Tenneco Automotive's Facility in Contention for Plant Award
30 July 1998
Tenneco Automotive's Aberdeen, Miss., Manufacturing Facility in Contention for Top-Ten Plant Award
LAKE FOREST, Ill.--July 30, 1998--Tenneco Automotive today announced that its manufacturing facility in Aberdeen, Miss., has been selected one of the top 25 plants in America by IndustryWeek (IW) magazine. The facility is now in contention for one of the Ten Best Plants awards, to be announced by IW in October of this year.
The Aberdeen plant manufactures Walker(R) and Dynomax(R) brand high performance exhaust products for the aftermarket, including headers, pipe and mufflers. The 345,076 square foot facility, established in 1958, currently employees 246 people.
"This recognition is an affirmation that the vision for our plant, which was crafted three years ago, was right on target," said Aberdeen Plant Manager Mike Peters. "The employees of this facility have dedicated themselves to the creation of a world class manufacturing center, and this is a fitting acknowledgment of their combined talents and efforts.
"This process pits us against some of the best that America has to offer, and allows us a tremendous benchmarking opportunity as well. This is not just about what you look like on paper. It is about working together as a high performance team to exceed customer expectations and deliver superior results."
The Ninth Annual IndustryWeek Best Plants competition has attracted applicants from 170 plants nationwide. Each company is required to submit an extensive questionnaire about its facility's operations and provide statistical evidence of plant performance. Now that the selection committee has narrowed the field to 25 finalists, a panel of manufacturing experts will select this year's Ten Best Plants.
IndustryWeek's selection criteria is based on extensive review of plant performance measures, quality achievements, customer focus, employee involvement/empowerment, supplier partnerships, technological advances, new product development and environmental and safety programs.
Tenneco Automotive's Aberdeen facility was ISO 9002 certified in October 1996, and QS9000 certified the following December. In addition to implementing and maintaining quality systems for both of these world class standards, the Aberdeen plant is in pursuit of the Mississippi Governor's Award for Quality, which utilizes criteria duplicating the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award.
This is the second year in a row that Tenneco Automotive has been honored with an IW Top 25 Best Plants designation. Last year, Tenneco Automotive's Paragould, Ark., ride control facility was named one of America's Ten Best Plants.
Tenneco Automotive, headquartered in Lake Forest, Illinois, manufactures the world's leading ride control and exhaust systems products, including Walker(R) Quiet-Flow(tm), Monroe(R) Sensa-Trac(R), DynoMax(R) and Rancho(R) brand products. The company, with 1997 revenues of $3.2 billion, operates 73 facilities in 22 countries in North America, Europe, Africa, South America, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region. Its parent company, Tenneco , is an $8 billion global manufacturing company based in Greenwich, Conn.