Jan 24 2010
PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL), a premier global provider of specialized polymer materials, services and solutions, today announced it has earned the most prestigious Lean Six Sigma award in the world for their customer centric Lean Six Sigma deployment. PolyOne was presented with the Process Excellence Award for "Best Start-up Program" during the International Quality and Productivity Centre's 11th Annual Lean Six Sigma and Process Improvement Summit in Orlando, Florida.
A panel of industry experts selected PolyOne from a pool of 400 entrants. In the "Best Start-up" category, judges evaluated the transformation of the six finalists based on their ability to set organizational direction, deliver business benefits, and initiate a culture change during the annual gathering of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and process improvement thought leaders.
"We credit the active participation of our customers, our leadership team, our internal communications strategy, and the accomplishments of our earliest projects with making our Lean Six Sigma start-up a success," said Thomas J. Kedrowski, senior vice president of operations and supply chain. "In the midst of the worst financial crisis in decades, we committed resources to improving our processes for the benefit of our customers and shareholders."
Kedrowski continued, "Our LSS success was a direct reflection of our ability to translate customer feedback into process improvement projects. We are thankful to our customers for partnering with us and allowing us to transform their needs into mutually beneficial solutions. The program has been instrumental in allowing us to improve customer service and quality while delivering both balance sheet and operating margin improvements."
PolyOne launched Lean Six Sigma globally in late 2008 and by the end of 2010, more than 25 percent of PolyOne's 3,900 associates around the world will have completed training, including 1 percent who will hold LSS black belt certification. The expansive size and scope of the LSS training ensures global, cross-business, and cross-functional support and expertise for the process improvement projects.