Competition
The "Factory of the Year" is one of the most renowned industry competitions in Europe. The winners of the current benchmark competition are honored at the congress of the same name.
Find out more
Winners 2022
Factory of the year 2022
RATIONAL AGFactory 1-3, Landsberg am Lech

GEO-Award
Rolls-Royce Power SystemsFactory 1 and 2, Friedrichshafen

Excellent transformation: site
BSH Hausgeräte GmbHBad Neustadt factory

Excellent transformation: digitalization
WILO SEDortmund location

Excellent series production
egeplast international GmbHGreven factory

Excellence in sustainability
Voith GroupGarching factory

Excellence in supply chain resilience
Siemens Schweiz AGZug factory

About the winners
BSH Hausgeräte GmbH, Bad Neustadt factory
egeplast international GmbH, Greven factory
RATIONAL AG, factory 1-3, Landsberg am Lech
Rolls-Royce Power Systems, factory 1 and 2, Friedrichshafen
Siemens Schweiz AG, Zug factory
Voith Group, Garching factory
WILO SE, Dortmund location
Information on the competition
Industrial companies can only benefit from taking part in the Factory of the Year competition. Clearly, winning a prestigious award like Factory of the Year is hugely motivating for employees. But any business, irrespective of whether it actually picks up an award, can gain from taking part. In addition, it’s free.
As participants have noted, time and again, the process of completing the questionnaire alone can draw attention to weaknesses in a company’s performance. All businesses taking part receive a detailed, confidential evaluation, that tells them how they ranked in comparison with companies with which they share a similar starting position. Shortlisted candidates receive a visit from an experienced Kearney audit team and are given initial expert feedback. And the Factory of the Year event offers an ideal opportunity to share ideas and learn the secrets behind the successes scored by the best in the competition.
Process and deadlines
Questionnaire
Contact
The selection of the winners takes place in two stages. Participating companies fill out a detailed questionnaire. The questionnaire asks for quantitative and qualitative information on typical factory performance data on all topics along the value chain.
Based on these key figures, the top group of participating companies is determined and visited by an experienced Kearney audit team. The competition jury, which is made up of renowned experts from industry and academia, then selects the winners, taking into account the questionnaire and the insights gained on site.
Independently of this, all participants receive a detailed evaluation in the form of a feedback report, which provides them with confidential information about their position in the competition and points out any potential for improvement.
We look forward to your participation!
You could win an award in any of these categories
There are seven main categories, plus a special “Best Startup” category
Factory of the Year
GEO Award
Excellent Large Series Assembly
Excellent Small Series Assembly
Excellent Production Network
Competitiveness by digitization
Excellent site development
Best Startup Category
Young start-up teams can present their idea for the industry of tomorrow at the congress – the audience decides who will win.
Best Startup
Winners 2021
More than 2,000 factories have taken part in this benchmark competition since its inception in 1992. Here are the winners of the previous years.
30. Factory of the Year
Siemens AGKarlsruhe factory

GEO Award
ERSA GmbHWertheim factory

Excellent Location Development
Beiersdorf AGTres Cantos factory (Madrid, Spain)

Excellent Big Series Assembly
ABB AGRatingen factory

Excellent Location Safeguarding by Digitalization
Brose Fahrzeugteile SE & CO. KGWürzburg

Winners 2020
Factory of the Year 2020
Volkswagen Slovakia a.s.Werk Bratislava, Slowakei

GEO Award
IWC Schaffhausen Branch of Richemont International S.A.Manufaktur Schaffhausen, Schweiz

Excellent Big Series Assembly
BSH Hišni aparati d.o.o NazarjeWerk Nazarje, Slovenien

Excellent Production Network
Henkel Global Supply Chain BVWerk Düsseldorf

Excellent Location Safeguarding by Digitalization
ifm electronic gmbhWerk Tettnang Bechlingen

Conference 2022
Join Europe’s largest industry meeting for production and learn from the winners of this year’s competition what sets them apart from their competitors.
Startup Challenge
Information
Participation
Past winners
Advisory Board

Jörg Cwojdzinski
Vice President Supply Chain Management, ASM Assembly Systems GmbH & Co. KG, München

Katrin Fricke
Plant Manager, Diehl Controls, Wangen im Allgäu factory

Evi Hartmann
Chair of Supply Chain Management at the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Nuremberg

Johann Kraus
Senior Vice President Production, Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG, München

Uwe Loos
Former CEO of FAG Kugelfischer AG, Schweinfurt, and DEKRA AG, Stuttgart

Roman Löw
Former automotive company plant manager and managing board member, currently working as a consultant, coach and interim manager for major industrial companies

Reimund Neugebauer
President of the Fraunhofer Society, Munich

Heinrich Nottbohm
Former manager of the Chemnitz Engine Plant, Volkswagen Sachsen GmbH

Torsten Ratzmann
CEO of egeplastinternational GmbH

Bernd Schmidt
VicePresidentOperations Strategy& CI at BL Transformers, Hitachi ABB Power Grids Ltd.

Günther Schuh
Director of the Machine Tool Laboratory WZL at RWTH Aachen and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT

Peter Wiedemann
COO, RATIONAL AG