of our goal and a terrific platform for our continued growth and improvement.”
Regional winners of the award were:
Southeast Region: Batesville Casket Company, Manchester, Tenn.
West: Ventana Medical Systems Inc., Tucson, Ariz.
Great Lakes: Batesville Casket Company, Batesville, Ind.
Southwest: M2 Global Technology, San Antonio
North Central: HUI Manufacturing, Kiel, Wis.
Canada: Eaton, Burlington, Ontario
To learn more about the award program and to download an application form, visit www.ame.org.
