Two of General Cable's manufacturing facilities have been named winners in the 2011 Best Plants Competition conducted by IndustryWeek magazine. The winning plants are General's Lawrenceburg, KY manufacturing facility, which produces communications wire and cable, and its Lincoln, RI plant, which manufactures portable cord, ignition wire and renewable products. IndustryWeek recognized 10 North American manufacturing plants in its "Best Plants" award program.
Greg Lampert, General Cable North America's president and chief executive officer, commented, "General Cable is once again pleased to receive this award from IndustryWeek in recognition of our manufacturing excellence. We use the competition as a benchmark for comparing our manufacturing performance against the best in North America in all industries. I would like to commend Mark Thackeray, General Cable's senior vice president of North American operations; Heather Stolper and Mike Monti, vice presidents of manufacturing and team leaders; Paul Furtado, Lawrenceburg plant manager; Mike Brown, Lincoln plant manager; and their respective teams for setting challenging goals and providing the work environment for our associates to achieve them."
Thackeray noted, "Lean manufacturing, combined with six-sigma quality improvement goals, continues to drive major improvements in all our manufacturing operations. Our strategy to achieve manufacturing excellence has made General Cable a much stronger company today, despite a tough economy. Lean thinking is part of our culture of continuous improvement, along with the engagement and contribution of our associates - something we call 'OLPC' or operation-led process control. The Lawrenceburg and Lincoln plants are both operating very close to our ideal vision of OLPC." He also pointed out that since 2001, 10 General Cable plants have been selected as finalists in the Best Plants competition, and nine of them have achieved the award.
Mike Monti, vice president and team leader for the Carol brand and the industrial wire and cable product plants, added, "Our associates come to work committed to make things better every day. This award recognizes the hard work and dedication of all the associates at Lawrenceburg and Lincoln. We are very proud of our accomplishments and to be recognized with this prestigious award."
"Our team has embraced lean manufacturing for many years, which has allowed us to continually adapt, and quickly and successfully respond to challenges, be it with new customers or new products," said Heather Stolper, vice president and team leader for communications and assemblies plants. "With technology and innovation advancements as well as a commitment to continuous improvement, our plants are successful in the global marketplace where they compete."
You can read IndustryWeek's coverage of the General Cable plants and others it honored, here.
You may also be interested in this article: "Campus brings fiber and Cat 6A to the desk for advanced learning." It tells the story of the high-speed cabling infrastructure built for a new facility at Northern Kentucky University in Highland Heights, KY. The cable for the NKU project was supplied by General Cable's Lawrenceburg, KY plant. General Cable's headquarters in Highland Heights, KY is adjacent to the NKU campus.
