The Lean Best Practice Competition 2013

The Lean division of IIE is launching its third industry best practice award and welcomes applications from organizational teams for the Lean Best Practice Award 2013.

The Lean Best Practice Award recognizes organizations for innovative and effective implementation of lean principles and practices that deliver exemplary business performance improvement. IIE will conduct the award competition to promote successful implementation of lean by recognizing best in class industries and sharing their stories with others. This is a very prestigious award for a team and their industry.

The award will be bestowed to the top three teams and be presented at the IIE Annual Conference & Expo in San Juan, Puerto Rico, May 18-22, 2013.

Eligibility Criteria

1. Any team (two or more members) of any organization who want to showcase their successful implementation of lean concepts.
2. The team must demonstrate innovative uses of lean tools and techniques for its measurable outcomes.
3. There is no limit on the number of entries from an organization.

Awarding Process

1. All entries will be pre-screened to select up to eight finalist teams.
2. All finalist teams will be required to attend the IIE Annual Conference & Expo and present their cases.
3. Top three teams will be selected and announced at the Honors & Awards Banquet of the IIE Annual Conference & Expo.

Evaluation Criteria

1. The lean implementation initiative is innovative.
2. The lean implementation initiative has clear measurable performance objectives and they were met.
3. The lean implementation approach is simple and straightforward.
4. The lean implementation initiative used lean tools and techniques.
5. The lean implementation initiative derived significant and measurable outcomes such as cost reduction, lead time reduction, quality improvement, safety improvement, etc.
6. The lean implementation is sustainable.
7. The quality of the presentation is excellent including problem statement, clear descriptions and metrics with visuals.

Submission Process

To provide necessary detail and ensure consistency in judging, prepare the narrative portion of the entry according to the respective requirements on the submission form. Your narrative document must be a maximum of five standard pages using a minimum font size of 10 points. Supporting materials or samples may be included if they are directly applicable to your entry, however, they will not be returned. You may also include a support letter from the top management highlighting the scope, impact and sustainability of the lean project.

Entries Should Include

• A completed submission form (download form) Submission Form 
• Any relevant supporting materials
• Credentials of team members
• Support letter from top management

Deadline

The complete application package is due to the chair of the committee by Jan. 31, 2013. Applicants must send their submissions electronically – preferably as an e-mail attachment. In case of large electronic documents, applicants may upload them in an online repository (i.e. www.yousendit.com and provide the access to the chair of the committee. Submit your applications to md.sarder@usm.edu.

2013 Committee Chair:
MD Sarder
University of Southern Mississippi
md.sarder@usm.edu 

2012 Winners

First place: Ron Phipps, MD Anderson-UT
Title: "The Lean Journey at MD Anderson's Labs"

Second place (tie): Mark Nashl, Pelco Inc.
Title: "Warehouse Order Picking Process"

Second place (tie): Chris Nelson and Keith Rigoni, BAE Systems Inc.
Title: "A Lean Transformation in Material Handling"

Past Winners