The Shingo Prize is regarded as the premier manufacturing award recognition program for North America. As part of the Shingo Prize mission and model, the Prize highlights the value of using lean/world-class manufacturing practices to attain world-class status.

The Shingo Prize promotes world-class business and manufacturing processes that will enable organizations to achieve perfection in quality, best cost, and 100 percent on-time delivery to fulfill the customer experience. It also promotes the sharing of "True North" core business and manufacturing processes for continuous improvement. The Shingo organization recognizes research and applied materials that support the vision and mission of the Shingo Prize. The Shingo Prize achievement criteria provides a framework for identifying and evaluating world-class manufacturing competence and performance.

The criteria comprise a business systems model for manufacturing excellence, organized into five principle sections:

• Leadership Culture and Infrastructure
• Manufacturing Strategies and System Integration
• Non-Manufacturing Support Functions
• Quality, Cost and Delivery
• Customer Satisfaction and Profitability

The Shingo Prize achievement criteria generally do not prescribe one single best method, system, or route to attaining excellent-to-world-class status. Rather, each element of the criteria lists practices and techniques that might be incorporated to achieve a world-class level of quality, cost, delivery, and business results. Lean manufacturing is clearly viewed as the best paradigm for achieving excellence in manufacturing.

Visit the Official Shingo Prize Website