5th Annual Made in Indiana World Class Manufacturing Tour
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Information:
Scott Whitlock
President
317.813.5411
9128 Technology Lane
Fishers, IN 46038
“Made in Indiana” Tour Honors Terre Haute’s Sony DADC, Winner of this year’s U.S. Senate Productivity Award
Fishers, IN – October 26, 2005 – The Great Lakes Region of the Association for Manufacturing Excellence (AME) announces the fifth annual “Made in Indiana” World Class Manufacturing Tour, Tuesday, December 6, 2005. This year’s tour will highlight Terre Haute’s Sony DADC, which was also awarded this year’s U.S. Senate Productivity Award. The tour historically honors a firm’s success in Lean manufacturing and Six Sigma quality efforts.
Scott Whitlock, tour organizer and board member of AME’s Great Lakes Region, explains, “I have visited some of country’s most successful manufacturers. Sony DADC stands out as one of Indiana’s elite manufacturers,” Whitlock noted. “We should be proud to have a company of this caliber in our State.” Whitlock is also President and CEO of Flexware Innovation, a Fishers-based firm that serves the I.T., automation, and continuous improvement needs of manufacturers.
Incorporated in 1983, Sony DADC began operations in September of 1984 as the first optical disc manufacturer in the Americas. Terre Haute is the flagship location among Sony’s 13 optical disc facilities worldwide. Any new product introduced in the Western Hemisphere is launched in Terre Haute first. Over five billion optical discs have been produced and distributed to all 50 states and to over 100 foreign countries. CD audio, CD-Rom, DVD, Super Audio CD, PlayStation video games, Dual Disc and the Universal Media Disc are products currently manufactured and distributed. The first High Definition pre-recorded media format known as Blu-ray will be delivered in this fiscal year using blue laser technology. Each day over 2 million units are produced at the company’s three facilities that cover 900,000 square feet.
Sony DADC sets its goals based on business and market drivers, local and global plant comparison reports and best practice exercises. These goals drive sales, marketing and operational strategies. Sony DADC is a very productive and efficient organization from bottom to top. Plant productivity has grown by 40% in the last three years, 118% in the last five years and 350% in the past ten years. Technology is always leveraged to improve productivity, quality and efficiency. Sony DADC has developed numerous technologies in the industry that cannot be found among its competitors.
The company culture at Sony DADC has always been one of continuous improvement and excellence. This creed applies to every functional area of the operation. Although Sony DADC’s production environment is capital intensive and highly automated, credit for the company’s success starts with the employees. To this end, numerous programs have been implemented over a long period of time and each has involved significant training. They include Team Building, Problem Solving, Kaizen and Six Sigma.
The Greater Terre Haute Area Chamber of Commerce recently awarded the 2005 and inaugural “Business, A Level Above” to Sony DADC for excellence in leadership and ethics, product innovation, family-friendly business practices and involvement in the community. Sony DADC has also been selected as the winner of this year’s United States Senate Productivity Award sponsored by Senator Richard G. Lugar, the Indiana Manufacturers Association and the Association for Manufacturing Excellence.
Discussing tour benefits, Whitlock explains, “Imagine you’re a manufacturing executive facing cost-reduction and quality pressures. There’s much to be gained by seeing how other manufacturers address these pressures while exchanging ideas with other tour participants.”
The price of the tour is $200 for AME members and $350 for non-members, which includes 1-year AME membership.
Register for this event on AME’s web site
Agenda
Tuesday, December 6, 2005
8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. Registration
8:30 a.m. – 8:45 a.m. Welcome and Agenda
8:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Sony DADC Presentation and Q & A
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Plant 1 Tour
12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. Plant 2 Tour
2:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Q & A and Wrap-up
2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m. Award Presentation
2:45 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Departure
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About Flexware Innovation, Inc.
Flexware offers next-generation manufacturing I.T. and automation services to life science manufacturers, assembly, automotive manufacturers, and food and beverage manufacturers.
