Siemens Electronics Manufacturing Plant In Amberg, Germany Wins "Best Factory" Industry Competition
Nuremberg, Germany - The 1st prize in the "Best Factory / Industrial Excellence Award 2007" has been won by Electronics Manufacturing Amberg (EWA), part of the Siemens Automation and Drives (A&D) Group, making it the overall winner in Europe. This industry competition is organized by French business school INSEAD and the Chair of Production Management at the German business school WHU (Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung). The Siemens Amberg plant is concerned primarily with production of the Simatic family of programmable controllers. It achieved top marks in the categories Operational Strategy, Supply Chain Management, Organization and Personnel, Continuous Improvement, Product Development and Service and Partner Management. The Industrial Excellence Award 2007 will be presented during a two-day Management Conference held by INSEAD and WHU on September 24 and 25, 2007 in Cologne.
"I am very proud that Electronics Manufacturing Amberg has won this prize", says Ralf-Michael Franke, Head of the Industrial Automation Systems (AS) Division of the Siemens A&D Group. "As a manufacturer of high-quality equipment for all industrial sectors, our aim is to increase the productivity, competitiveness and profitability of our customers and end customers on a sustained basis. The Excellence Award proves that this aim also applies to us." Hans Schneider, Plant Manager and member of Operational Management at the Amberg site says, "This award confirms that Electronics Manufacturing in Amberg has achieved global status and is one of the best electronics factories in the world. The hard work of recent years has paid off. Thanks to our management system, the high degree of flexibility and the commitment of our employees, we can successfully assert ourselves against ever fiercer global competition." According to Schneider, Electronics Manufacturing Amberg has been forging a successful path for years. He says this success is powered by a multi-faceted methodology for continuously improving the plant and the secret behind it is the constancy and persistence to continue striving towards this target. This is symbolized in the plant by the Simatic production system as well as the motto: "If you stop improving, you stop being good."
Industrial Excellence Award 2007 - the competition
The industry competition "Best Factory / Industrial Excellence Award 2007" is organized by French business school INSEAD and the Chair of Production Management at the German business school WHU (Wissenschaftliche Hochschule für Unternehmensführung) in Vallendar near Koblenz. All companies in Germany and France are invited to benchmark their management quality against the best in their sector and in other sectors. The competition is covered by the German trade journal Wirtschaftswoche and the French Magazine L'Usine Nouvelle. The winners for 2007 were presented in the April 16 issue of Wirtschaftswoche. You can find more information on "Best Factory 2007" at www.beste-fabrik.de/
Electronics Manufacturing Amberg (EWA)
Electronics Manufacturing Amberg stands out for its excellent performance levels: starting with innovative production technology, through logistics, right up to top-qualified employees and business partners. A special feature of EWA is its outstanding quality. This has three basic facets: development quality, process quality and product quality, the continuous improvement of which is the shared aim of all the 1,000-plus employees. The manufacture of top-quality products like Simatic control systems requires optimally synchronized production sequences that engage perfectly with each other. At EWA, this is implemented with a flexible and customer-oriented corporate structure. High tech and innovation are determining factors. That's why they count on cooperation between production and development at EWA. To fulfill the ever-shortening product innovation cycles, it is necessary to reduce development times. One of EWA's competitive strengths is close and systematic cooperation with development, enabling innovations to be brought rapidly to product maturity or potentially required manufacturing processes to be evaluated quickly and at an early stage by means of prototypes. However, along with ingenious technology and logistics, it is the employees who are responsible for this lasting success. They all work continuously on improvements using their own initiative. Every production team, for example, carries out regular problem analyses, works out solution approaches for improvements, and tests new methods. The Amberg plant has thus constantly occupied a top position in the Siemens-wide improvement competition for some years.
Siemens in Amberg
Siemens, and in this case the A&D Group, employs around 4,000 at the Amberg site. These include installation engineers, test engineers and commercial managers in addition to the majority of precision engineers and electronics engineers. As well as Electronics Manufacturing, the site also accommodates Equipment Manufacturing, A&D PCB Manufacturing, and development and service departments.
SOURCE: Siemens A&D Group