How to Take Part
To take part in the awards an audit questionnaire must be completed, giving information about the characteristics and performance of the plant.
Entry to the awards scheme is free.
The entry unit for the awards is a manufacturing plant in the UK. A plant is defined as a relatively self-contained unit with its own management staff which may be identified either by separate facilities, by separate product types or by a separate management structure.
Plants who are previous winners can re-enter, but are not eligible to win the same award for the following two years: they can of course win other awards and some have. The highly commended winners are still eligible for the award they received a commendation for.
Award Categories
There are several Best Factory Awards that can be won. They are as follows:
- Engineering Plant Award
- Process Plant Award
- Electronics and Electrical Plant Award
- Household and General Products Plant Award
- Best SME
- Innovation Award
- Most Improved Plant Award
- People Management Award
- Skills Development Award
- Energy and Environment Award
- Supply Chain Award
- Health and Safety Award
In addition there is the coveted overall award:
The winners may display the Best Factory Awards Logo for three years.
Taking Part
In order to take part an audit questionnaire must be completed and returned to Cranfield School of Management by the end of March 2012. The questionnaire can be obtained by contacting Maggie Bridge at the following address:
Maggie Bridge
Awards Co-ordinator
Cranfield School of Management
Cranfield
Bedford
MK43 0AL
Email: m.bridge@cranfield.ac.uk
T: 01234 754498 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 01234 754498 end_of_the_skype_highlighting
F: 01234 752691
On the basis of the information in the questionnaire a short-list of the best factories in each category is chosen by the judges. Each of these factories is visited by a team of assessors. The assessors meet with management and the workforce and tour the plant in order to make an assessment of the plant's competitive position and manufacturing performance.
In September, representatives of the short-listed plants are invited to attend an awards ceremony in London at which the winners in each category and the Factory of the Year are announced.
Each participating factory, whether it is short-listed or not, is sent a comprehensive and confidential report comparing its performance with the range of performance of other plants in the same industrial category.
Click here to view a timetable of the awards.