Representatives of the Olympus KeyMed team receive the award for 'Most Improved Plant' at the United Kingdom 'Best Factory Awards' Ceremony
	Olympus KeyMed stars as 'Most Improved Plant' in the UK
	Olympus KeyMed's Director of R&D and Manufacturing receives the 'Highly Commended' for OKM's skills development activities

n 2006, Olympus KeyMed's Manufacturing Division embarked on an intensive Quality, Cost and Delivery improvement programme with support from colleagues in Olympus Medical Systems Corporation and Olympus Shirakawa factory.

Initially, a Pilot Team was formed, comprising engineers from both OKM and Olympus Shirakawa factory, led by OKM's Head of Manufacturing, Mike Skelt, and mentored by Yusuke Udagawa, who is now General Manager of Production and Service Planning Department in OMSC.

Industrial engineering techniques were applied to redesign the manufacturing system for the Exera Workstation - results were positive and this led to widespread application of 'Lean Manufacturing'. Investment in staff development supported the improvement culture and OKM's Manufacturing Division began to show favourable trends in performance. In 2008, training in 'Six Sigma' added to allow specific process improvements.

Olympus factories in Japan provided a good basis for benchmarking. However, OKM additionally chose to utilise the UK "Best Factory Awards" as a means of independent, comparison. This is the most prestigious competition of its kind and is organised by the highly-respected Cranfield University. All applicants receive a comprehensive benchmarking report indicating how their own plant compares with other entrants - several hundred entered in 2009.

In 2006 and 2007, OKM were short-listed for the "Most Improved Plant" award and were "Highly Commended" in this category. In 2009, OKM has been selected, from 54 shortlisted applicants, as the overall winner in the "Most Improved Plant" category. Additionally OKM has been "Highly Commended" for its work in Staff Development.

The judges are senior academics with extensive industrial experience. Their assessment is based on a scrutiny of the manufacturing operation and interviews with staff - the evaluation is extremely rigorous and this makes the award valuable. The judges commented on the remarkable change they had seen in OKM since the previous visits, particularly the extent and depth of staff training and the application of new knowledge. In terms of operational benefits, the most notable was the drastic reduction in lead times from 35 days to 5 days for mainstream medical products. This was achieved by redesigning the production area to improve flow, making changes to planning methods and the implementation of "pull" systems, in which production is activated by actual demand, rather than a forecast. Lead Time reduction is always a prized objective because improvements in every aspect of the operation are necessary. This was recognised by the judges from Cranfield University.

The awards were received by Steve Brown, Olympus KeyMed's Director of R&D and Manufacturing, who commented: "Recognition in three successive years for success in staff development and operational improvement is a fantastic source of encouragement for the manufacturing team. The manufacturing team in Southend-on-Sea have worked hard to bring about significant growth in our manufacturing capability, which has been achieved with generous support provided by colleagues in Japan".

Group Managing Director of Olympus KeyMed, Paul Hillman comments "I was delighted to receive the news that OKM was winner of the 'Most Improved Plant' in the UK Best Factory Awards, particularly as this follows our two previous commendations. The award is confirmation from a prestigious organisation that the continuous improvement, introduced into our Manufacturing Division in 2006, with support from colleagues in Japan, has really made a difference. A key success factor in this improvement has been the considerable investment in the development of our staff and it is therefore equally rewarding to receive the commendation for our activities in 'Skills Development'. It's a good news story for Olympus and for British manufacturing".

This award follows on from previous successes in winning the prize for 'Innovation' in the East of England Business Awards in 2007 and the 'Queens Award for Innovation' in 2008, both of which recognised the exceptional design of the i-SPEED High Speed Video Camera.