I spent two very enjoyable and valuable days this week attending and speaking at the Operational Excellence seminar that was run by the Utah State University “Partners in Business” program, in conjunction with the Shingo Prize.
I learned (and maybe many of you knew this) that there are significant changes in the Shingo Prize. It's no longer the “Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.” It is now the “Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence,” representing a broader scope. There is now a separate prize for public sector/military operations and it sounds like there might be room in the future for healthcare.
The structure of the awards is being changed — there will be fewer full prize winners and there are now new “Silver” and “Bronze” categories for plants or companies that don't score as well as the top tier winners. Hopefully that will help the Lean world distinguish who the real “top tier” award winners are.
Question: Has Danaher ever won a Shingo Prize? Seems like they should have — do they not apply, ala Toyota?
Here is a link to the new Shingo Prize “Transformation Model.” I'll have to take a look at this in more detail and comment again some time. What do you think?
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Mark, I am not sure about Danaher. But when I toured the NGK Sparkplug factory in Japan we asked them if they had ever applied for any industry awards.
They quickly, yet politely, remarked they are not in business for awards and that they have never, and will never, apply for such things.
It was definitely an interesting conversation!
I’m not surprised to hear that, Ron!
How do Shingo prizes for books tie in here? Just curious.
/Dr. Pete
The books are part of the Research Prize, different category.