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.

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Winners 2023 / 24

About the winners

ABB AG

Brose Fahrzeugteile SE & Co. KG

COMPAS de CV

ifm efector s.r.l

Porsche Leipzig GmbH

Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG

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 six main categories, plus a special “Best Startup” category

Factory of the Year

GEO Award

Excellent Large Series Assembly

Excellent Small Series Assembly

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.

Winners 2020

Conference March 2024

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

Prof. Dr.-Ing.

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

Prof. Dr.-Ing.

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

Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil.

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

Dr.

Bernd Schmidt

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

Prof. Dr.-Ing., Dipl.-Wirt. Ing.

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