ROLLING MEADOWS, Ill. — Goodyear's race tire plant in Akron is one of four manufacturing enterprises to have earned a 2018 Excellence Award from the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME).
The award recognizes manufacturing plants that have demonstrated excellence in manufacturing and business, the Rolling Meadows-based association said. It acknowledges continuous improvement, best practices, creativity and innovation.
AME said its assessors highlighted the plant's safety reporting system, a closed loop system and a Goodyear best practice that focuses on identifying near misses and analyzing events, as well as its operational excellence in leadership, workplace culture and employment.
Goodyear's race tire plant officially is known as the Innovation Center Manufacturing (ICM) in Akron. Housed in a structure that was built in 1916, the center primarily produces tires for NASCAR and the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), series for which it has exclusive supply contracts.
The other winners are:
• IVECO of Valladolid, Spain, which is a brand of the CNH Industrial Group, a producer of light, medium and heavy commercial vehicles, city and intercity buses and coaches, special vehicles, defense vehicles and off-road vehicles for construction and mining work.
The AME assessment team highlighted the Valladolid plant's robust improvement suggestion system for its facility-wide participation and its work instruction tools, which include visual aids and real-time assembly instructions at the point of use.
• FPT Powertrain Technologies of Bourbon-Lancy, France, which designs, produces and sells powertrains for on- and off-road vehicles, marine and power generation applications. FPT also is a CNH Industrial Co. business.
• Littelfuse of Lipa City, Philippines, a supplier of circuit protection with global platforms in power control and sensing. The AME assessment team highlighted the plant's "strong culture of respect for the individual and its creative, immediate and accountable execution" of Littelfuse's daily continuous improvement cycle.
The AME Excellence Award has a rigorous selection process that begins when a company completes and submits a self-assessment — including supporting metrics — based on the AME Excellence Award evaluation criteria.
Recipients of the Excellence Award are selected based on the combined results of the self-assessment and site visit feedback.
Recipients also will be honored at the AME 2018 International Conference, scheduled for Oct. 29-Nov. 1 in San Diego.
The AME is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the journey of continuous improvement and enterprise excellence.