Forgive me for being late on this one, but there’s some more fantastic news that’s come through for Saab Automobile.
Back in August we noted that Saab were nominated for a Lean Production Award in Sweden and the good news is that at 3pm yesterday, they were announced as the winners!
My edited Googletrans:
The Swedish Lean Prize 2009 was awarded to Saab, among other things, because they “introduced a systematic approach that achieves real world results”.
Saab Autombile is a model and an inspiration that shows how “a long-term Lean [approach] to work with limited resources provides great impact.” considers the jury.
Lean represents a kind of industrial philosophy, basic ideas of how to produce. It it not all about car manufacturing, although we are accustomed to meeting in conjunction with Lean production, which has its roots in particular, Japanese automobile production. Lean production is based on a number of insights.
– All work towards a common goal so that everyone is right from the start, so that you do not need to change so much, “says Eric Geers, Communications Director at Saab Automobile.
– But we also make any problems directly visible, open to changes so to not waste resources, “said Geers.
The prize was awarded to Lean Forum at Chalmers University in Gothenburg on Wednesday. Eight companies were nominated.
The three finalists were as follows:
- Saab Automobile AB, Produktion, Trollhättan
- ESAB AB, Welding Equipment, Laxå
- Karolinska Universitetslaboratoriet, Lab. för närvård och preanalys, Enhet
There has been a lot of work done at the Trollhattan plant in the last few years, which is why it was chosen by GM as a Delta architecture assembly plant prior to GM’s decision to sell Saab. It’s also this work which has helped to make Saab a going concern and a saleable company for a new buyer in the Koenigsegg Group.
So this award reflects some pretty significant restructuring on Saab’s part, restructuring that may well be the core reason why they’re being sold instead of simply closed down.
Congratulations to Saab on receiving this award.
Comments are closed.