Quality Award Paper

Keller Gm588 Quality Award Paper

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Quality Award Paper

IndustryWeek Best Plants Award

Keller Graduate School of Management

Spring Semester, May 2010 Session

GM588: Managing Quality (online)

Instructor: Robert Lee

14 May 2010

Table of Contents

I. Purpose and Background 4

Penton Media's IndustryWeek Publication 4

Quality Award 5

Award Background 6

Award Principles 6

Award Details 7

Entering the Competition 7

Application Process 7

Selection of Finalists and Winners 8

Timetable for 2010 Award Application 8

II. Award Criteria 9

Award Background 9

Award Application and Selection 9

Important Criteria for Award 10

III. Benefits of the Award 12

Individual Company Benefit 12

IndustryWeek Best Plant Award Applicant's Intrinsic Benefits 13

Application Fee and Preparation Costs 14

Marketing Benefits 14

Challenges in Receiving the Award 15

IV. Past Winners 16

Strategies and Competencies of IndustryWeek's Best Plant Winners 16

Core Strategies 16

Supporting Competencies 16

IndustryWeek's Best Plants Winners (2007-2009) 16

2009 Award Year Winners 16

2008 Award Year Winners 17

2007 Award Year Winners 17

Top Three Winners from 2009 Award Year 18

Batesville Casket Co., Manchester, TN 18

Carrier - Carlyle Compressor Facility, Stone Mountain, GA 19

E-Z-GO, A Textron Company, Augusta, GA 21

V. Conclusion 23

Personal Thoughts 23

References 25

Purpose and Background

* Penton Media's IndustryWeek Publication

Since January 1970, IndustryWeek/IW has been printed and mailed throughout North America and the rest of the modern World. IW is produced and mailed directly from Overland Park, Kansas, by media company Penton Media. Additionally IW is heavily covered online at their website location www.industryweek.com.

http://www.pentonmsc.com/audience_digitaloverview.php?brand=IndustryWeek

IW provides its subscriber base of manufacturing executives and key decision-makers with a platform from which to gain additional knowledge on the trends in the manufacturing industry, in addition to news and other important knowledge sharing advice from fellow peers and experts in specific manufacturing areas. IW serves its readership by providing a universal reference medium for engineers, product research, design and development teams, manufacturing supervisors and leaders, as well as purchasing and executive management with a reference source for establishing new production initiatives and setting goals for new, better or more efficient production methods. IW provides a community for knowledge share that works to progress the manufacturing productions industry.

The mission of IW has been since its inception, "to produce a publication that its readers would find both insightful and useful--and, perhaps, something more than that." (Kinni, "America's Best: IndustryWeek's Guide to World Class Manufacturing Plants," Introduction section pg. x)

Industries using IndustryWeek.com http://www.pentonmsc.com/audience_digitaloverview.php?brand=IndustryWeek

The publication focuses on new quality initiatives implemented and being explored in manufacturing and production across multiple industries. Within that realm such revisions to quality processes and innovations have been emphasized and detailed including just-in-time manufacturing methods, Total Quality management enterprise, the power of empowering employees and their perception of quality, and the focus on the customer, among many other topics of interest that have arisen through the past 40 years.

* Quality Award

Each year IW acknowledges manufacturing production companies that are excelling and setting new precedents in their respective areas of expertise. Cutting edge technologies, cost-saving efforts, new processes and procedures, green-technology implementations and multiple other enhancements that better service the customer, as well as the organization, are recognized with an award. The prestigious IndustryWeek Best Plants award distinguishes those organizations that are trend-setting and commendable for their outstanding efforts.

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.

- IW Best Plants Award Statement

http://www.industryweek.com/section.aspx?sectionid=43

* Award Background

The IW Best Plants award