LOGAN, UT-Dubbed the "Nobel prize of Manufacturing" by Business Week, the Shingo Prize is increasingly being recognized as the premier manufacturing award and recognition program in North America. The largest missile manufacturing facility in the world, the first appliance manufacturer and 10 automotive suppliers are recipients of the 2004 Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing.

"Once again the recipients of the Shingo Prize demonstrate that they are prepared to weather economic uncertainty by not wasting precious manufacturing and business resources," says Ross Robson, Shingo Prize executive director. "Shingo Prize recipients and lean manufacturers clearly stand out among the manufacturers of North America in terms of quality, cost, delivery and business results."

Three notable achievements of the 2004 recipients include: seven of the 12 recipients achieved product quality of less than 10 "returned parts per million opportunities" from the customer; seven of the 12 have inventory turns of more than 25 per year, compared to a U.S. average of eight; and premium freight as a percent of production costs averaged 0.12%. These data cover the full-year of 2003 and are all clear indicators of world-class manufacturing achievements.

This year's recipients are:

n ArvinMeritor Light Vehicle Systems Gladstone plant (Columbus, IN)

n Delphi Corp., Delphi Electronics and Safety, Delnosa 5 & 6 Operations (Reynosa, Mexico)

n Delphi Electronics & Safety, Kokomo Operations,

Plants 7 & 9 (Kokomo, IN)

n Delphi Corp., Energy & Chassis Systems, (Empresas Ca-Le de Tlaxcala, Mexico)

n Delphi Sistemas de Energia S.A. de C.V., Plant 57 (Chihuahua, Chihuahua Mexico)

n Delphi Corp., Packard Electric Systems, Plant 50 (Del Parral Chihuahua, Mexico)

n Delphi Corp., Packard Electric Systems, Plant 58 (Meoqui, Chihuahua, Mexico)

n Delphi Packard, Plant 98,

Centro Técnico Herramental

S.A de C.V, (Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila)

n Delphi Packard, Plant 51,

Casas Grandes (Chihuahua, Mexico)

n Maytag Jackson Dishwashing Products (Jackson, TN)

n Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson Operations (Tucson, AZ)

n TI Automotive (Cartersville, GA)