Medical Device Manufacturers Win Shingo Prize

Published: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 23:00

Three medical device manufacturers—two in Mexico and one in the United States— recently received Shingo Prizes.

Baxter Healthcare Corp.’s North Cove Plant in Marion, North Carolina; Baxter’s Cuernavaca Plant in Morelos, Mexico; and Cordis Corp. of Juarez, Mexico, received the awards, which have been dubbed the Nobel Prize of manufacturing. Nine other North American manufacturing facilities also received the awards.

Baxter Healthcare’s North Cove Plant produces treatments for hemophilia, immune disorders, kidney disease, cancer and trauma. Through its quality leadership process, the facility has reduced work-in-progress inventory by 80 percent, lost-time incident rate by 81 percent, manufacturing cycle time by 58 percent, and unplanned scrap by 38 percent. The facility received a Shingo Prize in 2000 and is the only plant to have been awarded the prize twice.

Baxter’s Morelos, Mexico plant is the leading manufacturer of products for the treatment of critical health conditions in Mexico. Within two years, it has increased inventory turnover by 50 percent, reduced the total number of days lost by 94 percent and increased overall productivity by 140 percent.

Cordis Corp. is a Johnson & Johnson company and develops and manufactures interventional vascular technology. It has increased productivity by 64 percent and improved production by 14 percent with a 12-percent space reduction.

“The 2007 recipients have proven themselves as leaders in lean manufacturing and business processes,” says Ross Robson, Shingo Prize executive director. “The 2007 Conference and Award Ceremony will highlight how lean delivers global competitiveness and will control a company’s destiny to be cost competitive.”

The ceremony will be held March 26–29 in Jacksonville, Florida. More than 32 states in the United States and Mexico have adopted state-level Shingo Prize programs, the aims of which are to promote lean and eliminate nonvalue-added activity.

For more information, visit www.baxter.com/about_baxter/news_room/news_releases/2007/02-09-07-shingo_prize.html.

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