The fifth edition of the “WCM Awards”, sponsored by the WCM Association, was held in Krakow, Poland. The awards are presented to factories that achieve excellence in World Class Manufacturing, an integrated methodology for managing manufacturing activities according to the best standard in the world that encompasses safety, the environment, maintenance, logistics and quality. The WCM qualification process involves three intermediate levels (Bronze, Silver, Gold) prior to achievement of the final World Class Level.
A total of 24 awards were presented to plants belonging to members of the World Class Association. The highest recognition, the Gold Award, was given to the Fiat Powertrain plant in Bielsko Biala, Poland. Silver Awards were presented to the FGA Giambattista Vico plant in Pomigliano d’Arco and the Iveco plant in Madrid. Bronze Awards were presented to three Magneti Marelli plants (Bari, Venaria and Jihlava), the Fiat Powertrain plant in Termoli, three Chrysler plants (Dundee, Windsor and Toledo), six Fiat Industrial plants (4 CNH and 2 FPT), as well as 8 mail centers of the Royal Mail.
Also present at the awards were those individuals who have promoted and guided the World Class Manufacturing program and the WCM Association over the past few years: Stefan Ketter, Chief Manufacturing Officer of Fiat S.p.A.; Luciano Massone, EMEA Head of World Class Manufacturing for Fiat Group Automobiles; Mark Higson, President of the WCM Association; and Prof. Emeritus Hajime Yamashima, Honorary President.
During his address, Stefan Ketter spoke about Fiat’s accomplishments in recent years because of World Class Manufacturing and he congratulated the Bielsko Biala plant which, due to the commitment of the management team, as well as the rigorous application of WCM methods and standards and the involvement of all plant employees, was the first Group site to achieve Gold Level.
Particular recognition also went to the Pomigliano d’Arco plant that not only succeeded in achieving Silver Level immediately after inauguration of the plant where the new Fiat Panda is produced, but was also recipient of the Automotive Lean Production 2012 award in Leipzig last week for being the best Lean factory among the 700 European candidates.
Since 2006, nearly all Fiat plants have been involved in the World Class Manufacturing program and 43 have received at least one award, demonstrating that the Group’s industrial activities have been undergoing a process of continuous improvement and achieving increasingly higher levels of competitiveness.
