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Michelin, BioRad Verdot, DSM take Strategic Manufacturing Awards 2009 honours in Düsseldorf

The evening of Tuesday 13th October saw the leaders of the manufacturing community come together as the winners of the 2009 Strategic Manufacturing Awards were revealed.

Over the last 6 months, hundreds of companies have put themselves through the meticulous judging process, having their entry assessed by a panel including Kevin Duggan, President and Founder of the Institute for Operational Excellence and Pierfrancesco Manenti, Research Director EMEA at IDC Manufacturing Insights. Mr Manenti commented on the high quality of entries, with “a big number of objectives” fulfilled in each submission, while Kevin Duggan remarked that the awards ceremony perfectly complements today’s business climate. “There is a need to take a completely different look at the business (of manufacturing). The future of manufacturing depends on being more innovative, not just using lean and six sigma”. Additionally, Henk Eertink, Managing Director of TPM solutions asserted how he was looking for “creativity, professionalism and how well companies matched the individual award criteria”.

Over 300 senior-level manufacturing executives were present for the ceremony, sponsored by Rockwell Automation, which began with a champagne reception, sponsored by Activplant, followed by a three-course dinner and the opportunity for knowledge-seeking alternative manufacturing strategies.

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The results made for compelling reading as six trophies were presented for:

• Operational Excellence (Sponsored by Rockwell Automation) Winner: Michelin



• Innovation (Sponsored by Kuka Roboter) Winner: Bio-Rad Verdot



• Green Manufacturing (Sponsored by SAS) Winner: DSM



• I.T (Sponsored by ILS Technology) Winner: ASML



• Demand-Driven Manufacturer of the Year (Sponsored by Phoron) Winner: MTI Whirlpools



• Manufacturer of the Year (Sponsored by Miracom) Winner: Bio-Rad Verdot

Delight and excitement was certainly felt by all the winners. Jean Christophe Guerin, Industrial Performance Director for Michelin, on picking up the Operational Excellence prize, commented:

“It is a pleasure to receive this award. Behind it there are 70-80,000 people working in the manufacturing plants and this is recognition for all the work they have done in making these tyres”.

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DSM received The Green Manufacturing Award and Rajesh Salwan, Site Director for the facility in Toansa, India talked of “the journey we have travelled for the last nine years”. He added:

“We have focused on green technologies and working towards sustainable compliance, working on a ‘triple P’ approach of People, Planet and Profit; cutting organic compounds, carbon dioxides and sulphur dioxides. At the start of the evening this ceremony was talked about as the manufacturing “Oscars”, so we did something out of this world and back home it will be seen as a proud moment”.

This proud moment was reinforced by Robert Claasen who, as DSM’s Director of Corporate Manufacturing, expressed his pride for the team in India:

“They are the greenest site and I think people all over the world from DSM, especially outside India, could learn from what this site has been going through”.

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Bio-Rad Verdot had the distinction of winning two awards on the evening, one for Innovation and the special award of Manufacturer of the Year; deemed as a ‘winner of winners’, having the highest value attached to their entry. Research and Development Manager Philippe Vernot explained:

“It was a happy surprise. Two awards! It is fanstastic! We believe that it is a big encouragement to continue in this way. My first thought was for our customers as their technical comments showed us how we could progress. My second thought was for our small team. The union of our expertise transformed the initial idea into a real product useful to our customers. My third thought was for our management, in France and the US; they have all believed that our know-how and application would allow us to succeed and they sustained us. Finally, my thought turned toward the jury's members. They found good things in our project and rewarded us accordingly”.

For their entry in the Manufacturing IT category, ASML were victorious in a project that enabled them to connect all of their machines worldwide, enabling higher support and service results with very little upfront cost or additional work.

“We’re very pleased of course to win”, commented Christian Op ‘t Root, Service Manager Remote Diagnostics at ASML, continuing “We have set company and industry standards with our way of connectivity and it is nice to be recognised by our customers but also the manufacturing industry”.