Shingo Prize

The Shingo Prize for Organizational Excellence is an award for organizational excellence given to organizations worldwide by the Shingo Institute, part of the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. In order to be selected as a recipient of the Shingo Prize, an organization "challenges" or applies for the award by first submitting an achievement report that provides data about recent business improvements and accomplishments and then undergoing an onsite audit performed by Shingo Institute examiners. Organizations are scored relative to how closely their culture matches the ideal as defined by the Shingo Model™. Organizations that meet the criteria are awarded the Shingo Prize. Other awards include the Shingo Silver Medallion, the Shingo Bronze Medallion, the Research Award, and the Publication Award.

History of the Shingo Prize

Beginnings: 1988–2000

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. That same year, Utah State University established what was then called the North American Shingo Prizes for Excellence in Manufacturing in his honor.
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 of manufacturing."

Evolution of the Prize: 2004–2008

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."
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.

The Shingo Prize Today: 2008–present

With a change in scoring criteria in 2008, the average number of organizations receiving the Shingo Prize each year decreased from 11 to 2.
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.
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.
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. In 2022 Codelco Radomiro Tomic-Dry Area in Chile was the first mine to receive a Shingo Prize.
In 2020, the name and logo were updated to the Shingo Prize, shifting the focus from operations to organizational excellence.

Awards

Shingo Prize

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

Shingo Silver

The Shingo Silver is awarded to "those maturing on the journey with primarily a tool and system focus."

Shingo Bronze

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

Shingo Publication Award

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.

Shingo Research Award

The Shingo Research Award is for research that makes a significant contribution to the extension of understanding and knowledge of the philosophy, principles, or methods of enterprise excellence consistent with the Shingo Model. This can either be conceptual or based on empirical research activity. There is not a self-nomination process for this award. The Shingo Research Advisory Committee decides independently which work should receive the award. Each year, up to two awards are presented at the Shingo Annual Conference in May and recognized on the Shingo Institute website.
In 2022, the Shingo Research Award was redesigned to focus exclusively on academic research."

Shingo Rising Star

The Shingo Rising Star award is a recognition category for organizational excellence professionals who are early in their careers but have already made significant contributions to the Lean community. They show their dedication to Lean principles as they significantly impact their organizations in a variety of ways. These recipients also advocate the Shingo Model and the mission of the Shingo Institute."

Shingo Institute

The Shingo Prize is administered by the Shingo Institute, a program in the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University. Aside from administering the Shingo Prize, the Shingo Institute additionally creates and licenses educational workshops, organizes study tours, delivers a AACSB accredited online MBA program with a specialization in organizational excellence, hosts monthly webinars, produces the Shingo Principle Podcast, and organizes annual conferences in the USA, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and Europe.

Recipients

Site Awards

2008–Present

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.

