First-Ever Connecticut Shingo Commendation Awarded to HID

IRVINE, Calif. - HID Corporation, the premier manufacturer of contactless access control cards and readers for the security industry, today announced that is has been awarded the first ever Connecticut Shingo Commendation for Excellence in Leadership Culture and Infrastructure as part of HID’s initial participation in the Connecticut Shingo Prize. The Connecticut Shingo Commendation is an award established by the Connecticut Shingo Board of Advisors who determined it was important to recognize HID’s significant achievements as part of the 2005 Connecticut. Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing challenge. Governor M. Jodi Rell presented the Conn. Shingo Board of Advisors' Commendation for Excellence on November 16, 2005 in Hartford, Connecticut.

“HID has made remarkable strides with their enterprise-wide adoption of Lean Manufacturing principles and techniques, which is the basis of the Shingo Prize criteria. In less than 18 months, HID has been transformed, adopting a true continuous improvement culture, and has created an environment where every employee is empowered to participate. The Connecticut Shingo Prize Board of Advisors felt strongly that HID should be recognized for their achievements in leadership culture and infrastructure and created this new level of recognition.,” said Rebecca Kane Dow, Connecticut Shingo Prize Program Manager at CONNSTEP, Inc. “This Commendation for Excellence recognizes and encourages HID's strong leadership, continuous improvement culture and commitment to Lean.”

“We’re extremely proud to have received this award and are not sitting back on our laurels,” said Brian Montanari, HID’s director of Manufacturing. “I commend everyone at HID for working as a team to earn this recognition, continuing to improve our culture and commitment to Lean as well as dedicating themselves to another proud finish in next year’s challenge.”

The goal of the prize program is to recognize and promote business excellence in manufacturing through strategic leadership, effective workforce practices, and the implementation of Lean principles and techniques. The Shingo Prize model has been developed to provide companies with a blueprint for attaining world class excellence. The prize criteria focuses on Customer Satisfaction and Profitability; Quality; Cost and Delivery; Core Operations’ and Leadership and Empowerment Enablers. The Connecticut Shingo Prize is part of the North American Shingo Prize that recognizes business excellence in the United States, Canada and Mexico which Business Week magazine has named it the “Nobel Prize of manufacturing.”

The Connecticut Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing has been established to recognize business excellence in Connecticut in the same way that the North American Shingo Prize recognizes business excellence in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. CONNSTEP was selected to administer the award to create an increased awareness, development, and implementation of Lean Manufacturing principles and techniques. The Shingo Prize is named in honor of the late Dr. Shigeo Shingo, who has been described as an “engineering genius,” and who helped create, train, and write about many aspects of the renowned Toyota Production System. More information about the Connecticut Shingo Prize can be found at www.connstep.org/ctshingo.

HID is online at www.hidcorp.com.