Two Delphi Facilities Named Finalists In Industryweek's America's Best Plants
21 July 1999
Two Delphi Facilities Named Finalists In INDUSTRYWEEK's America's Best Plants Competition
TROY, Mich., July 20 -- Two Delphi Automotive Systems
plants are among 25 finalists in INDUSTRYWEEK's America's Best
Plants competition.
Delphi's Saginaw Steering Plant 6, located in Saginaw, Mich., manufactures
tilt and non-tilt steering columns. Delphi's RIMIR operations, in Matamoros,
Mexico, manufactures occupant protection systems.
Established in 1990, INDUSTRYWEEK's annual recognition of outstanding
manufacturing facilities has two purposes: to recognize plants that are
leading North American efforts to increase competitiveness, enhance customer
satisfaction and create stimulating and rewarding work environments; and to
encourage other North American managers and work teams to emulate the honorees
by adopting world-class practices, technologies and improvement strategies.
"This honor reflects the commitment and enthusiasm of Delphi employees at
both plants to achieve world-class manufacturing capability and be leaders in
a quickly evolving industry," said J.T. Battenberg III, Delphi chairman, chief
executive officer and president. "To achieve the designation of a leading-
edge manufacturing facility, we implemented production systems to become
agile, while maintaining a strong customer focus."
Plant 6 is the lean vision plant for Delphi Saginaw Steering Systems
division, and has set the standard within Delphi Steering for the
implementation of the Delphi Manufacturing System (DMS), Delphi's lean
manufacturing process. Delphi Steering's Plant 6 has achieved distinction by
reducing total product cycle time by 75 percent, improving productivity by 19
percent, transforming more than 81 percent of the plant floor to improve
material flow, and achieving a 40 percent reduction in in-process inventory.
In safety, Plant 6 has recorded almost 2 million work hours without a lost
work-day incident.
RIMIR, part of Delphi's Interior Systems division, has had several
outstanding achievements: in safety, the facility recorded over 8 million
work-hours without a lost work-day incident; in quality, RIMIR exceeds world-
class benchmarks; in delivery, the facility delivers its products 100-percent
on time to both OEM and aftermarket customers; in productivity, RIMIR recorded
a more than 12 percent productivity increase in 1998 and another 17 percent
improvement during the first quarter of 1999. RIMIR has also reduced lead-
time by 72 percent.
Candidate facilities were judged by a panel of INDUSTRYWEEK editors. The
panel looked for evidence of:
* A comprehensive effort to achieve world-class manufacturing capability;
* Strong quality systems and results, including evidence of low product-
defect rates and good process-control capability;
* Extensive employee involvement and empowerment programs;
* Appropriate use of technology, as required by changing business needs;
* Flexible and/or agile production systems capable of responding quickly
to customer needs and shifts in the marketplace;
* Management practices geared to motivating achievement of breakthroughs
in operating performance and customer satisfaction;
* Improvements in manufacturing operations, including shortening of
manufacturing cycle times and reduction of work-in-progress inventories;
* Proactive environmental & safety programs;
* Meaningful community involvement and support programs;
* A strong customer focus;
* Effective supplier-partnership programs;
* Significant productivity improvement and/or world class productivity
levels, and;
* Reduction of manufacturing costs.
The two Delphi plants were chosen from a record pool of 419 nominations.
To be eligible, the plants must be a single manufacturing plant or combination
of related facilities within a specific geographic location; have completed at
least 3 years of operation by year-end 1998; be located within the United
States or its territories, Mexico, or Canada; and not have been honored in
editions of INDUSTRYWEEK's Best Plant report within the last six years.
The INDUSTRYWEEK judging panel reviewed questionnaires and supplemental
material submitted by the candidate facilities to identify the top 25
finalists. From this group, 10 facilities will be chosen by INDUSTRYWEEK
editors and industry experts, pending site verification visits, as America's
Top Plants. Winners will be announced in the October, 1999 issue of
INDUSTRYWEEK.
Delphi Automotive Systems , with headquarters in Troy, Mich.,
USA, is a world leader in automotive component and systems technology.
Delphi's three business sectors -- Dynamics & Propulsion; Safety, Thermal &
Electrical Architecture; and Electronics & Mobile Communications -- provide
comprehensive product solutions to complex customer needs. Delphi has
approximately 199,000 employees and operates 168 wholly owned manufacturing
sites, 38 joint ventures, 51 customer centers and sales offices, and 27
technical centers in 36 countries. Regional headquarters are located in
Paris, Tokyo and Sao Paulo. Delphi can be found on the Internet at
http://www.delphiauto.com.