Shingo Prize

In 1988, Utah State University conferred an honorary doctorate to Shigeo Shingo, a Japanese industrial engineer and author credited for his contribution to many of the principles, elements, theories, and tools associated with the Toyota Production System.[2] That same year, Utah State University established what was then called the North American Shingo Prizes for Excellence in Manufacturing in his honor.[3]

The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing was first only awarded to organizations within the United States. By 1994, however, Ford Electronics in Markham, Ontario, became the first Canadian organization to receive the award. By 1997, the award was given to the first Mexican organization, Industrias CYDSA Bayer.

In 2000, BusinessWeek referred to the Shingo Prize as the "Nobel Prize for manufacturing."[4]

The Shingo Prize trophy

In 2004, a "Finalist" category was added to recognize challengers that scored well but didn't meet the Shingo Prize level.

In 2005, a separate awards system was established for public sector organizations. Three levels existed in the public sector awards category: Gold, Silver and Bronze.

In 2008, Utah State University changed the name of the award to the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in order to reflect altered criteria that made the award available to organizations from all industries, not exclusively manufacturing. The focus of the award was also shifted away from recognizing only the use of lean manufacturing tools to recognizing the overall organizational culture. This was in response to growing concern about the validity of what the Shingo Prize was supposed to signify about its recipients.

According to Robert Miller, former executive director of the Shingo Institute, "...we began to see small signs of fracture along the edges. Critics of our selection process began to emerge in blogs and websites and eventually began to confront us directly. They told us they were beginning to lose confidence in recommending, carte blanche, our recipients as benchmarking sites for their members. Over time a great many recipients had not only not moved forward but in fact had lost considerable ground and were no longer considered as role models... Without realizing it, we were evaluating the effective use of tools, the numbers and impact of events, the effectiveness of a lean program, the commitment to have full-time lean coaches, the personality of a change leader – but not deep cultural transformation of the thinking and natural behavior of leaders, managers, and associates."[5]

That same year, the Shingo Model™ was released to demonstrate the role of principles within organizational culture. Shingo examiners began assessing organizational culture more on the degree to which it reflected the Shingo Guiding Principles than on the use of lean manufacturing techniques or tools.[1]

With a change in scoring criteria in 2008, the average number of organizations receiving the Shingo Prize each year decreased from 11 to 2.[5]

However, Utah State University also established the Shingo Silver and Shingo Bronze Medallion award levels for challengers that scored well but did not meet the Shingo Prize standard. Gold, Silver and Bronze levels had previously been awarded to public sector organizations only, but the public sector awards program ended that year. Since then, public sector organizations have been evaluated to the same criteria as private sector organizations.[6]

In 2009, Ultraframe in Clitheroe, Lancashire, UK, became the first European organization to receive a Shingo award, the Shingo Bronze Medallion. International interest has grown from that time such that in 2014, nine of the 11 Shingo awards were claimed by organizations outside of the United States.[7]

In 2011, Denver Health, Community Health Services received the Shingo Bronze Medallion, becoming the first healthcare organization to receive a Shingo award. In 2012, State Farm Insurance Operations Center in Bloomington, Illinois, also received the Shingo Bronze Medallion, becoming the first financial organization to receive an award.[8]

According to the Shingo Institute, the Shingo Prize "is the world’s highest standard for operational excellence" and "a worldwide recognized symbol of an organization's successful establishment of a culture anchored on principles of enterprise excellence."[1] These principles are found as part of the Shingo Model.[9]

The Shingo Silver Medallion is awarded to "those [organizations that are] maturing on the journey [to excellence] with primarily a tool and system focus."[1]

The Shingo Bronze Medallion is awarded to "those [organizations] in the earlier stages of cultural transformation with primarily a tools focus."[1]

The Shingo Publication Award recognizes and promotes writing that has had a significant impact and advances the body of knowledge regarding operational excellence. The Shingo Institute is most interested in recognizing thought leadership. The award is given to authors, practitioners, and academicians. Publications can be nominated in three separate categories:

• Historic A publication that has stood the test of time. It is still one that is commonly used and referenced when referring to organizational excellence. It has historic significance to the development or discovery of principles, systems, concepts, tools, and techniques of organizational excellence. Its content has been expanded upon to build the body of knowledge.

• Impact A publication that has demonstrated high sales and/or distribution. The content is currently used successfully by many organizations to improve their ability to sustain a culture of organizational excellence. The publication has been widely recognized as new knowledge or an expansion to existing knowledge. The author or authors have a track record of speaking engagements as a result of the publication.

• Up & Coming A new publication with the potential to be impactful. Sales and/or distribution is encouraging. It has been endorsed publicly by thought leaders. The author or authors are sought-after speakers, on the topics covered in the publication, for conferences, webinars, podcasts, and other third-party learning platforms.[10]

The following are the recipients of Shingo awards from the time the criteria changed in 2008 to include any industry and to reflect a higher standard of excellence.[8]

The following are the recipients of Shingo awards from the establishment of the Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing until the criteria and name changed to the Shingo Prize for Operational Excellence in 2008.[8]

The following are recipients of the Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.[8][15]