The Shingo Prize for Excellence in Manufacturing has announced the recipients of its 14th annual business awards. A record number of plants have earned what is considered by some to be the Nobel prize of manufacturing.

"We're very impressed with the lean manufacturing achievements of this year's recipients," says Ross Robson, Shingo Prize executive director. "In a time of economic recession, it's a comfort to see plants that are prepared to weather economic uncertainty by not wasting precious manufacturing and business resources."

The Shingo Prize is named in honor of Dr. Shigeo Shingo, an engineer who helped create the Toyota Production System and other related lean manufacturing processes.

This year's Shingo Prize Recipients are: Bridgewater Interiors LLC (Detroit), Vibration Control Technologies LLC (Ligonier, IN), Woodland Furniture LLC (Idaho Falls, ID), Bridgestone/Firestone (Aiken County, SC), Delphi Automotive Systems, Adrian Operations (Adrian, MI), Delphi Automotive Systems, Cortland Molding Operation (Warren, OH), Delphi Alambrados y Circuitos electricos VII, (Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico), Delphi Delco Electronics de M¿co, Deltr¿nicos Operations (Matamoros, Mexico), Delphi Automotive Systems, Harrison Thermal Systems, Rio Bravo XX, (Juarez, Mexico), Ford Motor Co. Assembly Plant (Chicago), Ford Motor Co. Engine Plant (Romeo, MI), Ford Motor Co. Chihuahua Engine Plant (Chihuahua, Mexico), Freudenberg-NOK (Shelbyville, IN), Grupo CYDSA, Industria Quimica del Istmo, S.A. de C.V. (Monterrey and Tlaxcala, Mexico), Lockheed Martin Pike County Operations (Troy, AL), Tyco Fire and Security Service's Puerto Rico Plant (Aguadilla, Puerto Rico), and Ensign-Bickford Co. (Graham, KY, Simsbury, CT, Spanish Fork, UT, and Wolf Lake, IL).