Year	Award	Organization	City	State/Province	Country
2025	Silver	Jabil Tijuana Plant 2	Tijuana		Mexico
2025	Silver	Vale SA, Wheel Exchange and Maintenance Complex	São Luis		Brazil
2025	Shingo Prize	Abbott Rapid and Molecular Diagnostics	Hangzhou	Zhejiang	China
2024	Shingo Prize	Baxter, Hillrom SAS, Pluvigner	Pluvigner	Brittany	France
2024	Bronze	Zimmer Switzerland Manufacturing GmbH	Winterthur	Zurich	Switzerland
2024	Shingo Prize	Ipsen Manufacturing Ireland Ltd.	Dublin		Ireland
2024	Bronze	Plamex, S.A. de C.V.	Tijuana	Baja California	Mexico
2024	Silver	Jabil Baja Plant 3	Tijuana	Baja California	Mexico
2023	Shingo Prize	Jabil Circuit Shanghai Ltd.	Shanghai		China
2023	Bronze	Minsur	Pisco	Ica	Peru
2023	Shingo Prize	Abbott Logistics Breda	Breda	North-Brabant	Netherlands
2023	Bronze	Moog Medical Devices SRL	Coyol	Alajuela	Costa Rica
2023	Shingo Prize	BHP Escondida Cathodes	Antofagasta		Chile
2022	Shingo Prize	Codelco Radomiro Tomic-Dry Area	Calama	Antofagasta	Chile
2022	Silver	ICU Medical	La Aurora	Heredia	Costa Rica
2022	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain One India	Mumbai	Jhagadia	India
2022	Silver	Boston Scientific Arden Hills	Arden Hills	MN	USA
2022	Silver	Abbott Diabetes Care	Donegal		Ireland
2022	Shingo Prize	Hologic	Coyol	Alajuela	Costa Rica
2021	Shingo Prize	Jabil Healthcare	Bray	Dublin	Ireland
2020	Shingo Prize	Ipsen Pharma Biotech	Signes		France
2020	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain, One China Enterprise	Shanghai	Jiaxing	China
2020	Silver	Boston Scientific Clonmel	Clonmel		Ireland
2020	Silver	Edwards Service Technology Center	Jhunan		Taiwan
2020	Bronze	Edwards Service Technology Center	Cheonan		Korea
2019	Bronze	Abbott Healthcare Products B.V.	Weesp		The Netherlands
2019	Silver	Analog Devices International	Limerick		Ireland
2019	Bronze	DSV Panalpina Sorocaba	Sorocaba	Sao Paulo	Brazil
2019	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain	Sturgis	Michigan	USA
2019	Shingo Prize	Boston Scientific Coyol	Coyol	Alajuela	Costa Rica
2019	Shingo Prize	Merit Medical Systems Inc.	Tijuana	Baja California	Mexico
2019	Shingo Prize	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc - Industrial Operations & Product Supply	Rensselaer	NY	USA
2019	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain, Singapore	Singapore	Singapore	Singapore
2019	Silver	Hologic Surgical Products	Coyol	Alajuela	Costa Rica
2019	Silver	Visteon Electronics India Private Limited	Chengalpattu	Tamil Nado	India
2018	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain Granada	Granada	Granada	Spain
2018	Shingo Prize	AbbVie Ballytivnan	Sligo	Connacht	Ireland
2018	Shingo Prize	Ball Beverage Packaging Naro-Fominsk Cans	Novaya Olkhovka	Moscow	Russia
2017	Shingo Prize	Abbott Nutrition Supply Chain Sligo Ireland	Sligo	Connacht	Ireland
2017	Shingo Prize	Thermo Fisher Scientific Baltics	Vilnius	Vilnius	Lithuania
2017	Shingo Prize	Ball Beverage Packaging Europe, Naro Fominsk Ends	Novaya Olkhovka	Moscow	Russia
2017	Bronze	Landau Scrubs and Uniforms Medical & Nursery	Puerto Cortes	Cortes	Honduras
2016	Shingo Prize	Boston Scientific, Cork	Cork	Munster	Ireland
2014	Shingo Prize	NewsUk - Newsprinters Ltd	Holytown	Motherwell	UK
2014	Shingo Prize	Barnes Aerospace OEM Strategic Business	Ogden	Utah	USA
2014	Shingo Prize	DePuy Synthes Ireland	Cork		Ireland
2014	Shingo Prize	Abbott Vascular	Clonmel	Tipperary	Ireland
2014	Silver	Rexam Healthcare, Neuenburg	Neuenburg am Rhein		Germany
2014	Silver	Rexam Beverage Can, Enzesfeld	Enzesfeld	Vienna	Austria
2014	Silver	Boston Scientific, Maple Grove	Maple Grove	Minnesota	USA
2014	Silver	Vale Europe Ltd., Clydach Refinery	Clydach	Swansea	UK
2014	Bronze	Vistaprint Deer Park Australia	Derrimut	Victoria	Australia
2014	Bronze	Corporation Steris Canada	Quebec	QC	Canada
2014	Bronze	Autoliv Inflator Co., Ltd.	Shanghai		China
2014	Bronze	Rexam Beverage Can South America, Rio de Janeiro	Rio de Janeiro	RJ	Brazil
2013	Silver	MEI Querétaro	El Marques	Querétaro	Mexico
2013	Silver	Pentair Water Pool and Spa	Moorpark	California	USA
2013	Silver	Rexam Beverage Can South America, Manaus Ends	Manaus	Amazons	Brazil
