“There is only one boss: the customer,” Walmart founder Sam Walton once said. “And he can fire everybody in the company, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.”
In 2010, with the economic recovery sputtering, manufacturers embraced this “customer first” philosophy like never before. With new customers in short supply and existing customers intent on keeping their own costs down, smart manufacturers, such as Freescale Semiconductor, Volvo Construction Equipment, and Cisco Consumer Products, were forced to get serious about reducing order cycle times, improving field service, and pushing production closer to the customer by driving standard operating processes.
Anything to keep customers from spending their money elsewhere.
Twelve manufacturers that were particularly successful at boosting their own efficiency while finding new ways to deliver value to customers are profiled in the following pages. They are the top winners of the 2010 Progressive Manufacturing Awards. Each was selected by a board of 15 distinguished judges, who selected a High Achiever winner in each of the eight mastery categories on which the Progressive Manufacturing Awards program is based. (Get more information on the categories and judges on our website.)