2013	Silver	Rexam do Brasil Ltda Extrema Can Plant	Extrema	Minas Gerais	Brazil
2013	Silver	Visteon Climate Systems India Ltd.	Bhiwadi	Rajasthan	India
2013	Silver	Visteon Electronica Mexico - Saucito Plant	Chihuahua	Chihuahua	Mexico
2013	Bronze	Covidien	Athlone		Ireland
2013	Bronze	Letterkenny Army Depot, Force Provider	Chambersburg	Pennsylvania	USA
2013	Bronze	Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.	Rensselaer	New York	USA
2013	Bronze	Rexam Beverage Can South America, Cuiabá Cans	Cuiabá	Mato Grosso	Brazil
2013	Bronze	Starkey de Mexico S.A. de C.V.	Matamoros	Tamaulipas	Mexico
2012	Shingo Prize	Ethicon Inc.	Juarez	Chihuahua	Mexico
2012	Shingo Prize	Rexam Beverage Can, Águas Claras Cans	Águas Claras	Rio Grande do Sul	Brazil
2012	Silver	Pentair Technical Products	Reynosa	Tamaulipas	Mexico
2012	Silver	Tobyhanna Army Depot, COMSEC	Tobyhanna	Pennsylvania	USA
2012	Silver	Vision Electronica Mexico - Carolinas Plant	Chihuahua	Chihuahua	Mexico
2012	Bronze	Johnson Controls Lerma Plant	Lerma		Mexico
2012	Bronze	Lake Region Medical Limited	New Ross	Co. Wexford	Ireland
2012	Bronze	Remy Automotive Brasil Ltda.	Brusque	Santa Catarina	Brazil
2012	Bronze	State Farm Life Insurance Company, Operations Center	Bloomington	Illinois	USA
2011	Shingo Prize	Goodyear do Brasil Produtos de Borracha Ltda	São Paulo	São Paulo	Brazil
2011	Shingo Prize	US Synthetic	Orem	Utah	USA
2011	Silver	Autoliv Steering Wheel Co., Ltd.	Shanghai		China
2011	Silver	Barnes Aerospace OEM Strategic Business	Ogden	Utah	USA
2011	Silver	dj Orthopedics de Mexico S.A. de C.V.	Tijuana	Baja California	Mexico
2011	Silver	Lundbeck, Supply Operation & Engineering	Valby	Copenhagen	Denmark
2011	Silver	Remy Componentes, S. de R.L. de C.V.	San Luis Potosí	SLP	Mexico
2011	Silver	Rexam Beverage Can South America-Recife Ends	Cabo Sto Agostinho	Cabo Sto Agostinho	Brazil
2011	Silver	Tobyhanna Army Depot	Tobyhanna	Pennsylvania	USA
2011	Bronze	Denver Health, Community Health Services	Denver	Colorado	USA
2011	Bronze	Letterkenny Army Depot, Aviation Ground Power Unit	Chambersburg	Pennsylvania	USA
2011	Bronze	Leyland Trucks Ltd.	Leyland	Lancashire	UK
2011	Bronze	Rexam Plastic Packaging do Brasil	Jundiaí	São Paulo	Brazil
2011	Bronze	US Army Armament Research, Development & Engineering Center	Picatinny Arsenal	New Jersey	USA
2010	Shingo Prize	John Deere, Power Products	Greenville	Tennessee	USA
2010	Shingo Prize	Lycoming Engines	Williamsport	Pennsylvania	USA
2010	Silver	Autoliv Steering Wheels Mexico AQW S. de R.L. de C.V.	El Marqués		Mexico
2010	Silver	Goodyear Tire & Rubber	Lawton	Oklahoma	USA
2010	Silver	High-Tech Gears Ltd.	Minesar		India
2010	Bronze	Letterkenny Army Depot, Patriot Missile	Chambersburg	Pennsylvania	USA
2010	Bronze	Tobyhanna Army Depot, AIM-9M Sidewinder Missile	Tobyhanna	Pennsylvania	USA
2009	Shingo Prize	Autoliv Airbag Module Facility	Ogden	Utah	USA
2009	Shingo Prize	E-Z-GO	Augusta	Georgia	USA
2009	Shingo Prize	Guanajuato Manufacturing Complex North Plant	Silao		Mexico
2009	Shingo Prize	Interiors Aéreos S.A. de C.V. Gulfstream Aerospace	Mexicali		Mexico
2009	Silver	402D Electronics Maintenance Group, Warner Robins Air Logistics Center, Robins Air Force Base	Warner Robins	Georgia	USA
2009	Silver	Carestream Health Inc., Rochester Finishing	Rochester	New York	USA
2009	Silver	EFI Electronics by Schneider Electric	Salt Lake City	Utah	USA
2009	Silver	HID Global	North Haven	Connecticut	USA
2009	Silver	Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control, Camden Operations	East Camden	Arkansas	USA
2009	Silver	Valeo Sulvania Illuminacion	Querétaro		Mexico
2009	Bronze	Aviation Center Logistics Command and Army Fleet Support, Lowe Army Heliport	Fort Rucker	Alabama	USA
2009	Bronze	BAE Systems - Samlesbury	Blackburn	Lancashire	UK
2009	Bronze	Baxter Healthcare	Los Angeles	California	USA
2009	Bronze	Fleet Readiness Center Southeast, TSRS Shop	Jacksonville	Florida	USA
2009	Bronze	Red River Army Depot, Up-Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle /HEAT	Texarkana	Texas	USA
2009	Bronze	Ultrafram UK Ltd.	Clitheroe	Lancashire	UK
2009	Bronze	Visteon Interamerican Plant	Apodaca		Mexico